Gisele Fetterman wants no questions from anyone about her husband’s mental and physical fitness for office. All questions regarding his recovery, his cognitive abilities, even his overall fitness for office after his stroke are verboten.

John Fetterman’s wife blasted NBC’s Dasha Burns for her portrayal of a recent interview with the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate, accusing the reporter of “ableism” and calling her behavior “appalling.”

Speaking with Molly Jong-Fast on the Fast Politics Pod, Gisele Fetterman said she felt “rage” when she learned that Burns had revealed that her husband was unable to hold a conversation.

The coverage did a disservice “to not only my husband, but anyone facing a disability and working through it,” she said.

Since suffering a stroke in May, Fetterman has struggled with auditory processing. The candidate’s staff required that he be allowed to use closed captioning technology during the interview. While introducing the segment featuring Burns’s interview with Fetterman, she noted that “in small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation.”

Having dealt with family members who’ve had strokes, pointing out concerns about someone’s ability to navigate a conversation is quite understandable. UNLESS you are John Fetterman. Then, because he’s so importantly running for Senate and is a Democrat, questions like that are beyond the pale. 

Except he’s running for the United States Senate. That seat involves multitudes of data and details. It’s a seat that involves speeches, debates, campaign stops multiplied (including going cross country to stump for other favored Senate candidates), appear at special events, as well as traveling internationally on CODEL’S and other trips. 

If Fetterman needs close captioning to help process questions, info, and details, how will that work IF he’s elected Senator?? Will he pull a Joe and hide in the basement unless absolutely necessary? And when in public, will his wife pull a Jill and play guide/director? 

The discussion about what it means – and what it doesn’t mean – to be disabled has gained steam this week after Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, five months after a stroke, used an app version of closed captions to help him answer a journalist’s questions.

But this column isn’t just about Fetterman, and it’s certainly not limited to politics. The bigger conversation, the one we need to be having, is about why we make accommodations for people with disabilities, both visible and invisible.

Let me just stop Connie right there. We should make accommodations and elect someone who has had a major stroke? There are many who’ve LEFT office because of the stroke they’ve had. Why? Because it was highly evident their abilities to handle the rigors of that office were severely compromised. 

Quite frankly, no matter the party, those who hold office need to be fully cognitively present. Yes, there’ve been accommodations regarding physical issues such as Senator Bob Dole, Senator John McCain, Senator Tammy Duckworth, Congressman Dan Crenshaw, and Congressman Brian Mast. HOWEVER, what they all have and had in common is they were fully present concerning their cognitive abilities. 

John Fetterman is struggling and that has been evident for quite some time now. 

Furthermore, at the very beginning of the interview, Fetterman essentially admits he is having major problems with auditory processing. Guess what folks? MOST of the job of a U.S. Senator involves auditory processing! If he is struggling now, will he magically gin up to 100% if elected and he takes office in January? I highly doubt it. 

Gisele Fetterman wants NBC’s Dasha Burns punished for expressing concern and speaking of the realities of stroke survivors.

Gisele Fetterman with harsh words for NBC's Dasha Burns, saying her description of "small talk" with her husband left her feeling close to "rage."

"I don't know how there were not consequences."

Indicated that she wants an apology, but it hasn't come.

Full quote below #PASEN https://t.co/Lf7GFHNOY0 pic.twitter.com/qc5FGY3Ksh

— Will McDuffie (@wrmcduff) October 14, 2022

Dasha Burns is learning a hard lesson. Don’t be a real genuine journalist when it comes to Democrats. They don’t like facts, truth, or even concern. They have their narrative and will beat it to death. Dasha Burns got in the way of that. 

Don’t practice journalism against a Democrat. No one told Dasha Burns that. Now Burns is in real trouble. And almost none of her so-called colleagues will stand up for her. https://t.co/VHYSKNWcbR

— John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte (@NolteNC) October 14, 2022

Seems to me, Gisele Fetterman is channeling Jill Biden AKA Edith Wilson, and that’s definitely not a good look. Her husband has some serious issues after his stroke and Pennsylvania voters need to take a good hard look and fast. Otherwise, the consequences won’t be pretty. 

Feature Photo Credit: Caricature by DonkeyHotey via Flickr, cropped and modified