The Democrat Party is eating each other alive. And it’s getting ugly, quick.
Now Senate Democrats completely blindsided one of their own in a stunning act of betrayal.
Fetterman’s Fall: From Progressive Hero to Troubled Figure
A recent New York Magazine profile by Ben Terris offers a haunting glimpse into the life of Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, depicting a man grappling with mental health struggles and a fractured political identity. Despite Terris’s assertion in the piece’s closing lines—“I didn’t find any indication that the stroke had left him cognitively impaired”—the narrative weaves a starkly different tale, one of a senator battling depression, erratic behavior, and a rift with his progressive allies. Former staffers, disillusioned activists, and even Fetterman’s wife, Gisele, paint a picture of a man unraveling, particularly after his unexpected shift to a staunch pro-Israel stance.
The profile details Fetterman’s post-2022 stroke challenges, which were initially downplayed by his supporters. At the time, only his political adversaries dared to question his fitness for office. However, as Fetterman’s mental health reportedly deteriorated, his vocal support for Israel following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack became a flashpoint. His rejection of progressive calls to condemn Israel’s response to the massacre—described as a “gutting betrayal” by former aides—marked a turning point, alienating his base and sparking internal turmoil.
A Marriage and a Movement in Crisis
The profile reveals a deeply personal dimension to Fetterman’s struggles, particularly through the lens of his wife, Gisele, who found herself at odds with his evolving views:
In early November, just weeks after the attack, Gisele arrived at her husband’s Senate office and, according to a staffer present, they got into a heated argument.
“They are bombing refugee camps. How can you support this?” the staffer recalled her saying with tears in her eyes.
“That’s all propaganda,” Fetterman replied.
Later, a still visibly upset Gisele pulled the staffer aside. She asked him if members of Fetterman’s team were pushing him to take these stances for political reasons. The staffer told her that the opposite was true: Many of them were as upset as she was. “If you’re pushing back on this, there’s no hope,” the staffer recalled her saying. “This is horrible news.”
A few days later, Gisele texted a different staffer: “I am at breaking point and I can’t co-sign this any longer. Id love some help in language to separate myself from this. Can anyone help me?”
Gisele’s distress extended beyond policy disagreements, as she reportedly questioned Fetterman’s erratic behavior.
“One former staffer recalled overhearing Gisele on speakerphone that December saying to Fetterman, ‘Who did I marry? Where is the man I married?’” The senator’s decision to forgo his prescribed mental health medications, as Terris notes, likely exacerbated his struggles. “Going off meds is a common temptation for people with mental-health diagnoses once they start to believe they are well, and it often results in regression,” Terris wrote. Incidents like Fetterman’s highway rear-end collision last year, following an overnight flight, further fuel concerns about his stability.
A Polarizing Recovery Narrative
Fetterman’s public persona presents a paradox. To casual observers, he appears to have made a remarkable recovery since his early Senate days, when his speech and demeanor raised alarms. His current clarity and conviction, particularly on Israel, contrast sharply with the 2023 narrative that dismissed concerns about his health as “ableist” attacks from “right-wing carnival barkers.” Yet, as Fetterman’s speech patterns stabilized, his progressive allies now claim he is deeply unwell, a shift that coincides suspiciously with his break from leftist orthodoxy.
Terris’s own encounter with Fetterman points to this enigma. After a seemingly cogent conversation, the reporter returned minutes later to find the senator transformed—“like a deflated parade float,” with a low voice and clipped sentences.
This jarring shift raises questions about whether Fetterman’s challenges are purely physical or if external pressures, including his political realignment, are taking a toll.
The profile suggests a deeper truth: Fetterman’s struggles may be as much about the expectations of his role as about his health. “Fetterman was continuously, relentlessly obligated to perform a certain role—that of a competent, confident politician,” wrote Jennifer Senior in The Atlantic in 2023. Now, as he navigates a polarized political landscape and a fractured personal life, Fetterman’s story is one of resilience, controversy, and unresolved questions about the man behind the Senate seat.
