HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen.
John Fetterman
The representative from Pennsylvania met last week with delegates from a teachers’ union in his home state, but the conversation rapidly took a turn for the worse.
Soon enough, Fetterman started duplicating his statements, raising his voice and asking why “everyone seems angry with me,” “why does everybody dislike me, what have I done wrong?” He also slammed his palms on the table as per an individual privy to the details of the incident.
As the discussion declined, an employee intervened to conclude the session and guided the guests out into the corridor, where they collapsed in tears. According to a separate individual informed about the gathering, this staff member found solace with the educators, all of whom were shaken up by Fetterman’s conduct.
The interaction at Fetterman’s Washington office, described to The Associated Press by the two people who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity, came the day before New York Magazine published a story in which former staff and political advisers to Fetterman aired concerns about the senator’s mental health.
That story included a 2024 letter, also obtained by the AP, in which Fetterman’s one-time chief of staff Adam Jentleson told a neuropsychiatrist who had treated Fetterman for depression that the senator appeared to be off his recovery plan and was exhibiting alarming behavior, including a tendency toward “long, rambling, repetitive and self-centered monologues.”
Asked about the meeting with teachers union representatives, Fetterman said in a statement through his office that they “had a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration’s cuts to our education system.” He also said he “will always support our teachers, and I will always reject anyone’s attempt to turn Pennsylvania’s public schools into a voucher program.”
Fetterman dismissed those concerns earlier this week.
New York Magazine
As a “single-source hatchet job with some unnamed sources, thus offering nothing fresh.” When queried by a journalist in a Senate hallway regarding his message for those worried about him, Fetterman stated, “They aren’t. In reality, they aren’t bothered at all. This is just an attack piece. There’s nothing newsworthy here.”
When contacted by phone, Aaron Chapin, the president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, who attended the meeting with Fetterman, stated that he preferred not to comment on theprivate discussion that took place.
Enduring a stroke, struggling with depression
The teachers union encounter adds to the questions being raised about Fetterman’s mental health and behavior barely three years after a he survived a
stroke
on the 2022 campaign trail that he said
almost killed
him. That was followed by a
bout with depression
That resulted in his admission to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for six weeks, not even a full month since he took the oath as a Senator.
This scrutiny also occurs as Fetterman, who is currently in his third year of his term, serves office.
is being criticized
by many rank-and-file Democrats in his home state for being willing to cooperate with President Donald Trump, amid Democrats’ growing alarm over Trump’s actions and agenda.
Fetterman — who has been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, in which the heart muscle becomes weakened and enlarged, and auditory processing disorder, a complication from the stroke — has talked openly about his struggle with depression and urged people to get help.
In November, he told podcast host Joe Rogan that he had recovered and fended off thoughts of harming himself.
“I was at the point where I was really, you know, in a very dark place. And I stayed in that game and I am staying in front of you right now and having this conversation,” Fetterman said.
But some who have worked closely with Fetterman question whether his recovery is complete.
In the 2024 letter to Dr. David Williamson, Jentleson warned that Fetterman was not seeing his doctors, had pushed out the people who were supposed to help him stay on his recovery plan and might not be taking his prescribed medications. Jentleson also said Fetterman had been driving recklessly and exhibiting paranoia, isolating him from colleagues.
“Overall, over the last nine months or so, John has dismantled the early-warning system we all agreed upon when he was released,” Jentleson wrote. “He has picked fights with each person involved in that system and used those fights as excuses to push them out and cut them off from any knowledge about his health situation.”
The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Williamson is employed, chose not to have him interviewed due to privacy and confidentiality regulations safeguarding patient health data.
A solitary wolf within the Senate
Fetterman has always been a
wild card
In the political sphere, building a career primarily through his individual efforts, separate from the Democratic Party.
In his role as the mayor of Braddock, the straightforward Fetterman gained recognition as a minor celebrity due to his unapologetically progressive political stance, along with his distinctive appearance—he stands at an imposing 6-foot-8 and sports tattoos alongside a bald head—and his innovative approaches to revitalizing the formerly booming but now struggling steel town.
He supported the rebel Democrat.
Bernie Sanders
In the 2016 presidential primaries, he challenged the candidate backed by his party from a more progressive position. Later, during the Senate primary of the same year, he took a similar approach. By 2020, holding the role of lieutenant governor, he emerged as one of the key spokespersons for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign on various television networks. This elevated profile helped him amass a broad national support base, which significantly boosted his ability to raise funds through smaller donations.
Elected to the Senate in 2022, he has made waves with his
casual dress
— sweatshirts and athletic leggings — both on the job and at official gatherings along with his readiness to criticize fellow Democrats.
After recovering from his hospitalization in 2023, Fetterman came back to the Senate as a significantly more sociable legislator. He often bantered with his senatorial colleagues and interacted with journalists in the corridors, using an iPad or iPhone to transcribe discussions in real-time for better communication.
However, two years later, Fetterman remains somewhat of a lone wolf in the Senate.
He has separated himself from many of his fellow Democrats on Israel policy and argued at times that his party needs to work with, not against, Trump. He met with Trump and Trump’s nominees — and
voted for some
— when other Democrats wouldn’t.
He has stood firmly with Democrats in other cases and criticized Trump on some issues, such as trade and food aid.
One particularly head-scratching video of Fetterman emerged earlier this year in which he was on a flight to Pittsburgh apparently arguing with a pilot over his seatbelt.
Despite fallout with progressives over his staunch support of Israel in its war in Gaza, Fetterman was still an in-demand personality last year to campaign in the battleground state of Pennsylvania for Biden and, after Biden dropped his reelection bid, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Since Trump won November’s election — and Pennsylvania — things have changed. Many one-time supporters have turned on Fetterman over his softer approach to Trump and his willingness to criticize fellow Democrats for raising alarm bells.
It nevertheless brought Fetterman plaudits.
Bill Maher, the host of the political discussion program “Real Time with Bill Maher,” proposed that Fetterman ought to campaign for president in 2028. Those conservatives, who previously targeted Fetterman due to his progressive policies, have now rallied to support him.
Nevertheless, Democrats in Pennsylvania report that they are receiving concerns from individuals about him.
People are worried about his well-being,” stated Sharif Street, who leads the state’s Democratic Party. “Everyone wants to ensure he’s doing fine. He has a lot of supporters who care deeply for him.
___
The Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick from Washington contributed to this report. Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at
https://x.com/timelywriter
.
