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Twelve months back, the situation was utterly distinct. Prior to the American presidential vote, reflective residents could acknowledge the nation's serious imperfections – its injustices and disparity – yet they still could perceive it as the US. A democracy. A country where legal governance carried weight. A nation headed by a honorable and ethical leader, even with his elderly years and declining health.

Currently, this autumn, numerous citizens scarcely know the country we reside in. People believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and pushed into vehicles, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is undergoing demolition for an obscene event space. The president is persecuting his opponents or supposed enemies and demanding federal prosecutors transfer an enormous amount of public funds. Armed military personnel are dispatched across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, renamed the Department of War, has – in effect – rid itself of regular press examination as it spends what could amount to nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Colleges, law firms, journalism organizations are buckling from leader's menaces, and billionaires are handled as members of the royal family.

“America, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the limit into authoritarianism and extremism,” Garrett Graff, wrote in August. “Finally, faster than I believed likely, it did happen in America.”

One awakes to new horrors. And it is challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost our nation is, and how quickly it occurred.

However, it is known that the president was properly voted in. Following his profoundly alarming initial presidency and even after the warnings linked to the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – despite the president personally said publicly he planned to act as an autocrat solely at the start – a majority of citizens selected him instead of Kamala Harris.

Frightening as the present situation may be, it's more daunting to understand that we are just three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. Where will three more years of this decline find us? And suppose the three years transforms into an prolonged era, since there is not anyone to restrain this leader from deciding that additional tenure is essential, maybe for security concerns?

Certainly, not everything is hopeless. There will be legislative votes the coming year which might create a new governmental control, in case Democrats retake either chamber of the legislature. There exist government representatives who are trying to impose some accountability, such as representatives that are initiating an inquiry concerning the try to fund seizure from legal authorities.

And a leadership election three years from now could begin us down the road to recovery precisely as the prior selection placed us on this regrettable path.

There are millions of Americans protesting in urban areas of their cities, similar to recent last weekend during anti-authority protests.

An ex-cabinet member, commented this week that “the slumbering force of the US is awakening”, similar to past after the Communist witch-hunt era during the fifties or throughout the sixties activism or throughout the seventies crisis.

In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.

He claims he recognizes the signs of that awakening and notices it unfolding currently. As support, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the broad, bipartisan pushback regarding a broadcaster's firing and the almost universal refusal by journalists to agree to military mandates they solely cover authorized information.

“The slumbering entity perpetually exists asleep until specific greed becomes so noxious, an specific act so offensive of societal benefit, certain violence so loud, that he is forced other than to stir.”

It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate Reich’s experienced view. Perhaps he will turn out correct.

In the meantime, the big questions remain: is the US able to return to normalcy? Is it possible to restore its position internationally and its commitment to the rule of law?

Or should we recognize that the national endeavor functioned for a period, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My pessimistic brain indicates that the latter is true; that everything might be gone. My hopeful heart, however, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways possible.

For me, as a media critic, that involves urging journalists to commit, more completely, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For some people, it might involve engaging with political races, or coordinating protests, or finding ways to protect voting rights.

Less than a year ago, we were in a very different place. In the future? Or after another term? The reality is, we cannot predict. All we can do is to strive to not give up.

What Offers Me Optimism Currently

The interaction I have during teaching with aspiring reporters, who are both visionary and realistic, {always