The curious case of John Fetterman

How is it that a man who suffers a severe stroke (i.e. brain damage) and debilitating depression can somehow emerge on the other side, only to apparently have more common sense than the entire Democratic party — combined?

And has that same man inadvertently shown us the cure for Trump Derangement Syndrome (pronounced “Truhmp di-reynj-muh nt sin-drohm“), or “TDS” in the vernacular, which is generally defined as an on-going mental condition where a person’s absolute hatred for Donald Trump causes them to go insane, abandoning all logic and reason in a paranoid, delusional frenzy.  

That man, of course, would be Pennsylvania’s embattled U.S. Senator John Fetterman, and the cure might have been staring us in the face all along.

But first, a little exposition on how we got here.

Supporters still loved him, even after his stroke

It’s almost unfathomable just how far Senator Fetterman has fallen from grace, or how he’s gone from being the progressive darling of the American left, who supported Bernie Sanders — and was considered his heir apparent — to being persona non grata in less than two short years.  

Even after his near fatal stroke in the homestretch of his 2022 campaign against Republican Mehmet Oz, for example, his supporters still loved and backed him unquestioningly.  

I know this because I attended a couple of his local rallies during that 2022 campaign, the first at Montgomery County Community College and the second in Philadelphia. I interviewed about half a dozen attendees at both events and wanted to know why they supported him and if they had any qualms about his mental faculties after his stroke.  

To a person, they all essentially said they supported him because he was “just like them,” i.e., an average Joe who looked and sounded like they do. And nobody had any concerns about his mental health acuity after his stroke — it was like it never happened, as far as they were concerned.

Fair enough, but the running joke is that as John Fetterman has regained his cognitive abilities, he’s become less progressive, not more!  

Questioning his mental health

This anomaly hasn’t been lost on Fetterman’s chief detractors, who have questioned his mental health acuity, in particular, after the Pennsylvania Democrat’s denunciation of the progressive  label and unwavering defense of Israel’s war against Hamas.

According to an extensive New York Magazine article (or “a one-source hit piece” as Fetterman refers to it), former staffers were unsure if some of his other “divisive” decisions, like visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago, cosponsoring the GOP-led Laken Riley bill, and supporting several of the president’s cabinet picks, were also the result of his mental health struggles. 

Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s former chief of staff, was particularly harsh on his former boss in the same article. 

“He is isolated and has damaged his personal relationships,” Jentleson wrote of Fetterman. “He comes up with reasons why they are all out to get him or secretly hate him, and will launch into endless tirades about why they are all terrible and he is the only sane person.”

Social media sounds off

With friends like that, who needs enemies? Unfortunately for Fetterman, social media users have been no less forgiving, as this small sample from various Facebook posts regarding Fetterman’s actions while in office demonstrate.

“Many of his constituents, including me, also question his decisions and his mental health.” 

“Apostates are not tolerated by the orthodoxy of any religion.”

“Seems that unfortunately that stroke did a lot more damage then we knew.”

“Mouthy, slovenly, knee-bending bootlicker sucks up to trash king.” 

“That evil piece of crap is halfway to the nut hatch. Put him in the ward with all the loons.”

“He hasn’t been the same since his stroke. Not the same person.”

“For sure. I think he’s just goofy and the stroke damaged his brain cells.”

“This half brain flip flopping twat couldn’t put two coherent thoughts together if a free Carhartt hoodie was on the line.”

Simply brutal. Still, I can’t help but wonder how many of these same “Fetterman foes” were singing his praises during the 2022 Democratic primaries, before he turned into a “knee-bending bootlicker”?  

Gleams of redemption and a possible cure

One thing is clear from the above admonishments — his detractors largely attribute his (supposedly) erratic behavior to his stroke, and therefore feel he isn’t qualified to remain in office. But what if the Senator is more than an “evil piece of crap” or “half brain flip-flopping twat,” as his detractors above claim? What if he really is the sane one, as he professes, and all his critics who believe he’s irreparably damaged his political career (not to mention his brain) are in need of mental health treatment? The concept may not be as crazy as it sounds. 

