There’s no way John Fetterman shows up for the debate against Mehmet Oz at the end of October, right? That was my initial thought after seeing a clip from MSNBC on Tuesday where a reporter makes a disturbing admission about John Fetterman’s condition after attempting to interview him.
I say “attempting,” because apparently, things didn’t go very well. According to Dash Burns, Fetterman had a hard time “understanding” their conversations, having to rely on a computer monitor to show closed captioning.
The buzz phrase that keeps getting repeated by Fetterman and media outlets friendly to him (there’s a reason he only goes on MSNBC) is this idea of him having “auditory processing” issues. That’s been a carefully crafted excuse for his mental lapses, with the obvious suggestion being that he just can’t hear very well. Of course, that alone is a problem given the US Senate requires members to interact on the floor while participating in things like roll calls and voice votes.
But it’s the “processing” part that I think tells the rest of the story. It appears that Fetterman can hear just fine. Rather, he has trouble mentally processing what he’s hearing into coherent thoughts in his head. That seems like a rather big deal for someone who wants to be a US senator, does it not? If you can’t understand what other senators are saying, that’s a problem, and there won’t be closed captioning everywhere on Capitol Hill.
Even then, I think there’s ample evidence that the “auditory processing” line is underselling what’s really going on. When you watch Fetterman, it’s not just that he can’t seem to understand what others are saying. It’s also the fact that others can’t understand what he’s saying. An inability to process incoming words doesn’t add up to what we are seeing on the campaign trail and in these media appearances.
Another aspect of this is the lack of data being shared about Fetterman’s condition. If he’s got these problems (and he clearly does), then he should release his medical records so the voters can actually see the details. Given Fetterman spent months hiding behind his Twitter account, pretending he was fine until he was finally forced out into the open, there’s no reason to trust him now when he gives an assessment of his health.
Fetterman’s response to criticism of his condition has thus far been to play the victim, pretending as if he’s being unfairly picked on due to his disabilities. But the US Senate is not a jobs program. It requires a certain skillset with certain abilities. Being of sound mind is one of them. Being able to speak clearly and process what others say clearly is also a big part of the job. While Democrats want to act as if Fetterman can just sit in his office and cast votes, that’s not how it works.
With all that said, there’s zero chance this guy debates, in my opinion. If he’s having trouble understanding an MSNBC reporter who is tossing him pre-planned softballs via a closed captioning system, how is he going to deal with the hostile environment of a debate? My money is on Fetterman and his handlers coming up with some excuse to duck out. I’ll let the rest of you place your own bets.