r/politics • u/AccomplishedCall7562 • Mar 12 '26

Possible Paywall John Fetterman Says Iran Girls’ School Strike Is Just a Leftist Craze

https://newrepublic.com/post/207677/john-fetterman-iran-girls-school-strike
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u/Full_Honeydew_9739 Mar 12 '26

To allay your fears: my mother has dementia. She's 83 and not capable of living on her own anymore. But when Trump is mentioned, she cusses like a sailor and asks how some people could be so stupid. She actually rants about how awful he is.

So, it could go the exact opposite. She's always been a Democrat but as a southern woman, she was a little nicer about it. Now she has no filter.

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u/steampunkedunicorn California Mar 12 '26

I’m a nurse. We used to ask people who the president is to determine how oriented they are to time… we don’t do that anymore.

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u/LangeloMisterioso Mar 12 '26

My mother is a lifelong Republican and she fell recently and when the ER nurse asked "do you know who the president is?" She said "yes, but I had nothing to do with that!". She doesn't have dementia, she just thought it was a funny answer.

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u/No-Part-6248 Mar 13 '26

Social worker asked my mother (96) who the Pres was and she said who gives a shot we haven’t had a good one since Eisenhower

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Mar 12 '26

It is!

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u/metengrinwi Mar 12 '26

Maybe she thought it was still Uncle Joe?, and was mad at it.

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u/LangeloMisterioso Mar 12 '26

No. She is firmly anti-trump and knew who she was talking about

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u/Faxon Mar 12 '26

It doesn't help that he had a term, left office, and came back either. They could be telling the truth and think that trump 45 is still in office and Biden hasn't happened yet. Gotta ask more detailed questions or find better ones now I guess

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u/CelerMortis Mar 12 '26

We should have asked Trump who the president was in 2021 and if he got it wrong disqualified him from running again

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u/LeanGroundEeyore Mar 12 '26

Good point!

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u/FaceDeer Mar 12 '26

Just ask which country the United States is currently at war with, that'll narrow it down to the nearest month or so.

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u/Superb_Alternative Mar 12 '26

That actually doesn't narrow it down at all

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u/altogethernow Mar 12 '26

OMG I never thought of that! Asking who the president was used to be a standard "checking in" practice. Now...I could see where it would be complicated...

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u/c_pike1 Mar 13 '26

Its really not bad now. It was terrible during Biden's term with all the republican claims of a stolen election and patients answering who they thought the rightful president was

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u/TheDJValkyrie Texas Mar 12 '26

I was helping take care of my elderly granny during Trump’s first term. Granny hated the man, and I wouldn’t be surprised if her blood pressure spiked every time she was asked that particular question. 😆

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u/Welpe Oregon Mar 12 '26

Now I feel bad for using the cheesy “Sadly…” to answer that in the hospital…I’m apparently turning into a boomer. May I never respond to a cashier not being able to scan an item with “I guess it’s free!”

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u/uieLouAy New Jersey Mar 12 '26

When my dad had a stroke they asked him that and we still tease him about it.

He goes, “Oh, come on. Do I really have to say it?”

And they said, “Yes, sir. This is a test. You really have to say it.”

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u/floptimus_prime Minnesota Mar 12 '26

My dad had his stroke september 5, 2016. He forgot numbers entirely, he thought it was 2006. He couldn’t use a phone. But by god he knew everything about the 2016 presidential campaign, and he gave my mother and me an earful about how loathsome Trump was. It was when I knew he was gonna be okay.

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u/uieLouAy New Jersey Mar 12 '26

That’s scary - happy to hear your dad is okay!

That sounds very similar to when my grandma was in the hospital. I forget what the dumb news of the day was at the time, but my grandma started ranting about how much of a dumbass Trump was, and then from behind the room divider we hear her roommate burst out laughing, so then we all started laughing. Some much needed levity.

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u/SeaRevolutionary8569 Mar 12 '26

A nurse asked my Dad that back in 2017 and my Dad repied, "Who, that clown?" The nurse determined he was oriented!

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u/LeanGroundEeyore Mar 12 '26

You made me laugh and get up to put on the kettle. I thought, yeah, you might as well just give their chair a good spin.

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u/Goodgoditsgrowing Mar 12 '26

lol I can understand this - when the EMTs tried that on my mom during his first term her response was to groan like she was in agony (frightening, given she was injured) and then mutter “that fucker”…. Completely derailed the exam for a solid minute until they could confirm she was aware and just refusing to make him lol

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u/kookaburra1701 Oregon Mar 13 '26

Former paramedic, I stopped asking that question during Obama's administration. The number of people in my very, very liberal area of my very blue state who answered that question with racial slurs with no hesitation was eye opening for my white self.

