By Ray Cardello for August 1, 2025, Season 32 / Post 13

We have become a sedate, out-of-shape country that transcends mere inactivity, becoming couch potatoes who stare into our cellphones. With our decrease in activity, we have seen a correlating increase in diabetes, heart issues, and depression. We are not only lazy, but unhealthy, and we need someone to kickstart a change, and along comes President Donald Trump to see a problem and devise a solution. Trump signed an Executive Order today to bring back the Presidential Fitness Council and to reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools. MAFA is joining MAGA and MAHA: Make America Fit Again.

Most of us, and I am among the guilty, can easily find other things to do rather than exercise, hop on the treadmill, or go to the gym. It is far easier to hit the Dunkin’ drive-through, but our kids are the victims of our bad habits. It is not just exercise we are avoiding, but sheer activity has become rare. Why walk a few blocks when we can hop in the car to get to the corner store for a pint of Häagen-Dazs?? Why take a walk when we can flip open our iPad for a few games of Candy Crush? Well, it is never too late to make a change, and we are going to get our kids off the couch and onto the track.

I write every day, but I also drive a school bus for elementary and middle-school kids. I notice a significant difference in energy level and social skills between the athletes and the other students. The kids who board my bus with one backpack for books and another for the sport of the season are more confident and affable than the other students, but they are obviously more fit. The level of obesity among our youth is astounding. Many of my riders struggle with the few steps required to board the bus. Think about the challenges ahead for these out-of-shape kids.

In a week when the Left is having sit-ins outside I.C.E. facilities and going apoplectic over a jeans commercial, crying racism over the blue-eyed-blonde model in the American Eagle commercial, the President is showing genuine concern for a serious problem afflicting our kids. Flanked by JD Vance and RFKJ and surrounded by a collection of athletes from every corner of sport, from HHH to Annika Sörenstam, Trump talked about our country giving up on our youngest. Today is the first page of a different chapter, and we are going to work on our kids’ minds with a refocused education system and get their butts off the couch and bring competition back into their lives.

This topic sheds light on the differences between the Left and Right. The leaderless Left is triggered by a TV commercial and cannot find a purpose to get behind except the spreading of TDS. The Right can stop wars, reconfigure global trading, seal our border, start deporting millions of illegal aliens, and address childhood fitness. And all of that has happened in just six months. By the end of the first year, the Left will have no choice but to feast on crow and admit they have been outdone.