Exependable

When Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was running for his current seat in 2022, the main argument against his election was that he was clearly still affected by a severe stroke he suffered just prior to his winning Pennsylvania's Democrat primary election. The one Senate debate he engaged in against his GOP opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz only served to exacerbate those concerns. Heck, you even had an NBC reporter being thrown under the bus when she dared to reveal how behind the scenes Fetterman struggled to process questions being asked of him. 

Of course, Fetterman was ultimately elected to the U.S. Senate, where he took the oath of office in January 2023. Shortly after he assumed his post, Fetterman sought treatment for clinical depression, an occasion which Dems engaged in a full on gaslighting campaign when concerns were once again raised about his overall health (sound familiar?). And those broaching these issues were in many cases dismissed as being "abelists."

Like with President Joe Biden, there are now reports coming out that Fetterman is (SURPRISE!) unfit for his job. With Biden, there was a sense of urgency to discourage his disastrous 2024 reelection campaign since it became glaringly obvious he was going to lose to Donald Trump. So why are the proverbial long knives suddenly coming out for Fetterman? Are there suddenly genuine concerns about his health or is it merely attributable to his (GASP!!) bipartisan streak, specifically his support for Israel or his even considering voting for Pete Hegseth's confirmation as Defense Secretary?

The back-and-forth led to what one person in his office at the time called a full-blown meltdown. According to a contemporaneous text message from this staffer sent to a colleague, Fetterman had become so distraught about the Hegseth vote, as well as chatter in the media that he might switch parties and become a Republican, that he spent part of the day locked in his office, fighting with Gisele and crying while FaceTiming with staff. “He says that they are trying to cancel him again but we don’t know who ‘they’ are,” a staffer said in a text. Fetterman ultimately voted against Hegseth’s nomination. In a statement, Fetterman said, “My no vote on Pete Hegseth speaks for itself. The rest is pure conjecture.” ...

In early November, just weeks after the attack, Gisele arrived at her husband’s Senate office and, according to a staffer present, they got into a heated argument.

"They are bombing refugee camps. How can you support this?” the staffer recalled her saying with tears in her eyes.

“That’s all propaganda,” Fetterman replied.

Later, a still visibly upset Gisele pulled the staffer aside. She asked him if members of Fetterman’s team were pushing him to take these stances for political reasons. The staffer told her that the opposite was true: Many of them were as upset as she was. “If you’re pushing back on this, there’s no hope,” the staffer recalled her saying. “This is horrible news.”

As Jim Geraghty at National Review astutely observes, the timing of these staffer "concerns" are quite telling. 

Let me get this straight: Back when Fetterman could barely speak during the debate, his medical condition was no big deal, and certainly not a reason to keep him out of elected office. But now that he’s speaking more clearly, but taking positions that irritate progressives, *now* his staffers think something’s not right with his brain? From what everyone else can see, Fetterman’s in significantly better shape than he was in 2022 and early 2023. (Last year I interacted with him briefly in the Fox News green room.)

I hope Fetterman’s in the best position possible, and I hope he’s following the instructions from his doctors. But both the staffer concern and New York Magazine’s attention on Fetterman’s health are remarkably conveniently timed.

Fetterman has nearly four years remaining in his current term. Short of his resigning, the Dems are stuck with him for that duration, so his presence in the Senate will only serve as a reminder of how intolerant leftists are of views which defy the prog orthodoxy. Yup, once again Democrats have been hoisted by their own petard. 

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