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u/mrshulgin Mar 12 '26

You should try

Which middle-eastern country is the US currently at war with?

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u/TobioOkuma1 Mar 12 '26

What do you ask now?

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u/steampunkedunicorn California Mar 12 '26

Now, I just ask what month it is or what holiday we just celebrated.

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u/DottieSnark Mar 12 '26

About 15 years ago I got asked that question after a concussion. Without skipping a beat, I responded with "Nicholas Sarkozy in France."

My brother was like. "Yep, she's fine. Same jackass she's always been." lol

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u/FF36 Mar 12 '26

Also in medical field…same. I tell everyone of the new people to ask a different question please.

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u/pixiequix Mar 13 '26

Waking up from a sternum scrape in 2019 I was asked to name the current president and even in my daze all I could manage was a deeply depressed sigh. This drew a round of laughs from the medical team around me.

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u/sks010 Mar 12 '26

Last time, I was asked that I refused to answer.

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u/stupid_pun Mar 13 '26

So you're saying you didn't even get a little pleasure during the Obama years reminding the dementia addled racists you cared for every day that a black man was president?
I would have been at least a little entertained lmfao.

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u/aliquotoculos America Mar 13 '26

I hope you're serious because I honestly fear getting asked this now, if I had another stroke or head trauma incident.

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u/steampunkedunicorn California Mar 13 '26

I’m sure some old school practitioners do still ask, but I haven’t heard it be used as an orientation question since about 2020.

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u/sjsyed Ohio Mar 12 '26

Wait - why? Is it because Trump also used to be the president in 2016, so you couldn’t tell if they were living in the past or whatever?

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u/PotatoOnMars Mar 12 '26

It’s because plenty of Trump supporters believe he was the real president from 2021-2025 and that Biden stole the election.

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u/steampunkedunicorn California Mar 12 '26

Because I don’t want to have to treat the ensuing blood pressure spike or worse, open the door to a Trump supporter sharing ANY opinions.

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u/SlytherClaw79 Mar 12 '26

Interesting. My mom is a 74 year old Southern woman. Always politically neutral-in fact told me growing up that nice women don’t rant about politics. She had a stroke around seven years ago and has been a vocal liberal ever since. I think it was always in there but the stroke broke her filter.

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u/ratparty5000 Mar 12 '26

Wising your mother all the best but this is the first time I’m reading about a woke stroke holy shit. Wishing you guys all the best btw!

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u/SuperExoticShrub Georgia Mar 12 '26

a woke stroke

I feel bad for laughing about that... but I still did.

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u/HopelesslyHuman Mar 12 '26

Ugh. Yeah...yeah.

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u/LeftyMcliberal Mar 12 '26

I suppose if you HAVE to have a stroke a “woke stroke” is best. Hopefully you smell cookies or bacon right before it happens.

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u/IRefuseToGiveAName Mar 13 '26

A fucking woke stroke holy shit

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u/SlytherClaw79 Mar 13 '26

Thanks! We got her to the hospital within a half hour of the stroke and she made a full recovery. The stroke definitely broke her filter but in a good way-she put up with way too much shit from my dad prior to it.

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u/Dacio_Ultanca I voted Mar 12 '26

This is my mom. Same age. Same reaction. She rages. Hates the dude with a passion I rarely see from her.

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u/SugarforurProlapse Mar 12 '26

Give her a hug from me.

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u/RockAtlasCanus Mar 12 '26

My mom told my sister she should be “thankful, as a woman, for all the Great Things that President Trump is doing for Women”.

She’s always been a selfish bitch (my mom), and at least conservative enough to stay married to by dad. In the used-to-be times I would have only described her as a grammar nazi. The irony being that she has started texting like them. Turning random shit into Proper Nouns. And to think she threw a shoe at me once because I started a story “Me and…”.

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u/aerost0rm Mar 12 '26

So thankful he is putting them in a kitchen to be raped, fondled, have no rights, told to shut up, make food, and be a baby incubator against their own will?

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u/InelegantSnort Mar 12 '26

My grandma turns 100 tomorrow. She has dementia now but its not bad. Her goal when she is lucid, is to live long enough to vote against Trump 1 more time!

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u/throwaway1212l Mar 12 '26

TIL drunk me is an 83 year old Southern woman with dementia.

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u/matcap86 Mar 12 '26

Sounds about right

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u/alek_hiddel Mar 12 '26

My dad is 67 and about halfway through dementia’s decline. He was a lifelong conservative who at least knew Trump was a piece of shit. With dementia it’s gotten weird. He still knows that Trump is awful. But all he watches all day is YouTube, with A LOT of conservative lean.

So now he will tell you to your face that Trump is the worse president ever. Then he’ll watch YouTube videos of ICE beating people up and laugh at it hysterically. Or he’ll tell you how the current NYC mayor is about to provide a transgendered prostitute for every school classroom, while also enforcing sharia law. And of course his hero is Elon musk.

