The term state at the international level usually refers to a nation-state. Nations generally have different terms like state, territory, province, etc for their internal divisions, hence state can refer to both meanings.
States are defined by sovereignty over territory and a group of people. They are what we commonly call countries. [1] The United States, Great Britain, and Nigeria are all examples of states
"state noun (COUNTRY)
C1 [ C or U ]
a country or its government:
The drought is worst in the central African states.
member state Britain is one of the member states of the European Union.
The government was determined to reduce the number of state-owned industries.
Some theatres receive a small amount of funding from the state.
affairs/matters of state formal His diary included comments on affairs/matters of state (= information about government activities)."
The United States is a state. The united states that make it up are states, in a different sense of the word. The brain hurt is happening because you're using two different definitions of the same thing really close together.
Come check out Oklahoma! Where you can be both the Secretary of Transportation and head the Turnpike authority (at least for a year, until the attorney general gets off his ass)! You can opt out of complying with state law (the Open Meetings Act) if you really really want to bulldoze thousands of family homes to build a toll road and don’t like that people have opinions on it.
There’s no guarantee that your kids teacher is even background checked, much less that they are qualified to teach the subject they are teaching! Thousands of dollars in COVID funds earmarked for education went to buying Christmas trees and TVs. (State superintendent and Secretary of Education also got to be positions held by the same person - with two paychecks!) We also are trying to be national leaders in ignoring the first amendment and establishing a religious online charter school!