2mo ago

Sen. John Fetterman raises alarms with outburst at meeting with union officials

www.huffpost.com

AP: Sen. John Fetterman Raises Alarms With Outburst At Meeting With Union Officials

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.

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vegeta1 [he/him] @hexbear.net

2mo ago

John fetterman loses it and crashes out at meeting

www.huffpost.com /entry/john-fetterman-democrats_n_681c1e84e4b0794c7c966c00

192 comments

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.
- 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.
  
  https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/study-finds-link-between-brain-damage-and-religious-fundamentalism/
  
  There might be a typo, but you said the same thing twice.
  
  🤔
  
  I think it was more like money damage.... Being offered enough to completely abandon former thoughts and goals.
  
  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?
- he got the passes til he started to become the AIPAC cheerleading for ISRAEL, and went crying to BILL MAHER of all people.
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.
Raises alarms? It sounds like he had a mental breakdown and caused his staffers to as well.
- Yeah, like the alarms from the proximity sensors on his front bumper when he rear ended that person at "well over 70 mph".
- He should probably do it in the privacy of his own home, not as a sitting US Senator.
- 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.
- 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!
  
  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.
  
  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
  
  Fuck your feelings, and fuck his feelings.
  
  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.)
  
  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.
  
  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.
  
  As if people are nice here.
  Lemmy is for being smug 3rd party and reconfirming your own self held superiority for the basic act of being here.
  It was built by a lack of tolerance towards and from others.
  I also think we shouldn't tolerate him taking up one of only 100 seats of an important job while he is unwell and should do so privately.
WHY IS THIS MAN STILL IN OFFICE
Between this and the other story earlier this week, its crystal fucking clear that he is not well. Does nobody close to him care about his clear brain damage from his stroke? It's like the entire federal government is weekend at bernie's and the whole thing is being run by staffers
- They let Feinstein legislate with full blown dementia. As long as they can do what the lobbyists paid them to, these kinds of people likely aren't going anywhere. It costs a bit of money to own a representative and their owners want as much ROI as possible.
  
  I mean, that sounds so reductive to me, but it's the only thing that makes sense.
  He's paranoid and seeing shadows, but he supports Israel so it doesn't matter if he's losing his mind. As long as his hallucinations are telling him to vote with the major party positions, they might as well just be another staff advisor.
  I think the dems are trying hard to resist the popular momentum in the progressive side of the party, and letting his seat be re-filled would open a vulnerability. There's a small chance that a special election would cause them to lose the seat entirely, but the nationwide sentiment is in their favor - it seems to me they're more worried about a progressive challenger. But that's just speculation.
  
  Nancy Pelocy basically pushed around a corpse in a wheelchair.
- He's apparently pushed away anyone close to him that has shown concern
- I think your system has made it abundantly clear that neither competence, nor mental state, nor age, nor criminal record are limiting factor to be a politician in the US.
  
  If anything, they're prerequisites.
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.
- 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.
- Thankfully not always. But damn it sure happens far too often.
The guy belongs in a care home, not in a political office. Which seems pretty common in present day US politics.
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.
Not fit for office
- 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.
Here's the AP story. Can we please avoid huffpo where possible?
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.
He's living proof that if you harm the brain, you become a conservative idiot
He's such a fucking disappointment
- its either drugs or strokes and there are plenty of other evidence, SORBO, j peterson, jim cavaziel
Gee John, I wonder? Maybe voting for maga clowns isn't what the people voted you into office for.
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.
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.
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.
- Apparently brain damage and fascism correlate.
- Yeah, brain damage and right-wing thinking are heavily intertwined
questioning why “everybody is mad at me,” “why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do”
Oh come the fuck on, you know exactly why.
Fetterman expects unions to be there for his personal benefit.
You go turncoat you gotta accept the stoning
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
Well at least he's got enough brain cells left to realize he's loathed now. Thats not much but its something.
"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.
Let's make a trade, Republicans... we will help you oust McConnell if you help us oust Fetterman. Both do not belong in the senate.
- They’d never go for it because Fetterman is helping them. Say what you want about republicans but they do not deviate from their racism and hatred. Fetterman shouldn’t even be allowed to call himself democrat anymore.
  
  This. If a member of the Democratic party deviates too far from the party's objectives and ideals, how can the party allow them to stay? The Democrats should kick him out.
- But republicans like fetterman, why would they do that?
- McConnell would be ousted but he will just stare at nothing at stay in the Senate.
Wasn't this guy reddits favourite politician some years ago?
- before his brain damage? yes, that's him.
- Yeah. He was clapping back at trump and the republicans a lot which helped boost him to run. Pretty popular. Then he got elected and suddenly started aligning with the republicans on some issues. The consensus since then (at least on Lemmy) is that brain damage causes conservatism.
  
  Seems to cause loss of emotional control at least
- I mean he was running against Dr. Oz. Didn't take much to cheer for him. He also had some progressive stances at the time. Which he seems to have all but forgotten.
  
  some people said it wouldve been better if oz was the senator, now that he is with medicare medicaid, he can do much more damage.
- Not even close. That was the propaganda of the dem party trying to get him elected. Half the posts on the net are propaganda from some group or another trying to build a narrative, since that's apparently the only way people can make sense of the world anymore. And here we are years later repeating the same fucking story because the propaganda affects both the supporters AND detractors.
- Pennsylvania favorite. some people knew he was a scumbag before being elected.
Bets on how long before this dude records a collab track with Kanye?
I reckon I like me some fried taters, mmmm hmmm
Sad to see
Can I get a summary of things he's done to be hated?
- Don’t know the complete history but he’s a huge Israel supporter.
  
  Ran as progressive, firmly supports the Palestinian genocide and not in a centrist hand-wringing way, a Schumer "God gave it to us/them" way, confirmed a bunch of Trump picks for no reason, said a bunch of centrist bullshit in general.
  Generally speaking, however, he's voted along party lines when it counts and it's not like he tiebroke anything.
- You sure can. I'd recommend you use google or chatgpt for that though. Thatd work much better than asking for what are essentially opinions from an anonymous chat room.
  
  Yes of course. I'd hate to use a chatroom room to chat
He’s an absolute embarrassment. TBH I’ve always thought he was a clown. I’m not one of those decorum over all people but wearing hoodies and being overall dismissive and disrespectful has always given me a poor impression of him. Hopefully he gets primaried soon.
- I actually liked those things about him, but that’s because I have a healthy disrespect for authority.
- Not an “embarrassment”. It’s far more of a tragedy.
  
  Can you elaborate? I’m curious

192 comments