Okay. It's been a while. I am so incredibly disappointed, to say the least, by the leadership (or lack thereof) in my country, the United States of America, right now. The meeting that happened between Trump ("president" of the USA) and President Zelenskyy (President of Ukraine) a few days ago was appalling and embarrassing on our side. Our president has essentially alienated us from our allies and aligned us with one of our adversaries, attempting to humiliate the president of a war-torn country whilst doing so. I am so disgusted by what this administration has done, and it unfortunately goes beyond our betrayal of our allies. However, perhaps what's worse is the amount of Americans that are in support of the utter disgrace that was that meeting in the Oval Office. I've been seeing a ridiculous amount of people on this site alone defending Trump and Vance. To which I say, c'mon people. We are the future generation. We need to stand up for the people, communities, and countries that need us. The fact that everyone commenting about this stuff has a device to safely type their opinions signifies that we all have two privileges that many don't: the internet and a voice. And instead of using it for any good, we're spreading hate and misinformation, and in doing so we're encouraging ignorance and apathy. To my fellow Americans... listen, I know it's easier to spread hate than do your own research. I have conservative parents, so to say the least, I've believed some wacky stuff. But please, please try your best not to spread lies. The current administration is known for spreading misinformation and they don't need our help (And yes, this administration spreads misinformation. Just look at how they're blatantly lying about their economic plans). It may be tempting to go on a pro-Ukraine project and mimic internet troll's opinions, but please don't. Actually make sure your claims are true. Make sure the place you're getting information from is credible. Remember that Ukraine is at WAR, and that their opponent is committing war crimes. Even if this war was Ukraine's fault, which it absolutely was not, only one side is kidnapping children and targeting civilians and it's not Ukraine. Please remember that if Russia stopped fighting there would be no more war, but if Ukraine stopped fighting there would be no more Ukraine. Trump is an openly hateful person that is known for lying. I don't say this to offend anyone, I say it because it's true. Please, please, please take everything he says with a grain of salt no matter what your political opinions may be. At least try to do your own research before reiterating the points he makes. The USA, at large, has a reputation of being very loudly and proudly misinformed, especially on the internet, but it doesn't have to be that way. Oh, and a quick note to all of my international readers: please know that Trump doesn't speak for the majority of this country. I personally haven't agreed with much that's come out of his mouth at all. I, and many of my fellow citizens, stand with Ukraine and Europe even if our "president" doesn't. I know Trump is making it seem like every American is against y'all, but I assure you we aren't. That's all I guess. I am still, after having a while to think about this, incredibly upset. I never thought I'd be this ashamed of my country. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with this project but I needed to say something. It wasn't my intention to attack anybody, but if you do feel offended, I would implore you to ask yourself why before pressing that "report" button. Just please do your own research and have some sympathy for our fellow humans in Ukraine. We're living in scary times, but our generation is a chance at a better tomorrow. *** I'd also like to add that Russia isn't bad, but it's leader is. Hate towards an entire population of a country because of the acts of their leaders isn't right, especially when that leader is a dictator and the civilians don't have much of a say on what happens. Hating every Russian because of Putin's actions would be like hating every American because of Trump's actions, it's unfair and an over-generalization. (A note to the Scratch Team in case someone does report this - this is not political and I don't mean to be hateful or mean towards anyone or persuade anyone politically/morally/etc. and I tried my hardest not to bring up topics that would be inappropriate. I just simply felt like someone needed to point out that some people on this site /are/ being openly hateful towards people that support Ukraine and encourage people to do their own research before reiterating harmful and cruel lies. I don't believe I broke any community guidelines with this project.)
Oh, and in case you didn't know about the meeting between Trump, Vance, and President Zelenskyy, they met with a bunch of reporters in the Oval Office a few days ago to "negotiate peace". It ended up with Trump and Vance essentially throwing diplomacy out of the window and quite literally yelling at President Zelenskyy in front of the entire world. President Zelenskyy had to leave early because of, if we're being honest, Trump and Vance's bruised egos. Later Trump posted on Twitter that apparently it was all President Zelenskyy's fault and that he "wasn't ready for peace" despite the fact that he quite literally flew to the US to negotiate peace and was so much more respectful of Trump and Vance than they were of him. I wouldn't watch it if I were you to be honest, I'm still seething about it and Trump's state of the union address last night just made it worse...