Latest news with #Terris
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Partisan Mind Virus
Remember the days after President Joe Biden's barely coherent debate performance, when Democratic dead-enders insisted that nothing was the matter? That was embarrassing. But apparently it wasn't so embarrassing that everybody took away the correct lesson, because something similar is now happening between Senator John Fetterman and a coterie of admirers on the right. Conservatives are now doing the exact same thing that the Biden defenders did: denying the obvious unfitness of a politician because he's politically useful. Fetterman is the subject of a devastating new profile in New York magazine (my former employer). Ben Terris reports that Fetterman's staff and even his wife have repeatedly expressed concerns over his mental health, following a pattern of strange statements and actions from the senator, including a near-fatal car crash. After Terris's story appeared, conservatives leaped to Fetterman's defense, depicting it as a hit piece motivated by anger at the senator's recent rightward tilt, which has manifested in an ultra-hawkish defense of Israel, warm words for President Donald Trump, and a vote to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general. 'Fetterman was indispensable in 2022. He was reliably liberal and therefore could never be seen as going rogue. But now that it's actually happening, suddenly the party has deemed him quite expendable, hence the flimsy New York magazine piece that just came out of nowhere,' the conservative Washington Examiner charges. This line of attack has been repeated in columns in the The Daily Wire ('As Fetterman Defends Israel, Dems Suddenly Question His Mental Health'), National Review ('Progressives Warn That John Fetterman Suffers From Acute Pro-Israel-itis'), and several other outlets. None of these articles acknowledges, let alone attempts to rebut, Terris's extensive account of Fetterman's erratic behavior, which is at least as clear as the evidence of Biden's infirmity. Many of the conservative attacks conflate the effects of Fetterman's stroke, which occurred before the 2022 election, with his hospitalization for depression the following year, questioning how Democrats could vouch for Fetterman in 2022 while doubting his fitness today. A stroke is a discrete event from which full recovery is possible. It is also, of course, possible to recover from depression. But as Terris notes, Fetterman's staff had strong reason to believe he was failing to adhere to his recovery plan. 'No one I spoke to for this article could be sure about whether Fetterman stayed on his medication during this period, but five different people said they heard comments from the senator that suggested he was not,' Terris writes. Additionally, he reports, 'in group texts including senior staff from March 2024, staffers used terms like manic to describe his behavior. They pointed out that he was canceling medical appointments despite the blood tests being 'pillars of the recovery plan.'' Adam Jentleson, then the senator's chief of staff, wrote a letter to Fetterman's doctors last year laying out his concerns about his boss's well-being and disregard of doctor's orders. To be sure, assessing whether certain behaviors that troubled Fetterman's staff (incoherent rants, compulsive social-media posting) indicate unstable mental health is at least somewhat subjective. In the Trump era especially, one person's raving lunatic is another person's bold populist truth-teller. But Fetterman's terrifying record of erratic driving, including a crash that occurred when he insisted on driving home after a red-eye flight, is a matter of objective fact. What's more, the thesis that 'woke' staffers are sandbagging the boss with bogus concerns has trouble explaining why the strongest piece of evidence comes via the letter to doctors from Jentleson, who scolded Democratic staffers who'd criticized their bosses on Israel ('The thing about being a staffer is that no one elected you to represent them,' he posted in October 2023) and has publicly urged his party to defy progressive pressure groups. The right-wing critique also fails to explain why Fetterman's staffers refuse to ride in any car he's driving. If their disagreement was ideological in nature, remaining in his employ while engaging in a targeted boycott of Fetterman-driven vehicles would be a very odd form of protest. [Franklin Foer: How Biden destroyed his legacy] The conservative complaints more or less begin from the premise that Fetterman's ideological apostasy is the only possible explanation for a story on his infirmity. The possibility that a journalist would report on a public figure's health for nonideological reasons seems to escape them completely. Some of the right's suspicious minds appear not to understand the basics of journalism. Consider this passage from the Examiner: So, who are these current staffers? We'll never know, because just like every political hit piece, these allegations are based on anonymous sources. But here's where things get both nefarious and obvious: A letter written by former Fetterman chief of staff Adam Jentleson to Walter Reed Medical Center regarding his concern for the senator's health was miraculously leaked to New York magazine. The writer proceeds immediately from claiming that 'we'll never know' the source of the allegations to insisting that the fact that we know the primary source is nefarious. The 'miraculous' leaking of Jentleson's letter is not evidence of a conspiracy but a straightforward description of how reporting works. Many conservative publications are built on a hyperbolic critique of the mainstream media, which assumes that all 'objective' journalism is mere cover for left-wing activism and advancement of the Democratic Party's agenda. With that false premise, they then set out to create the very same thing for the right. But this inability to believe that a reporter might report a story for reasons not of ideology