TJ Walker examines whether Senator John Fetterman is fit to serve, discussing his stroke, depression, and erratic conduct. The video raises questions about the political implications for his party and constituents.
Senator John Fetterman needs to step down. This isn't cruelty, it's honesty. Reports from New York Magazine, the AP, and the Philadelphia Inquirer describe a senator who's confused, erupting in outbursts and reportedly shouting things like, why does everybody hate me? Worse, he's been driving recklessly, involved in multiple crashes, putting others at risk. That's not just decline, it's Dangerous. Betterman suffered a stroke. He's battled depression. He deserves compassion. But compassion doesn't mean denial. Let's be clear. The two major parties in America are not equally dysfunctional. But both have a pattern of hiding age or health related decline until it explodes. You don't build trust by gaslighting voters. If a party wants credibility, it can't ask people to ignore what's obvious. Leadership means knowing when to fight and knowing when it's time to step aside. Okay, this is a tricky, tough situation for the Democrats. They are not in control of the United States Senate. John Fetterman won a close state. It's one of those purple states that could go either way. It's a swing state. He beat Dr. Oz in a Senate race a couple of years ago, still has four years left on the term. So it's tough for the Democrats to give up something like this or risk losing the seat if he were to resign and have another race earlier than predicted. But this is becoming untenable. Now, I've never met him. I haven't worked with him. But I have worked on Capitol Hill before, and I could tell you there are definitely people who just stay around too long. Strom Thurmond, Republican from the Carolinas where I grew up, was a hundred years old and apparently had no idea where he was. He was known for fondling the buttocks of female senators in the elevator. He was absolutely out of it stayed maybe 20 years longer than he should have. Now, the problem with John Fetterman is not that he's old, he's only 55, he's younger than I am, but he has suffered depression and to his credit, he's been forthcoming with that. He's sought out treatment, but apparently he's not getting better. He's just not able to function. Now, look, you can be a great senator, a great leader and be gruff. you can be unpleasant, you can be abrupt. You don't have to be this lovable charming person all the time. You can still be great. But if you can't keep staff, if no one wants to work for you, if everybody hates you, if everyone thinks you're crazy, if everyone's worried about going into a room with you for fear that you're gonna start screaming hysterically and be fired instantly, You can't really accomplish anything for any voters by all accounts from numerous reputable journalistic sources. That's where we are with John Fetterman today. Now, you could certainly make the case that there are some other people in Washington now who are making bizarre, bizarre pronouncements, doing things that in no way have even a potential to have a positive impact on the public, and are equally deranged and the inner circle around that person not speaking up either. But we're gonna leave that aside for another day. Right now, Senator John Fetterman is in the news. To many fair-minded observers, I should point out, the people speaking out against him are people of his own party. They are Democrats who work for him. They're his staff members. They are media outlets. New York magazine that in no way are seen as having a bias trying to help members of another party. So none of those issues surround this particular case. It's simply a matter of as a human being, does this person seem bonkers? And I realize that's not a clinical term. And maybe members of the psychiatric community don't appreciate me using the term bonkers, but by all accounts, Senator John Bitterman seems like he's bonkers. Could he recover at some point in the next six months, get back to it? I don't know, but don't the millions of voters in a major significant industrial state like Pennsylvania, aren't they owed representation every single day and every day in Washington, in a time like this when there are so many crises facing our nation? So that's really the problem for the political party he happens to be a member of, is he is sending a message to voters, not just in that state, but to voters across the country. Hey, we care more about one guy and about helping our party numbers than actually having competent people in office. So I don't think it's helping the particular political party he's representing, and it certainly doesn't help Washington in general with its reputation. of being a place where once people get there, they can be wildly incompetent and stay until they die of old age, which does happen a lot in Washington, D.C. People get a taste of power, perks, staff, they don't want to give it up. And I have seen this firsthand where people start to feel entitled. And I remember Some members of Congress, they bring their dogs to the office and expect their staff to walk them and clean up the poop and things that you just can't get away with in the private sector. Work with as much or as little as they want and have staff run personal errands for them. And no one wants to give that up, especially a lot of people don't realize this. A lot of members of Congress are not by any stretch wealthy. When you look at someone who's like 70 years old and a member of Congress compared to many 70 year olds, they are more affluent than the average American, but they are not many cases multimillionaires or richer than that. And so for them to go and have to drive their own car, take care of themselves, pick up their own laundry, figure out how to answer a phone call, is unappealing. So they'll stay on regardless of physical deterioration, regardless of mental deterioration. And it's not a good look. It's not a good look for them. It's not a good look for their party. And voters are increasingly resenting it. There is a new book out this week called Original Sin about a similar problem related to the inner circle the staff surrounding the previous president who by all accounts went through serious, serious physical in his last few years of office before he was pushed off the stage. Here we have a situation not age related, but in many ways it brings the same unfortunate ugly memories. John, Fetterman, I hope you get better, but if you don't get better right away, you need to turn over the keys to the office to someone else who can give a hundred percent to the constituents needs and someone who can actually get along with human beings without having bizarre outbursts.
