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Bulwark Takes

Cover Up!? The Truth About Fetterman’s Health

Bulwark Takes

The Bulwark

News, News Commentary, Politics, Society & Culture

4.71.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lauren Egan talks to Ben Terris about his article in New York Magazine where he talks about a former top aide to Senator John Fetterman raised serious concerns in a detailed memo, describing erratic behavior, paranoia, and signs of megalomania during Fetterman’s recovery from a stroke and mental health crisis. The article reveals mounting internal fears about his well-being, especially after a high-speed car crash, and raises tough questions about transparency, political loyalty, and whether Fetterman is truly fit to serve. 

Ben Terris article:

All By Himself John Fetterman insists he is in good health. But staffers past and present say they no longer recognize the man they once knew. 

Transcript

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0:00.0

Building a coffee business, serving the best Americano in town is up to you. But winning back time and growing your business, leave that to sum up. Take orders and payments anywhere with the new SumUp terminal. Turn occasional customers into regulars with a free loyalty program. And with the SumUp point of sale system, you'll always know when you're running low on your best selling blends. Visit sumup.co.uk to learn more. Hey guys,. It's Lauren Egan here at The Bullwork. I just finished reading what is truly just

0:25.2

a heartbreaking piece about Senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania. It's about his mental

0:30.9

health struggles. And I have the author of that piece here with me today to walk us through

0:35.4

it all. Ben Terrace from New York

0:37.7

magazine. Hey, Ben, how's it going? Doing all right. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for being

0:42.1

here. So obviously, Betterman's health has kind of been always part of the story that we've known

0:48.2

about him since he's been on the national stage. He, of course, had a stroke when he was running for

0:52.7

Senate back in 2022.

0:55.6

He gets selected anyways.

0:56.6

He makes it to Washington. And then shortly after he arrives in D.C., he checks himself into Walter Reed to be

1:02.4

treated for clinical depression.

1:04.7

And, you know, the party really kind of rallies around him.

1:07.2

And he's applauded for how openly he's talking about mental health struggles.

1:11.6

It's kind of a bit of a of a game changer in a way in terms of desigmatizing some of these

1:16.8

issues. But your piece, I think, really shows that it's obviously a lot more complicated than that.

1:23.2

After he leaves Walter Reed, his chief of staff basically, what, within a year, resigns,

1:30.5

and then ends up writing a letter to his doctor.

1:34.0

So can you walk us through that letter, what's in it, and give us the lay of the land?

1:40.8

Yeah.

1:41.2

So his chief of staff was a guy named Adam Jensen, and he was with Senator Federman

1:49.9

part of the time during the campaign and through his first year and a half, basically, in the

1:56.1

Senate. And what he witnessed, according to his account that he sent to the doctor at Walter Reed,

...

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