John Fetterman remains institutionalized and unable to perform the duties of his office following his admission for severe depression. Now, we finally have an “update” on his situation.
As RedState previously reported, the Pennsylvania senator and his staff have provided very little in the way of information for the public, though they have staged a few photos of him “working” for the compliant press to fawn over.
Making the situation even weirder, Gisele Fetterman ran off to Canada after her husband initially went into the hospital, posting a long social media screed in which she didn’t even mention him. Some weeks later, People Magazine, in an article meant to drool over Gisele Fetterman being a volunteer firefighter, revealed that she’s only been visiting her husband once a week.
So what’s the latest update? According to CNN’s Manu Raju, Fetterman is “making progress in his recovery from clinical depression” and will be “as good or better than his best days post-stroke.”
Putting that out is insulting. I know the assumption is that most Americans are either too stupid or too busy to pay attention to political gas-lighting, but truly, this is next-level stuff.
John Fetterman has clinical depression, and by his own admission, he has a severe diagnosis of it. Clinical depression is not like a virus. You don’t just go to the hospital, sit around, pop some meds, and come out good as new a few weeks later. Rather, it’s often a life-long struggle of balancing medication and one’s personal life in order to mitigate the effects. This idea that Fetterman is going to get a new drug cocktail and suddenly be “cured” is farcical. That’s not how depression works.
Further, the circumstance which triggered Fetterman’s worsening depression was his working in Washington, DC. How is he going to return to his life and not suffer another relapse if he changes absolutely nothing about it? This is a man who needs to be at home with his family. Presumably, that would include an attentive wife. Going back to the doldrums and stresses of politics, remaining isolated from those he loves will only exacerbate his situation.
That’s what makes this so crazy. If Fetterman is suffering from severe clinical depression coupled with his other serious physical health problems, going right back into the situation that brought him to this point is the worst thing that he could do. Where are the adults in the room to say enough is enough? A US Senator can’t perform the duties of his office while suffering from clinical depression and being unable to participate in basic communication. Depression affects decision making, even when medicated. I realize the joke is that senators don’t do anything, but this is pushing the limits of absurdity.
Lastly, it sure would be nice to have an honest press corps that was willing to look at this with a critical eye. Manu Raju just repeats the “update” verbatim without even a hint of skepticism despite how ridiculous it is. He and the rest of the mainstream media are going down with this ship.