Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) said that America “is not sending their best and brightest” to represent the country in Congress.
“Sometimes you literally just can’t believe like, these people are making the decisions that are determining the government here. It’s actually scary,” he said during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.**
“Before the government almost shut down, I mean, it came down to a couple of hours. I was in my office, and they finally came over from the House. And they’re like, ‘Ok, well, this has to be unanimous in the Senate.’ And out of the 99 of us, if one single one of us would have said no, the whole government would have shut down,” Fetterman said.
“That’s how dangerous that is to put that kind of power in one’s hands,” he continued, “because you have some very less gifted kinds of people that are willing to shut down the government just to score points on Fox [News].”
When asked by Colbert if he believed that senators feel that they are not the “most dysfunctional part of the government” right now, given the chaos in the House, Fetterman said that it’s a “low bar” to reach.
“I just want everybody to realize just how truly dysfunctional it really is,” the lawmaker said. “And I always tell people, don’t worry, please don’t worry. It’s much worse than you think.”
Fetterman also opened up about his recent mental health struggles. He returned to the Senate in April from a leave of absence, during which he was treated for depression.
“It’s a privilege and it’s a duty to talk about this,” Fetterman explained. “I want anyone who’s listening to this, that sees this: If you are suffering from depression, please get help. Please get help, because it works.”
After Fetterman’s interview, right-wing commentators took the senator to task.
Conservative commentator C.J. Pearson said on X, “John Fetterman on Colbert: ‘America is not sending their best and brightest, you know, to Washington, D.C.’ Pot, meet kettle.”
