Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was meeting last week with representatives from a teachers union in his home state when things quickly devolved.
Before long, Fetterman began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why “everybody is mad at me,” “why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do” and slamming his hands on a desk, according to one person who was briefed on what occurred.
As the meeting deteriorated, a staff member moved to end it and ushered the visitors into the hallway, where she broke down crying. The staffer was comforted by the teachers who were themselves rattled by Fetterman’s behavior, according to a second person who was briefed separately on the meeting.
“WHY is everybody MAD at me people HATE me WHAT did i EVER do to YOU” idk man maybe bc ur whining like a child because people disagree with you
All he has to do to get them off his back is to resign. He’s not being forced to stay in a job that makes both him and his constituents miserable.
stroke+ falling in with the right wing crowd isnt doing him any favors. there are many celebrities that had strokes and became looney right wing christians.
Yeah, brain damage and right-wing thinking are heavily intertwined
Apparently brain damage and fascism correlate.
Bets on how long before this dude records a collab track with Kanye?
Probably the immediate about-face he took on every single stance he had prior to his stroke…
People tend to get mad when you campaign on helping people then turn into a fascist supporter
No, no, no. He was a piece of shit before he got elected he just hid it better before the stroke.
Probably the immediate about-face he took on every single stance he had prior to his stroke…
Prior to his election. Stop blaming the stroke for a democrat acting like a democrat.
I think that stroke might have killed more brain cells than we originally thought. Almost as many as that brain worm.
the brainworms is just keeping rfk jr conscience.
I think this is an insensitive thing to post. I fear it might be true. A more active fear center (even just relative to other brain functions) might explain not only the policy shifts, but also this outburst.
I hope he can get that care he needs (if any). I don’t think his actions (so far) as impeachable, so we’ll just have to wait until he’s served the rest of his term before the people of his great state can replace him.
Insensitive? Fuck that. No district should have to put up with a turncoat no matter what caused it. He doesn’t get a pass for getting so brain damaged he couldn’t think anymore. If anything, that’s an exact reason to impeach.
No district should have to put up with a turncoat no matter what caused it.
Fetterman isn’t a turncoat. He does exactly what party leadership wants.
I hope you never have to experience a life-changing health event.
As far as I know, there’s intentionally no recall procedure for federal offices. So, the system is designed so that districts do put up with turncoats. I would be open to changing that, but I’m not interested in championing such a change.
And I’m not interested in championing further discussion with you, thx.
They need to stop calling him a Democrat. He’s not one.
They need to keep calling him a democrat. He lied about being a progressive to get into office and then made a hard right turn. The only thing more emblematic of the democratic party is blaming the left when pandering to the right fails.
That cock ain’t one of us
I reckon I like me some fried taters, mmmm hmmm
Brain damage makes you more conservative
Universities aren’t peddling some “liberal agenda,” it just so happens that the more educated you are the more liberal you tend to become. I’m sure that has nothing to do with red states pushing Jesus in schools and rolling back child labor laws…
What if it’s deeper than that. Like not systematic. What if liberals who are educated are just more outspoken. Or that people who tend to need post secondary school are more left leaning. What if it has nothing to do with education at all. I see no reason to believe the left are any more intelligent than the right. The argument that they are is similar to arguments like people in Alberta saying they’re better than other provinces because they’re rich but really it’s just a product of living in a province where there’s an abundance of natural resources.
I see no reason to believe the left are any more intelligent than the right.
But intelligence and education are not exactly the same things.
A stockbroker knows about farms; but not the finer details that make one successful. Much like how politicians say they understand the struggles of the working class but never worked a day in their lives
It is deeper and systemic. Depending on your field of study it could be analyzed any number of ways. I said nothing about intelligence, that’s hard to quantify and we’re all born with the same set of tools more or less. What is quantifiable is the census and voting records of various states around this nation. Being born into a family of poor idiots doesn’t make you dumb, but it does put you at a statistical likelihood of not seeing that potential because college is expensive and the local culture believing higher education=liberal brainwashing.
