It could just be because I’m older or because we have the internet now but when I was growing up, becoming the president of the United States was the most high profile, respected, and rewarding jobs someone could aim for. It was the “gold standard”. Now, I can’t imagine anyone saying to their kid, “you can be anything you want one day, even the president”. The office of the president is a joke.

Even if someone I were to fully support became president, everything is fucked now. The country is so polarized that there’s just a winning team and a losing team. There is no president who can bring everyone together and make things “great again”. No matter what a president does, the media and the citizens of the internet are going to twist reality to make all actions and statements support their narrative. I don’t see a way out of it.

Here’s an example of how I perceived something incorrectly based on social media.

All the posts I saw were about how “MS13” was photoshopped on his hand - as if to suggest they were actual tattoos.

Apparently, what I’ve only just now inferred from watching this video, the overlayed text shown in the photo is a label for each of the real tattoos.

So, on one hand (no pun intended), you have a story about Trump believing photoshopped letters are real tattoos and on the other hand you have a story about whether the interpretation of the tattoos is correct to be MS13 related.

This reporter did a shit job. Trump offered to get the picture out and he blew the chance to get the facts straight on this hot topic - do you believe the letters “MS13” are actually tattooed on his hand or are you saying they’re the interpretation of the tattoos below them.

EDIT: rewatching the video and caught the moron saying “he had MS as clear as you can be. Not interpreted.” I mean… ya know, I honestly worry that we will ever come out of this in a good shape. Will we ever again have respect for the office of the presidency? Can we ever again elect someone who represents the best of us?

Try reading again. The amendment was removed from the bill and it was specifically clarified that it is illegal to examine someone after birth to determine their sex. If a court case comes up where a doctor is being sued for examining someone after their birth to determine their sex, they would point to this law that says it is clearly forbidden.

CORRECTION: Bill passed by WV lawmakers will not allow doctors to inspect child’s genitals to confirm gender

An amendment introduced by House Judiciary Chair J.B. Akers on March 6 would have allowed medical professionals to “to visually or physically examine a minor child for purposes of verifying the biological sex of the child without the consent of the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian.”

That amendment was adopted into the bill.

Before officially passing the Senate, Senator Patrick Martin (R - Lewis, 12) proposed two further amendments, one of which clarifies “that the article does not authorize certain examinations of minor children.”

Senator Martin’s amendment nullified Delegate Akers’ amendment, thereby excluding it from the final bill.

SB 456 was passed by the Senate Tuesday 32-1 with one Senator absent for the vote. In the House, 90 delegates voted in favor, eight opposed, and two were absent.

Edit:
For more clarity, here’s the first paragraph of the passed bill. https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Text_HTML/2025_SESSIONS/RS/bills/sb456 sub1 enr.pdf

AN ACT to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §5-32-1, §5-32-2, §5-32-3, §5-32-4, §5-32-5, §5-32-6, §5-32-7, §5-32-8, and §5-32-9, relating to sex definitions and single-sex spaces; providing purposes and general application; providing findings; creating definitions; establishing a standard of review; clarifying that the article does not authorize certain examinations of minor children; providing that determination of the biological sex of a minor is determined at the minor’s time of birth; providing for certain standards applicable to domestic violence shelters, public schools, institutions of higher education, and correctional institutions; clarifying certain sex-based data collection; and providing for severability.

It makes me sick thinking of all the people who believe and support the lies coming out of this administration. We democratically voted in favor of fascism because we’re a nation of entitled lazy-ass mouth breathers.

I still genuinely believe that the vast majority of Americans want the same things to a large degree. But it’s not possible to observe or negotiate this because we keep electing people and supporting media organizations that are intent on dividing us for their own profit and power.

Respectfully, we made the choice ourselves.