'Lightly Edited' Transcript of Fetterman Interview Published: 'Fox News Will Go Crazy If That Makes Your Story'
Is John Fetterman OK?
And no, that question has nothing to do with the near-fatal stroke that makes speaking simple words and sentences a struggle for the Pennsylvania senator.
It’s an honest-to-goodness question after a bizarre New York Times interview with Fetterman that had to be “lightly edited and condensed for clarity.”
It is genuinely one of the strangest interviews you will see in print, as those edits and condensation still documented Fetterman’s ongoing issues.
When asked if “all of that political posturing” made Fetterman “cynical about Washington,” the senator tried to pivot to… hunger?
“Everyone here is cynical, of course,” Fetterman answered in the piece, published Friday. “But we can fight for things that are meaningful. That we should have no hungry.
“Hanger. Hangry. Hanger. Hangry.”
After struggling to articulate his point, Fetterman at least had the mental wherewithal to know that his ongoing neurological issues are a topic of discussion.
“Fox News will go crazy if that makes your story,” Fetterman said with chuckle, according to the Times, before abruptly switching from hunger to abortion.
“We’re fighting for women’s reproductive freedom, making sure we have resources and support our unions. I’m going to fight for what’s really important.”
Fetterman also curiously admitted literal defeat on abortion (emphasis ours.)
“It’s going to be very hard [to drum up Republican support for contraception access],” Fetterman said, discussing his plan to “expand access to contraception,” as the Times put it.
“Somebody needs to tell Republicans, like in a memo, ‘You won on abortion. You won,” Fetterman said. “Why not have a serious conversation about birth control? That’s less abortions and unwanted children.”
Fetterman eventually acknowledged, however, that “there wouldn’t be 60 votes in the Senate” for his contraceptive-pushing.
Curiously, Fetterman still exhibited some trace signs of the depression he had earlier this year, which forced him to check himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in February.
How? He basically said he hates himself and doesn’t understand why anyone likes him.
“Why is there so much interest in you?” the Times asked Fetterman.
“I don’t know; it doesn’t make any sense to me at all. I don’t get it,” Fetterman answered. “I’ll never understand it. I don’t know why my wife married me. In the movie ‘Groundhog Day,’ Bill Murray’s character says something like, ‘You think I’m arrogant? No, I don’t even like me.’ That’s me. I don’t even like me. That’s the truth.”
In another alarming answer from Fetterman, the Pennsylvania senator effectively equated his job to divorce.
“It’s awful. In the last week or two, I came across a quote by Kevin Costner talking about his divorce. He said it hits you that you’re going to be spending 50 percent less time with the people you love the most,” Fetterman said when the topic of conversation arrived at his current living arrangements (he spends most of his week in Washington, while Fetterman’s wife and three children live back in Pennsylvania).
“You realize when you become a senator, you’re going to be spending 50 percent less time with the people that you love. That breaks my heart. I get emotional thinking about it. FaceTime is much better than just a phone call, but that’s the worst part of the job,” Fetterman said.
Perhaps the oddest part of the interview came when Fetterman actually offered his “respect” to former President Donald Trump — while also casting some doom and gloom on whether or not any of the political machinations attacking Trump will actually matter in the end.
“Do you think the multiple indictments of former President Donald J. Trump will hurt him politically in your state?” the Times asked Fetterman.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m a senator, and I’m not sure how many times he’s been indicted,” Fetterman answered. “He’s been impeached twice. Has that changed anything? You’re still seeing Trump signs everywhere in Pennsylvania. You have to respect his strength in all of that. Trump would be very competitive in Pennsylvania.”
And almost as if he remembered that he’s supposed to be criticizing the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner, he added: “But Trump has to perform above his ceiling. I think there’s a hard ceiling in Pennsylvania he can’t get past.”
Look, there’s just no two ways around it: This was a bizarre conversation.
From struggling with the pronunciations of basic words to hating on himself to complimenting Trump’s “strength,” this was as strange of an interview as you would expect from a sitting senator. And this was the supposedly “lightly edited” version?
So again — Is John Fetterman actually OK?
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