In a statement to the Inquirer, Fetterman seemingly didn’t even deny this specific characterization of his behavior. He only affirmed that he’d “had a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration’s cuts to our education system,” and vowed that he “will always support our teachers, and I will always reject anyone’s attempt to turn Pennsylvania’s public schools into a voucher program.”
Of course, it’s hard to see how Fetterman is fighting for anyone, really. He has the third-worst voting attendance in the Senate so far this year and the lowest voting attendance record of any senator from the last two years. The New Republic points out that he’s only made one public appearance in the state he represents since August. One former Fetterman staffer told the Inquirer, “It’s pretty impossible to overstate how disengaged he is. He doesn’t read memos, he’s taking very few meetings.… The job is just a platform for him to run for president; that’s all he cares about.”
Since 2023, certainly after Israel launched its war on Gaza and Fetterman began making a range of unhinged public comments supporting the mass slaughter of Palestinians, many have been raising their eyebrows about the senator’s behavior and questioning his mental state. Earlier that year, he’d been hospitalized for depression and had also reportedly been struggling with mental and physical health ailments since his stroke in 2022. New York magazine’s report about Fetterman alleged that his condition is even worse than previously known, yielding high staff turnover and, in some cases, even endangering lives. Fetterman’s former chief of staff claimed the senator isn’t taking his medications or following his treatment plan and that he recently bought a gun. Fetterman even almost killed his wife, himself, and another driver in a highway car accident in June when he fell asleep at the wheel.
As for his alleged, bizarre outburst last week demanding “Why does everyone hate me?” and “What did I ever do?” I have a few guesses, which might include his comments referring to Palestinians as “sour milk” and calling on Israel to “kill them all.” Or, perhaps berating a group of teachers for daring to ask that he take action against Trump. Maybe one of those! Nonetheless, earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer maintained that Fetterman is an “all-star” who’s “doing a good job.”
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