Fetterman Doesn’t Want To Show Up For Work, Says His Mental Health Has Been ‘Weaponized’ | EUROtoday

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) stated he feels pressured to point out as much as votes and hearings that he finds ineffective, including his psychological well being struggles have been “weaponized.”

“My doctor warned years ago: After it’s public that you are getting help for depression, people will weaponize that,” Fetterman instructed The New York Times in an interview revealed Saturday. “Simple things are turned. That’s exactly what happened.”

Fetterman has beforehand been vocal about his struggles with melancholy after he survived a stroke on the 2022 marketing campaign path that he stated almost killed him.

Fetterman has missed 18.1% of ground votes since taking workplace.

The new report particulars Fetterman’s excessive reluctance with performing his senatorial work duties, together with displaying up for procedural votes that he calls “performative.”

Fetterman instructed The Times he would moderately spend time along with his household than present up for work.

“The votes I missed were overwhelmingly procedural; they’re even called ‘bed check’ votes,” he instructed the publication. “I had to make a decision: getting here and sticking my thumb in the door for three seconds for a procedural vote or spend Monday night as a dad-daughter date.”

Fetterman’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from HuffPost.

The first-time senator has confronted renewed scrutiny following a New York Magazine report through which his former chief of workers spoke out in opposition to him. Adam Jentleson, who served as Fetterman’s chief of workers from 2022 to 2024, revealed he wrote a letter final May to Fetterman’s physician detailing “warning signs” of the senator’s declining psychological well being.

“I think John is on a bad trajectory and I’m really worried about him,” Jentleson stated within the letter.

Fetterman lamented having to point out as much as hearings and expressed frustration that he’s picked final to ask questions due to seniority guidelines, based on The Times.

He has additionally confronted criticism for his full-throated help of Israel and its navy bombardment of Gaza. More than 50,000 individuals have been killed by Israel, with almost a 3rd of the lifeless underneath 18.

Known for carrying shorts and a Carhartt hoodie across the Capitol, Fetterman donned a swimsuit and tie on the House ground final 12 months when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech to Congress.

And earlier this 12 months, Netanyahu gifted Fetterman a silver pager ― a logo for Israeli assaults in Lebanon and Syria in 2024 that used exploding pagers focusing on Hezbollah. The assault killed 13 individuals, together with kids.

Along with avoiding votes and hearings, Fetterman has steered away from city halls over fears of protests in opposition to him. The Democratic senator has come underneath fireplace for visiting President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in January, calling Trump “kind” and “cordial.” Fetterman stated in February that there “isn’t a constitutional crisis,” simply earlier than Trump gutted important federal businesses.

“I just want to be in a room full of love,” Fetterman has reportedly instructed individuals about not attending city halls, based on The Times.

At a gathering earlier this month with representatives from a lecturers union in his residence state of Pennsylvania, Fetterman started repeating himself and asking why “everybody is mad at me,” the Associated Press reported.

At one level, Fetterman slammed his palms on a desk.

“Why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do?” he reportedly shouted.