The Senate dress code is not the issue

Last October, after several questions arose about the severity of then-candidate John Fetterman’s stroke, his campaign released a health update — not a medical record, mind you. We have yet to see any medical records from John Fetterman. We had to rely on several nonsensical answers he provided during a debate that revealed the nature of his condition.

In October of last year, Fetterman’s doctor — and campaign donor — assured the public that the would-be senator was “recovering well from his stroke” and “has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office.”

So why is it then that protocol for the United States Senate must be upended to accommodate the senator from Pennsylvania? Shortly after being sworn-in, Fetterman was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC and reportedly diagnosed with severe, crippling depression, due to his workload and schedule. He was under weight, not eating, and we were once again told, not functioning. His stay at Walter Reed lasted an extended six weeks, during which time he was not present in the Senate.

We never heard from his doctors inside Walter Reed. They never held a press conference on the nature of his condition and the media was simply fed progress reports from his staff, who were allowed to visit him behind closed doors. During this period, his staff took it upon themselves to co-sponsor and introduce legislation. All of this was overlooked by the media who continue to behave as a coconspirators in the cover-up of Fetterman’s actual condition. Anyone who questioned the legality of these procedures was blocked by Fetterman’s staff, and the media were oddly incurious about all of this.

Now we’re being told that if John Fetterman is not allowed to wear whatever clothes he chooses, it could trigger a remission of his depression and hamper any further recovery from his stroke — a health incident about which the public was deceived, almost from the beginning, as National Review’s Jim Geraghty noted.

Much like how an entire kindergarten class must accommodate one problem child who refuses to do his work unless his own special conditions are met, we are being misled once again under the guise of a dress code. The Senatorial dress code is not the issue. The issue is the ongoing deception by John Fetterman, his family, his office and the media who will go to the lengths of bullying their own colleagues should they dare report on the accurate nature of Fetterman’s abilities. NBC reporter Dasha Burns interviewed Fetterman during his campaign and was labeled an “ableist” by Fetterman’s wife Gisele, who said Burns’s truthful representation of John Fetterman was “appalling.”

The question is simple: can John Fetterman perform basic tasks, such as showing up to vote (he shouts his vote through a doorway) or putting on a suit like a healthy, functioning adult, without work restrictions, as his campaign promised back in October? If he can’t do these things, then why did his campaign, aided by a willing media, tell the voters of Pennsylvania that he could? Does John Fetterman require in-home assistance to perform even basic tasks, like feeding or dressing himself? Is he able to tie a tie?

Fetterman made demands for himself to be able to debate. Then he made demands while hospitalized for several weeks. Now the special demand is that the entire Senate accommodate him. When do we stop accommodating John Fetterman’s lies about the severity of his condition, all while being told by medical staff that he requires no special treatment?

The media and Fetterman allies are counting on continued blackout coverage of these basic questions, which they write off as silly and pointless. But time after time, special conditions must be met for John Fetterman, and we are not supposed to notice that this cycle continues.