Wearing basketball shorts, Hoka sneakers and a hoodie, Fetterman could almost be mistaken for an oversized heckler who had pushed his way into the Capitol complex to needle Menendez, who has clung to his job despite facing multiple federal indictments for bribery and other crimes.
But these days, Fetterman’s presence is not just flouting expectations of how a senator looks and acts.
The 6’8” freshman senator, who survived a stroke on the campaign trail and then checked himself in to a medical facility for depression treatment shortly after coming to Washington, has begun to take stands on policy that can make his colleagues and longtime political allies more uncomfortable than they were about his schlubby dress code. His public heckling of Menendez goes against the grain of the traditionally staid Senate, but even more consequential is his vocal embrace of Israel’s right to attack Hamas in a ground offensive in Gaza while many liberals back home demand a cease-fire.
Fetterman’s unconventional approach to being a senator has alienated some of his colleagues, some of whom have taken the rare step in the clubby Senate of publicly rebuking him, and some of his policy stances are leading to intense blowback at home.
He greets much of this criticism with the dismissive, profane “F— that” attitude that came across in one recent social media post, and he openly admits that his physical and mental health battles of the last 18 months have given him a new sense of freedom.
Criticism simply does not faze him, he said. He’s already been called a “vegetable” and worse. Crippling depression plunged him into darkness and alienated him from his own family.
“It’s that line from … the original Batman with Jack Nicholson whereas Joker he starts laughing and he’s like, ‘I’ve already been dead once,’” Fetterman said in an interview in his office last week. “That’s really what it is. It’s been freeing.”
This new, liberated Fetterman looks and talks like a completely different person than the Fetterman who first joined the Senate nearly a year ago. Then, he more often than not walked silently around the halls of the Capitol, looking deeply uncomfortable in a suit and almost startled whenever another senator or a reporter approached him.
“He really was in the shadows,” recalled Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who attended freshman orientation with Fetterman and was in awe of the campaign he had just run. “He didn’t mingle and he didn’t interact the way you do when you’re first getting started.”
The fiery candidate who had reveled in mocking his former rival Mehmet Oz for his penchant for “crudité” had all but disappeared. His communications director, Joe Calvello, who had worked for Fetterman since 2020, said he didn’t even recognize his boss, not understanding that his muted persona sprung from his deepening depression.
“I was like, ‘Who is this zombie?’” he said.
It’s jarring then, to see Fetterman now seeming to have fun, as he carves his own path in the Senate, trolling some of his colleagues and speaking uncomfortable truths.
“I just feel like I’m doing things that I feel like really need to be said,” Fetterman said. “I try to do it in a way that hopefully more people will notice it.”
‘I’m not a vegetable’
It’s been exactly one year and a day since Fetterman stood on the debate stage in Harrisburg and struggled to answer the moderator’s questions. He spent the next week reading vicious comments and anonymous quotes in the press from nervous Democrats that all sent the same message: You’re not fit to serve.
Now, Fetterman’s health is markedly better as he recovers from an auditory processing disorder sparked by his stroke that made it difficult for him to understand people without the help of captions. He still uses captioning technology on his phone to help him process other people’s speech, but does not rely on it as much as he did several months ago. This allows him to engage in fluid conversation with more eye contact than before. During an interview with The Washington Post, he glanced at the screen of his iPhone at times but was also able to talk back and forth without looking at the transcription. For the depression, Fetterman attends therapy, takes medication, and goes on long walks.
He seeks out reporters instead of dodging them in the halls. Several weeks ago, he looked…
Read More: How John Fetterman is charting his own course in the Senate