Fetterman Hospitalized For 'Clinical Depression'

Brittany M. Hughes | February 16, 2023
DONATE
Text Audio
00:00 00:00
Font Size


 

I hate to say I told you so, but….yeah. I told you so.

It took less than two months for newly-inaugurated Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania to check himself into Walter Reed Medical Center for the second time, this time for clinical depression, according to a statement from his staff.

Fetterman, who previously served as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor before coming to Washington, spent the better part of his senatorial campaign slurring his way through interviews and stumbling incoherently over debate questions, raising concerns over his ability to represent his state on Capitol Hill after a stroke in the spring of 2022 left him perpetually confused and unintelligible.

Despite his obvious difficulties, the leftist media continued covering for the Democrat candidate, insisting that his impairment was no different than needing a wheelchair or glasses and insinuating that anyone who questioned a recent stroke victim's capacity to govern a nation was somehow “ableist.”

When NBC reporter Dasha Burnsaid said on-air back in October that Fetterman appeared confused during smalltalk before their recorded interview – during which questions were transcribed into closed captioning for Fetterman to read – she was instantly blasted on social media for supposedly belittling the disabled, and accused by the New York Times op-ed of “implying that NBC was doing Mr. Fetterman a favor by using captioning and that it was a problem for the candidate that he needed technology to reliably converse.”

Related: The State of the Union Is NOT Strong, and Americans Know It

But while his campaign staff at the time insisted - with the generous help of the media - that Fetterman’s cognition was intact, shortly after his inauguration to office in January, the senator’s office began playing defense over his apparent inability to understand reporters’ questions on the Hill, with the New York Times reporting the stroke damage to Fetterman’s auditory processing meant he hears words in a jumble, much like the garbled mumbling of Charlie Brown’s teacher on Peanuts. Staffers told reporters that shouting questions at the senator – as journalists have always done on the Hill – wouldn’t work with Fetterman, and that they should be prepared with written questions in advance. A closed captioning monitor has been set up for Fetterman at his desk on the Senate floor, and another on the center dais. 

On February 9, only a few weeks after first taking office, Fetterman was hospitalized for lightheadedness during a Senate Democrat retreat.

In announcing that the senator has now checked himself into the hospital for the second time this month, Fetterman’s staff said the senator has battled depression "off and on" for years, but that the problem “only became severe in recent weeks.” In a separate statement, Fetterman’s wife said she’s “proud” of her husband for getting medical help, adding, “This is a difficult time for our family, so please respect our privacy.”

While we certainly hope Fetterman gets whatever help he needs, "privacy" is a little hard to fork over given that Fetterman is, by his own voluntary will, an elected official tasked with overseeing the governing of the United States – which is exactly why many of us were asking if he was up to the task before he hit the steps of Capitol Hill.

donate