No one is automatically better than anyone else based on their zip code, but being in the nicer ones does help, who’d have thought
I think a major part of it is education and exposure. Conservativism is, generally, a desire to halt or even roll back “progress”. The embrace of traditions and nostalgia for the imaginary “good old days”. You know what your parents and your community taught you. You’ve established what normal is from your small sample size. Why change things? Everyone you know gets along just fine and you like the way it is. Different is scary.
Unfortunately, the world is really fucking complicated. Simple explanations can make perfect sense when your understanding is simple. However, the more you learn about the world, the more diversity you are exposed to, the more context you discover, the more stereotypes get broken… the more accommodating and progressive you usually become.
It’s far darker than this. You’re all one step away from this kind of flip. I mean neurotypical people here (though I doubt neurodivergent are proof against it, normal people are just super vulnerable). It’s all based on identity and once something is part of your identity there is no logic that can shift you.
Having higher intelligence correlates strongly to left wing beliefs.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289624000254
If people have papers to the contrary lets see them.
It’s incredible how many passes he’s gotten since his stroke. He’s been spiraling hard. Megalomania, paranoia, and overall reckless behavior have become more common traits, but according to him he’s fine, he says while seething through clenched teeth.
Gets brain damage
Becomes conservative snowflake
I have had to watch this happen to a close friend.
Back in 2015, I had a buddy who got into a nasty bike accident, and suffered a TBI. He was always a bit of a snarky asshole, but we definitely did see eye to eye on political matters before that happened. But during his recovery, he became a lot more viciously vindictive and outright mean, and also ended up going full MAGA later on. It was weird and depressing to watch a close friend spiral out of control and lash out at people who were previously his very close friends, to the extent that he alienated basically all of them.
It sucks, and it’s very real.
I wonder how much high school athletics have contributed to conservatism via head injuries and groupthink?
Honestly, probably a lot
its either cte, strokes, or drugs turn into a nutty christian right winger. or if you have something like undiagnosed schizophrenia.
I think it was more like money damage… Being offered enough to completely abandon former thoughts and goals.
he was pretty much a A-HOLE before he strokes, the stroke just removed all inhibitions from him.
Sounds about right
🤔
Yet with your combined superior intellect Democrats have lost control of all 3 branches of government and the supreme court. Maybe you guys are not as superior as you believe you are?
I’m not American or a Democrat and you’re dumb
The Judicial system, which includes the Supreme Court, is a branch of government.
“Nuh uh!”
-MAGAt
Does the block function work in Lemmy?
Oh look it does
he got the passes til he started to become the AIPAC cheerleading for ISRAEL, and went crying to BILL MAHER of all people.
John needs the health insurance and his policy is what every single resident in the USA should have. He does not give a shit about the common people. Find another Democrat and toss him out.
Dude acted cool. Then he has a serious medical issue. Suddenly he chooses to quit giving a shit because he saw his death and chose to be selfish and unappreciative of life. I’m glad I didn’t do that when I nearly died.
Getting brain damage and becoming conservative is quite the statement though.
I didn’t make that statement.
I think the point is that Fetterman did
As somebody that has suffered from a stroke, I can pretty much relate to what John is going through here as I used to suffer from emotional outbursts early into my recovery as well. While I cannot promise you that it’s the same thing exactly it sure seems awfully familiar and hopefully he can recover like I did.
I had a stroke (really, a multi-stroke trauma event). I spent many days in the hospital under close supervision. Unlike Fetterman, I listened to my doctors, took an extended leave of absence from work, slept almost the entire time so my brain could heal in those critical days and weeks, took my medication, and went to physical therapy.
Fetterman reportedly didn’t do any of that.
I recovered fully. Fetterman clearly did not. In his current state, he should step down for the sake of everyone, especially himself. The stress of his job is about the worst possible thing he could do to himself.
I agree, I also did a bit of consoling to rehab myself. John should too.
