Ian Patrick, FISM News
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Mere days after announcing his eventual return to the U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman (D) explained his battle with depression in an interview with CBS News. Despite attempting to provide clarity, Fetterman’s interview is renewing concern over his mental fitness.
On Friday, Fetterman’s office announced that the senator had been discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being treated for depression. He had checked himself into the medical center in mid-February.
Days before he was released from the hospital, he sat down with “Sunday Morning” anchor Jane Pauley to discuss his struggle. Some viewers, however, saw it as an attempt to simply prop the senator up before his return to the chamber.
One exchange shared by CBS Sunday on Twitter saw Pauley asking Fetterman about how his condition had worsened following his campaign win. Fetterman called this time a “downward spiral.”
“I had stopped leaving my bed, I’ve stopped eating, dropping weight, I stopped engaging [in] some of the most things I love in my life,” Fetterman said.
Six weeks after entering Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for inpatient treatment for depression, Sen. @JohnFetterman shares his struggle with depression, his health, and more in an intimate interview with Jane Pauley this "Sunday Morning." pic.twitter.com/3o2926I48B
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) March 31, 2023
While he received an outpouring of support for his decision to focus on his mental health, some Twitter users were quick to point out certain aspects of this interview that didn’t sit well with them.
For instance, one user said that he kept staring at a monitor for the whole interview. CBS did show Fetterman’s monitor in one shot, and most of the time his eyes would flitter between Pauley and the monitor.
Fetterman’s use of a monitor is not that much of a surprise. Following a stroke he suffered during his Senate campaign, Fetterman made it well known that he would use a monitor to help him understand questions in interviews.
However, Bonchie of Red State suggested that the monitor wasn’t just used for questions. Bonchie accused Fetterman of “pretty clearly also reading his answers,” insinuating that his replies were predetermined and not off-the-cuff.
Stephen L. Miller of Versus Media also retweeted one user who pointed out that the one-minute exchange of Fetterman discussing his depression with Pauley had 11 editing cuts.
Tom Tillison, a writer and managing editor at American Wire News and BizPac Review, tweeted that this entire interview was just another example of “media rehabilitation” for a Democrat politician.
And here comes the media rehabilitation – you can always depend on corporate media to be there when Democrats need it the most
— Hillbilly Progeny (@TomT_FL) April 1, 2023