U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman’s (D-PA) wife appeared to rush in to block her husband from having to answer a question on Labor Day from a political tracker on whether he will debate his opponent, U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz (R-PA).
The clip, which was flagged by the National Republican Senate Committee’s (NRSC) Rapid Response account, showed a tracker asking Fetterman during a political march, “Hey John, are you going to debate Dr. Oz?”
As the tracker asks Fetterman the question, Fetterman’s wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, gets between the tracker and the husband and helps get her husband out of the situation.
Fetterman, who suffered a stroke earlier this year, has repeatedly ducked out of having to debate Dr. Oz ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
“Fetterman’s wife rushes in to shield him from a question about debating Oz,” Free Beacon investigative reporter Chuck Ross tweeted.
WATCH:
Once again, coward @JohnFetterman refuses to say if he will debate @DrOz.
Why is he so afraid to debate? pic.twitter.com/zUTKHYpNuY
— NRSC Rapid Response (@NRSC_Rapid) September 6, 2022
“It’s almost like John Fetterman doesn’t ever plan on debating because he thinks PA voters are too stupid to see that he’s deceiving them about his health,” Republican strategist Andrew Surabian tweeted.
“A debilitating and irrecoverable stroke will do that to a guy,” political commentator John Cardillo tweeted. “Fetterman is in no way fit to serve in the Senate.”
The clip comes as another clip of Fetterman from Labor Day went viral Tuesday, adding additional fuel to the controversy surrounding his fitness for office following his stroke earlier this year.
“Send me to Washington, D.C., to send–, so I can work with Senator Casey,” Fetterman said during his speech on Monday. “And I can champion the union way of life–, in Jersey, excuse me in D.C. Thank you. Thank you very much. And it’s an honor–, I live eight minutes away from here. And when I leave tonight, I got three miles away, Dr. Oz in his mansion in New Jersey, you’ve got a friend and you have an ally. Send me to Washington, D.C.”
Fetterman can barely even talk. This is just sad. pic.twitter.com/KDYIqrkqj0
— American Firebrand (@FirebrandPAC) September 6, 2022
Other clips from recent weeks show other instances in which Fetterman has struggled while attempting to campaign:
John Fetterman is not okay. pic.twitter.com/3xiQwiBaT3
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 15, 2022
John Fetterman today held his second rally since having a stroke in which he spoke for less than 5 minutes.
Here are the highlights. pic.twitter.com/lwo40YWcZi
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 23, 2022
The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro previously called Fetterman a “professional useless person,” noting that the media has made him appealing because they have portrayed him to be “authentic.”
“He’s authentic, don’t you know? Authentic, you see, means you wear Dickies, and your aides tweet snarky things about your opponents,” Shapiro said. “Most of all, according to the media, authentic means you are radically unsuccessful. You are a giant loser — like a giant who is a loser, and also a giant loser.”
“To be a true rebel, you have to show you’re actually a giant loser, and that you’ve never done a thing of actual economic value for any other human being,” Shapiro continued. “You have to leech off your parents while in public service. You have to be a professional useless person.”