You’re the only commenter on this post who mentioned his stroke in the context of hoping for his recovery- rather than using it to mock him. So much for tolerance
Sounds like everyone else is weirdly angry that he’s STILL IN OFFICE causing problems when he’s clearly not fit for the job, regardless of the reason? Isn’t that the more pressing concern than his health, him being an utter stranger to almost everyone?
Why do people need to be kind and sensitive toward someone’s recovery while that person insists on keeping a position of extreme responsibility, and constantly fucks it up, while “recovering”?
Crappy take, friend. And the “so much for tolerance” is such a loaded phrase, you almost sound insincere, to boot. We don’t owe these politicians a fuckin thing, CERTAINLY not some prioritized level of compassion. Get real!
Crappy take, friend. And the “so much for tolerance” is such a loaded phrase, you almost sound insincere, to boot. We don’t owe these politicians a fuckin thing, CERTAINLY not some prioritized level of compassion.
I think people should be compassionate to literally every other person.
Why do people need to be kind and sensitive toward someone’s recovery while that person insists on keeping a position of extreme responsibility, and constantly fucks it up, while “recovering”?
Probably because he feels passionate about his beliefs and feels its important that he fights for them.
🤡
xd
Would you feel the same way if his stroke destroyed his ability to drive a car but he insisted on continuing to do so anyway and kept putting lives at risk? It would be great if if can make a full recovery, and I certainly hope he can, but he needs to get the fuck out of the driver’s seat until he does so.
Putting aside the fact that he is also literally doing that and has also hurt his poor wife
Would you feel the same way if his stroke destroyed his ability to drive a car but he insisted on continuing to do so anyway and kept putting lives at risk?
Being in political office isn’t driving a car. But regardless, even assuming the analogy were correct, yes I would say you should still be compassionate about it.
He got elected as a Democrat with a decently progressive policy platform, had a stroke, then said, “all the progressiveness has left my body” and turned his back on the constituents who elected him. He’ll get sympathy when he resigns for health reasons and not a moment before that.
Until then he’s just another brain damaged liar and a traitor to his constituents, like his new friend Lil Donnie.
So much for tolerance… in anonymous online forums? Schadenfreude for public figures is easy enough to come by in real life that it should be no surprise to see it shine through online
So much for tolerance… in anonymous online forums?
I mean yea, I think people should be nice on the internet too
Fuck your feelings, and fuck his feelings.
Why though?
Because he’s a piece of shit in bed with Trump.
What did he do that makes you think he’s in bed with Trump?
I can understand both sides here.
On the one hand I have empathy with him like with any victim of such a life-altering injury and wish him a swift and full recovery. I don’t want people to suffer and, quite frankly, “the brain doesn’t work right anymore” is one of my personal horror scenarios.
On the other hand this kind of behavior is a huge problem in someone capable of making decisions that can alter the lives of other people – millions of them, in this case. He has enough power to ruin a lot of people’s lives, intentionally or not.
Even as someone who isn’t impacted by his mental fitness in any way, I’d agree that removing him from office seems like a good move. That man needs rest, not the stress of a high-profile political office during interesting times. And his state needs someone with a level head, which doesn’t mesh well with a semi-recent traumatic brain injury.
And, well, this is a politics community so guess which part the discussion will focus on. (Also, this is online so people are inclined to be assholes.)
This is a reasonable position. I just don’t think saying calous and cruel things then justifying it by saying “it’s online” is a good excuse. You can think someone is wrong and causing severe harm without also hating them, vilifying them, etc. Some people are cruel so it’s fair to be cruel back to them, but I don’t think anyone can fairly look at Fetterman and think he actually intends to hurt people.
Oh, please don’t take that remark as an excuse or endorsement. The intended tone is one of resignation – pseudonymity reduces the social cost of bad manners to near zero and there’s not much we can do about it.
I will forgive people for being blunt in their criticism, however. High-ranking politicians are exactly the people who have to be able to take a certain level of verbal abuse since their decisions can change other people’s lives in directions that justify the liberal use of expletives.
Which plays back into my perception that Fetterman is currently not suited to his role.
