Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has returned to his elected duties under duress, claiming his party members are shaming him and his mental health. It’s true that the lawmaker hadn’t been attending committee meetings and was lagging behind in constituent responsibilities, preferring to spend more time with his family. So is this a genuine attempt to get the senator help, or just a ploy to discredit him for having some views that seem to lean toward the conservative agenda?
Fetterman Plagued by Health Issues
In 2022, Fetterman had a stroke during a very competitive Senate race, which he still won. Soon afterward, he admitted himself to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a six-week program to treat depression. Those around him and others were very supportive of his recovery. However, after his stroke, some noticed that his views occasionally differed from the popular opinions held within his party.
In 2024, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill banning lab-grown meat, as Liberty Nation News reported, Fetterman posted on X: “Pains me deeply to agree with Crash-and-Burn Ron, but I co-sign this. As a member of @SenateAgDems and as some dude who would never serve that slop to my kids, I stand with our American ranchers and farmers.” He ended up earning the hashtag #Betterman as his politics continued to pleasantly surprise conservatives while several Democrats ground their teeth.
Last year, the lawmaker pulled back from participating in many Senate activities, including attending meetings and holding town halls in his district. Around that time, the senator’s former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, wrote a letter to Fetterman’s doctor, claiming the senator was spiraling out of control, exhibiting “warning signs” that Fetterman could be backsliding in his mental health recovery.
“I’m worried that if John stays on his current trajectory he won’t be with us for much longer,” Jentleson wrote to a physician who had treated the senator at Walter Reed. According to a New York Times report, some of his colleagues were “frightened” to be in the lawmaker’s presence “if he was in an amped-up mood.” And the concerns continued: “They [his colleagues] have also long been warned never to get in a car if Mr. Fetterman is behind the wheel because of his dangerous driving habits.”
To be fair, Fetterman has had reckless driving incidents, going 70 mph in a 30 mph zone, according to reports. Pennsylvania records reveal he’s had at least two prior infractions for driving more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit.
However, Jentleson’s letter said the people around Fetterman had seen some “warning signs” that the doctor had cautioned about, including “conspiratorial thinking, megalomania (for example, he claims to be the most knowledgeable source on Israel and Gaza around but his sources are just what he reads in the news – he declines most briefings and never reads memos),” The Times wrote.
Fetterman is not your typical politician. He shows up to work in Carhartt hoodies and shorts. He speaks his mind and seems to have little regard for how people perceive his candid thoughts. Apparently, he doesn’t enjoy participating in committee meetings since he describes them as a “performative” waste of time. Since he returned from Walter Reed, he has missed more votes than all but two senators: JD Vance and Tim Scott, who had both been on the presidential campaign trail. He also missed more votes than Patty Murray (D-WA), who is caring for her husband, and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has been on his “Fighting Oligarchy Tour.”
“The votes I missed were overwhelmingly procedural; they’re even called ‘bed check’ votes,” Fetterman argued, saying the term is demeaning. “I had to make a decision: getting here and sticking my thumb in the door for three seconds for a procedural vote or spend Monday night as a dad-daughter date.”
Kierstyn Zolfo, a member of the progressive group Indivisible, disagrees: “The regrettable fact is that John Fetterman is not doing the job he was elected to perform.”
When he continued to be called out for not attending meetings or fulfilling his responsibilities, Fetterman decided to get back into the swing of things, but with the caveat that he was “showing up because people in the media have weaponized” his absence and portrayed him as mentally unfit. “My doctor warned years ago,” he said. “After it’s public that you are getting help for depression, people will weaponize that. Simple things are turned. That’s exactly what happened.”
Fetterman added, “It shook me that people are willing to weaponize that I got help.”
Some Democrats have been concerned that Fetterman appears to cozy up to the Republicans too much and that he is being used by the GOP. “Really, really cool dude,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said of the Pennsylvania lawmaker. “Chuck Schumer is a drooling moron compared to John Fetterman.”
Fetterman, however, denies the accusations, remarking, “That’s insulting and patronizing to say. There’s no political upside for [Republicans] to be nice to me. They realize what it is, and it’s a smear.” He added that while he shares some of the same ideals on certain issues – such as support for Israel and illegal immigration control – “I’m not going to become a Republican; there’s no lane for me.”
According to EveryCRSReport.com:
“There is no specific protocol or procedure set out in the United States Constitution, federal law, or congressional rule for the Senate or the House of Representatives that has been followed to recognize an ‘incapacity’ of a sitting member and thereby declare a ‘vacancy’ in such office. Under the general practice in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, a personal ‘incapacity’ of a sitting, living member has not generated proceedings to declare the seat vacant, and sitting members of the Senate and the House who have become incapacitated, and who have not resigned, have generally served out their terms of office.”
Fetterman, by far, is not the only member of Congress to remain on Capitol Hill after falling ill or becoming incapacitated.
Sen. Carter Glass (D-VA) was 85 years old in 1943 and stopped attending work due to health issues, but he retained his seat until his death in 1946.
In 1964, Democrats tried to get Sen. Clair Engle (D-CA) to resign after discovering he was dying of brain cancer. The lawmaker refused and, at one point, was wheeled onto the floor to vote by motioning with his hand. He died about a month after that.
Sen. Karl Mundt (R-SD) had a debilitating stroke in 1969. He never went back to work, but he refused to resign and held his seat until his term ended in 1973.
Perhaps there are heartfelt concerns about Fetterman’s health and ability to perform his duties, but it certainly appears that some Democrats are trying to push this “rebel” out the door. In this time of rancorous political division, it seems any rapprochement with Republicans is unacceptable.
