First of all, calling our government "totalitarian" is unhelpful and only causes myself and people like me to take you less seriously.
There will always be those who would LIKE to install a dictatorial system (like Trump) but they've hardly succeeded.
That out of the way, I used to have a short-wave radio and listen to broadcasts from Cuba and China and many other outlets, and it was sort of like watching RT or Democracy Now or Al Jezeera on satellite TV...you're not going to get any inside information they don't want you to see or hear, mostly prettified propaganda critical to the U.S. at times and complimentary to themselves.
Much of the critical stuff I agree with, but not always and never 100%; but it's nothing unlike what a member of an opposition domestic party might say.
What strikes me is, in a "totalitarian" system all such criticism would be eliminated, all dissent, all opposition. This is clearly not yet the case here (yet).
People like Trump are a threat, to be sure, and there are many other systemic barriers to power which could and should be eliminated, foremost the one which restricts access to power to two political parties; a parliamentary system would be preferable, in my opinion.
But this is what we have, and I think that means we should all acknowledge the two parties HAVE to be 'big tents' which have to accommodate as many points of view as possible.
This means the Democratic Party cannot ever be as leftist as we would like (if you're a leftist), or as moderate (if you're moderate). It'll always be a crazy quilt.
That's why I'm not concerned with Chinese propaganda, or Fox News.
What I AM concerned about it is access to power, hoping ALL views on the political spectrum are represented, not just on the airwaves, but in the Halls of power.