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April 19, 2023

Sen. Fetterman had an inauspicious re-debut in the Senate

By Andrea Widburg

After a long hiatus in a psychiatric ward, where he was being treated for severe depression, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was back in Congress doing his job as chair of a subcommittee to the Agriculture Committee. It was not an auspicious re-debut. Even with every word written out for him, his delivery was severely stilted, indicating that this is not a well man and hinting that he is his aides’ puppet.

Yesterday, Fetterman returned to the Senate for the first time in three months following his treatment for clinical depression. He raised eyebrows because he walked into those once-hallowed halls, the symbol of America’s representative democracy, wearing gym shorts and a hoodie:

Still, it seems petty to cavil, especially if he was just running in to pick up something or say hello to the team, as opposed to being there on official business. By today, Fetterman was back to wearing appropriately dignified clothes for his role as chairman of the Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee On Food And Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, And Research. For his opening statement, he read from a printed speech with which he seemed unfamiliar. That is, there’s no evidence that he had anything to do with writing the speech. His labored reading suggests that his aides handed it to him at the last minute. You’ve heard this style of reading before, back when you were in elementary school, and the teacher asked one of the slower students to read a passage from a book. If you liked the kid, you suffered along with him as he sounded out and stumbled from one (to him) meaningless word after another. If you didn’t like him…even if you didn’t tease him directly, you weren’t thinking unkind thoughts inside your head:

The same agonizing delivery reappeared when he was ostensibly questioning one of the witnesses who appeared before the committee:

If Fetterman were anyone other than who he is, I would feel only compassion for his struggles as well as admiration for his courage. To have a massive stroke and then work to return to some semblance of normalcy is impressive and deserving of praise. But Fetterman is who he is: A brain-damaged man who, knowing his impairment and limitations, nevertheless ran for and accepted a seat in the U.S. Senate. (Of course, a lot of the blame does go to the Pennsylvania Democrats who voted for him and the Republicans who refused to vote for Dr. Oz.)

In other words, if you put yourself in the spotlight, you’re inviting judgment, and Fetterman willingly thrust himself into the national spotlight, where he is yet one more embodiment of a political party that puts mentally-impaired people into positions of authority (e.g., Joe Biden, Dianne Feinstein, and John Fetterman), puts mentally-ill people into high-level healthcare positions (e.g., Richard “Rachel” Levine), and puts mentally-ill criminals in high-level nuclear positions (e.g., Sam Brinton).

I’m too mature to point and laugh—and, in any event, because my country’s well-being is at stake, I feel more inclined to weep—but Fetterman’s performance is truly noteworthy in a tragicomic way as just one more sign that our nation is in decline.

Image: John Fetterman. Twitter screen grab.

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