Well, I’ve lived what he’s lived. That helps.
BTW, I’m glad to hear you recovered! Stay healthy :)
Thanks, so far so good. 20 years now.
yeah, why dont we all have more tolerance for people doing active harm? While we are on the topic, Who speaks for the CEOs here? They are human right? And has anyone asked the zionists about their feelings? their pains and fears?
But also, Fetterman is responsible for his actions and his actions suck. Thats how responsibility works, and leadership comes with a lot of responsibility. Fetterman is blowing it, so as a leader he deserves the ridicule. Politics is not all tea parties, playing patty-cakes, and talking about feelings. You perform or you get what Fettermans getting. Once he gets the eff out, he wont hold that responsibility and can be treated as just another human with human problems again.
yeah, why dont we all have more tolerance for people doing active harm?
Yes. Tolerating someone’s existence and humanity doesn’t mean you have to enable them to do things you disagree with.
While we are on the topic, Who speaks for the CEOs here? They are human right? And has anyone asked the zionists about their feelings? their pains and fears?
Yes. Someone who genuinely believes they are acting morally, even if they do something evil, are not themselves evil. They are misguided. You shouldn’t enable them, but you also shouldn’t be needlessly cruel to them.
But also, Fetterman is responsible for his actions and his actions suck.
Yes, but context matters. People’s motives matter when you judge them. People’s circumstances matter.
Thats how responsibility works, and leadership comes with a lot of responsibility.
Nitpick not about you, but just how people talk about congress in general: let’s just be honest, most of them are not leaders. Or at least not leading anything beyond their team of staffers. And they were not intended to be leaders, they represent their constituents, serving them not leading them.
You perform or you get what Fettermans getting.
What? Ridiculed and mocked by people on the internet who’s primary hobbies are thinking of creative insults and coping? I’m not being facetious, I’m asking what just saying cruel things on Lemmy does thats productive.
Once he gets the eff out, he wont hold that responsibility and can be treated as just another human with human problems again.
Why can’t he be treated as a human now? Just a human who at least you believe is wrong on serious issues, and therefore causing harm based on misconceptions.
The problem of evil is that many of the worst things in history were done by people who believed they were acting morally. The witch hunts, the crusades, the inquisition, and large portions of the genocide of the Americas were done in part with a belief that it was moral. Part of a good understanding of morality is self reflection to understand that one can twist themselves into evil. It’s why I think your calls for compassion here are valuable.
I’m angry at Fetterman, and I’d be fucking pissed if he was my senator. I don’t know if I think he’s outright evil. But I do know that to label a human as good or evil is valuable but risky. It helps us form accountability and to rally each other, but it also leads us to assign people as wholly good or wholly bad when all people have immense complexity to our motivations, beliefs, and actions.
Most folks are pissed that he is in office, which is completely fucken reasonable. Fact of the matter is a stroke is as much a mental health issue as it is a physical issue. Just like how I remove myself from people when I’m in an autistic meltdown Fetterman should remove himself from politics. But what do I know I’m just a bloodthirsty Californian who wishes to lash 99.9 percent of politicians to crosses.
As others have pointed out the stroke could definitely impair his ability to understand its impact on his mental state.
But also yea no, someone can be very wrong and you can think and state that without being needlessly cruel to them.
I’m an Inland Imperial, me not threatening to dump their still warm corpse off in Victorville is me not being needlessly cruel. Fact of the matter is some folks need to be told to fuck off.
Not fit for office
Surely the state has a law on the books for this. The states version of the 25thLolol nope the Senate must expel him with a 2/3 vote. JFC that’s messy
Nope. The Senate can vote to expel him but that’s only happened 15 times in the last 230-odd years and 14 of those were during the civil war.
The Senate refused to even expel that one Senator who was found guilty of bribery. Already forgot his name. They’ll never expel their own.
Here’s the AP story. Can we please avoid huffpo where possible?
He should resign and let the Gov. appoint someone whose brain is functioning properly. I donated a lot over the years to Fetterman from my fixed income. I no longer support him.