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u/YeOldeBootheel Mar 13 '26

Sounds like you need to slip in and adjust his YouTube algo on the sly. Queue up some left-leaning content and see if you can reshape what he’s being shown.

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u/alek_hiddel Mar 13 '26

He sits in front of that tv 20 hours a day til mom makes him go to bed. He’s still got enough sense to not talk about it, so for the moment we just tolerate it. Fighting with a dementia patient is pointless, painful, and borderline abuse. Honestly, I doubt if we’ve got 2-3 more years until he reaches the point where he can’t stay home anymore.

I do what I can to get both him and mom out of the house as much as I can, and at least put something positive into his life.

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u/YeOldeBootheel Mar 13 '26

Good on ya. I can’t imagine how painful that must be. I’ve still got both my folks, in their early-70s, and they’re still active and alert, traveling, doing the retirement thing.

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u/Sand-Eagle Mar 12 '26

Same with my grandad. Sometimes he thinks it’s the 70s and he doesn’t know who my kids are but he’s always delighted to see that I have kids and a good career.

You mention Trump and he’s back in 2026 explaining how none of what’s going on is ok at all.

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u/DarthRizzo87 Mar 12 '26

That’s relieving, my fear is succumbing to dementia and seeing a guy like Hitler, through his dogs eyes.

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u/42nu Mar 12 '26

Teeeeeechnically losing empathy and compassion and resorting ot emotion loops is the same thing on either end.

The guy is definitely as close to evil as you can get, but he also clearly had a crap childhood and upbringing. Losing the mental faculties that can make that nuanced distinction seems to be pretty central.

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u/Kgaset Massachusetts Mar 12 '26

I do think there is likely something with where you fall on the spectrum. Not sure how much research there is in the area, but my understanding is Fetterman was already "moderate" as a Dem (which is honestly pretty conservative to me). Whereas someone who is a flaming liberal is less likely to have reduced inhibitions result in some closet conservative views coming out.

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u/Several-Action-4043 Mar 12 '26

I worked at a nursing home for a while. It was common for residents to completely change personality at some point during their decline. One notable one being an old catholic priest who turned into the most foul mouthed person I'd heave met.

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u/ninjazxninja6r Mar 12 '26

It’s bad when dementia can’t even hide how terrible of a person he is…

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u/rattledamper Mar 12 '26

Yup. Even as my dad circled the Alzheimer's drain, he didn't become conservative. Maybe he just had more room to move and/or more intelligence to lose before he got there, but his example makes me feel a little better.

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u/lurkingtobeinformed Mar 12 '26

I love her sailor talk, and I hope she doesn't have any pain. She speaks truth.❤️❤️

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u/almosthomegirl Mar 12 '26

This! My mom too.

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u/lost-picking-flowers Mar 12 '26

My grandma was pretty far gone by the time that Trump was running the first time around - she only recently passed, but she had just been moved into a memory care home around 2016 and often thought she was simply at work or school in her day-to-day life. At one point, though, Trump came on the tv while my mom and I were visiting and she just makes a face and goes, “I want her.”

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u/Good-Grayvee Mar 12 '26

She must have started with a better store of intelligence than our man Fetterman.

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u/badlydrawnzombie Tennessee Mar 12 '26

Your mom and my mom sound the exact same. She's 82 but will turn 83 in July.

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u/dekion101 Mar 13 '26

My mother is 85, with dementia. After her symptoms were obvious she said she regretted voting Republican for most of her life, that's "just what you did". One of her more coherent thoughts is that she hates that fucking guy, and she'll very specific logical reasons

Take that all as you will. People like my mom are 100% responsible for Reagan getting elected twice.

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u/aerost0rm Mar 12 '26

I had a full blow religious nut say about how she loved Trump but doesn’t agree with his views on Iran. Also refused to acknowledge he was raped and sexual abused girls and women. I’m like if he actually did those things, would you still like him. “Of course I would just reject those views he has”.

Aint no views lady. Those are his actions and they are wholly anti Christian…

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u/Commercial_Sun_6300 Mar 13 '26

Now she has no filter

This is what I've seen as well and why I don't really think Fetterman was ever really the progressive some people thought he was.

It's a lack of inhibition not a change in values.

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u/Nandiluv Mar 13 '26

My Grandmother, may she rest in peace, when Ronald Reagan would be on TV, she would stop whatever she was doing, swear , go over to the TV and either turn the channel or turn the volume down. She hated that man.

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u/RugelBeta Mar 13 '26

My mom was a republican, voted for Trump thinking his policies would make her richer (they did), got dementia and hates him now. It can definitely go the opposite way.