For example, it’s clear that the senator, who survived a near fatal stroke, has tacked toward the center of the political spectrum after he voluntarily checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, where he received six weeks of treatment for clinical depression, one of the most common mental health disorders in the United States. To quote the late great stand-up comic The Todd, “Coincidence? I think not!”  

Granted, correlation is not causation, but one has to wonder if depression and TDS are two comorbidities sharing a common etiology. That’s certainly not to say that all people with TDS are mentally ill (although they quite often act like it), or that all mentally ill people also suffer from TDS.  

However, it’s also no secret that academic research consistently finds that people who identify with liberal ideology are significantly more likely than others to be depressed,  anxious, and to rank high on neuroticism. Liberals are also much more likely than conservatives to be diagnosed with mental illnesses or disorders. As Jonathan Haidt recently illustrated with Pew Research data, these trends hold across genders and across age groups.

Conversely, conservatives typically report significantly higher levels of happiness than liberals. Previous research in political psychology, for example, has suggested that people with conservative political attitudes tend to have better physical health than their liberal counterparts.  

A more recent study by Kirkegaard found that political ideology may also be relevant to mental health, as people who are more liberal, especially those identifying as “extremely liberal,” are more likely to have mental health problems. Kirkegaard’s analysis also found that, overall, liberals tended to report poorer mental health than conservatives. 

My brother’s keeper 

What if the treatment Senator Fetterman received at Walter Reed is the antidote common sense Americans have been desperately searching for to help our TDS ravaged friends, family and fellow countrymen? Perhaps now is the time to act, out of an abundance of compassion, and encourage them to voluntarily seek treatment shown to be efficacious in ameliorating what may lie at the heart of their neuroticism over President Trump — clinical depression.

And thanks to the President’s recent executive order, “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” individuals “who are a danger to themselves or others and suffer from serious mental illness,” but who refuse to voluntarily seek help, can now more easily be committed into long-term institutional settings “for humane treatment” that will “restore public order.”    

“Public order” in this case may very well mean no more Antifa, or No Kings protests, or pro-Palestine rallies or antisemitism on college campuses! Instead, the cured will hopefully believe — like the rest of us — in common sense notions like a nation with borders, that Hamas and Antifa are evil, that federal spending is out of control and needs to be reined in, that birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrant parents is a crock — to name only a few.  And, perhaps most importantly, to exemplify “truth, justice, and the American way,” just like the real Superman! 

CODA

And what of Senator Fetterman? He still continues to anger his fellow Democrats with statements like, “ICE performs an important job for our country” in a post he uploaded to X last month.  “Any calls to abolish ICE are inappropriate and outrageous,” he also wrote last June, and he’s even accused Democrats of failing to condemn anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. Harumph — a true apostate, as far as liberal Democrats are concerned. 

Perhaps more important than his recent political proclivities, however, is his current state of mind, since that’s what prompted him to seek mental health treatment in the first place.  By all accounts, it’s looking pretty good.

“When I first checked in, I never thought I would be where I’m at here,” Fetterman told People magazine, and described feeling “joyous” and “free of pain.”  

Fetterman’s decision to seek treatment has also precipitated a broader conversation on Capitol Hill about mental health in general, and the senator is encouraging people to pay attention to their mental hygiene.

“I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works,” Fetterman said in a statement after his release. “This isn’t about politics — right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help.” 

He also wants to find ways to improve access to the kind of excellent mental health care he received, but so few in need actually experience. He gets emotional thinking about the people who don’t have that support.

“Before my treatment compared to now is beyond black and white, dark and day,” he said. “I’m so grateful, and I would plead [with] anybody. If you or someone that you love — a friend, anybody — please do something about it, because treatment works and you don’t have to suffer through that.”

So thank John Fetterman for showing us the possible antidote to help our misguided friends, family and fellow countrymen.  If nothing else, they will be happier and far less insufferable than they currently are, and unlike Rosie O’Donnell, hopefully haven’t already passed the point of no return.   

Richard F. Kosich is a Grassroots Manager at Canvass America and Chair of the Conshohocken Borough Republican Committee (CBRC). Opinions are his own.