Fetterman Couldn’t Even Answer This Yes/No Question

Mock already wrote up a thing about Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman not being fit for office, and about how NBC reporter Dasha Burns was willing to report “honestly about how bad John Fetterman’s auditory/comprehension issues really are.” Mock included clips of Burns describing the special considerations they made for him during the interview, including providing a closed captioning screen for him, which transcribed each of Burns’ questions for him to read and respond. He literally has to take a moment to read her questions off a screen before he can try to answer them.

But I wanted to make sure you saw this clip of what it really looked like when Fetterman clearly didn’t understand the questions he was being asked, even with the help of the closed captioning. Here’s an example where Burns asks him, “Are you committed to showing up on October 25th to debate your opponent no matter what happens?” Fetterman quickly and confidently responds, “No.” Then he goes on to say, “I’m not concerned. I believe it’s another opportunity to be transparent and people can make their own decisions in the debate.”

He clearly didn’t understand the question, because she asked if he is committed to showing up, and he said “No,” then talked about not being concerned. He must have thought she asked whether he was concerned about showing up to the debate. So Burns, who’s basically helping to drag this man through the interview, repeats her question. She says, “To clarify, are you committed to showing up on October 25th no matter what, no matter what your opponent says or does?” After a moment of consideration, Fetterman seems almost baffled by the question and says, “Well, yeah. Of course I’m going to show up on the 25th.”

I’m so sorry, Pennsylvania. Dr. Oz is not a great candidate, and I’m bummed about it. But wow, can you even imagine Fetterman struggling to tread water in a Senate situation when he is very clearly cognitively impaired? Senators frequently cast “yea” or “nay” votes. Fetterman was just asked a very clear-cut yes-or-no question and he accidentally responded “No” when he clearly meant “Yes.” What if that happens during a vote? That’s not a situation where people are going to carefully repeat the question with closed captioning and give him the opportunity to give a new answer.