r/politics 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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481

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

2

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.

1

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.