but of public interest reveals a broader form of sophistry—one that not only is endemic on the right but also has grown more common on the left—in which a partisan mind builds its worldview entirely in response to the perceived bad faith of the other side. Suppose you observe, accurately, that many liberals downplayed evidence of Biden's mental decline. Now you can use that as a license to dismiss evidence of mental decline in any politician you favor. As long as the hypocrisy of the opposing side is your only point of contact with the facts of the case, you have no standard of internal consistency that you need to follow. Your position on Biden's fitness can be that the libs are liars for denying it, and your position on Fetterman's fitness can be that the libs are hypocritical because they used to defend Biden. Of course, when they were defending Biden, many libs did the same thing, turning every question about his ability to handle the job into a game of Why aren't we questioning Trump's fitness? The misguided assumption beneath this hyper-partisan fallacy is that refusing to hold one's own side to account is an advantage. The conservative movement operates largely on a poisonous distrust of any mainstream institution dedicated to upholding standards (journalism, science, academia). Growing swaths of the left, having seen Trump ride to power on a wave of cult-like obedience, have now decided that maintaining any standards for their leaders is a sucker's game. But looking the other way as Biden's mind was slipping was not a shortcut to defeating Trump. It was an act of self-sabotage. Although conservatives may take longer to pay a price for failing to restrain their mad king, their policy of dismissing all doubts about the mental fitness of their leaders and allies of convenience—a habit now causing them to rally behind Fetterman—is a shaky foundation upon which to build a movement. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Hypocrisy of Fetterman's Defenders
Remember the days after President Joe Biden's barely-coherent debate performance, when Democratic dead-enders insisted that nothing was the matter? That was embarrassing. But apparently it wasn't so embarrassing that everybody took away the correct lesson, because something similar is now happening between Senator John Fetterman and a coterie of admirers on the right. Conservatives are now doing the exact same thing that the Biden defenders did: denying the obvious unfitness of a politician because he's politically useful. Fetterman is the subject of a devastating new profile in New York magazine (my former employer). Ben Terris reports that Fetterman's staff and even his wife have repeatedly expressed concerns over his mental health, following a pattern of strange statements and actions from the senator, including a near-fatal car crash. After Terris's story appeared, conservatives leaped to Fetterman's defense, depicting it as a hit piece motivated by anger at the senator's recent rightward tilt, which has manifested in an ultra-hawkish defense of Israel, warm words for President Donald Trump, and a vote to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general. 'Fetterman was indispensable in 2022. He was reliably liberal and therefore could never be seen as going rogue. But now that it's actually happening, suddenly the party has deemed him quite expendable, hence the flimsy New York magazine piece that just came out of nowhere,' the conservative Washington Examiner charges. This line of attack has been repeated in columns in the The Daily Wire ('As Fetterman Defends Israel, Dems Suddenly Question His Mental Health'), National Review ('Progressives Warn That John Fetterman Suffers From Acute Pro-Israel-itis'), and several other outlets. None of these articles acknowledges, let alone attempts to rebut, Terris's extensive account of Fetterman's erratic behavior, which is at least as clear as the evidence of Biden's infirmity. Many of the conservative attacks conflate the effects of Fetterman's stroke, which occurred before the 2022 election, with his hospitalization for depression the following year, questioning how Democrats could vouch for Fetterman in 2022 while doubting his fitness today. A stroke is a discrete event from which full recovery is possible. It is also, of course, possible to recover from depression. But as Terris notes, Fetterman's staff had strong reason to believe he was failing to adhere to his recovery plan. 'No one I spoke to for this article could be sure about whether Fetterman stayed on his medication during this period, but five different people said they heard comments from the senator that suggested he was not,' Terris writes. Additionally, he reports, 'in group texts including senior staff from March 2024, staffers used terms like manic to describe his behavior. They pointed out that he was canceling medical appointments despite the blood tests being 'pillars of the recovery plan.'' Adam Jentleson, then the senator's chief of staff, wrote a letter to Fetterman's doctors last year laying out his concerns about his boss's well-being and disregard of doctor's orders. To be sure, assessing whether certain behaviors that troubled Fetterman's staff (incoherent rants, compulsive social-media posting) indicate unstable mental health is at least somewhat subjective. In the Trump era especially, one person's raving lunatic is another person's bold populist truth-teller. But Fetterman's terrifying record of erratic driving, including a crash that occurred when he insisted on driving home after a red-eye flight, is a matter of objective fact. What's more, the thesis that 'woke' staffers are sandbagging the boss with bogus concerns has trouble explaining why the strongest piece of evidence comes via the letter to doctors from Jentleson, who scolded Democratic staffers who'd criticized their bosses on Israel ('The thing about being a staffer is that no one elected you to represent them,' he posted in October 2023) and has publicly urged his party to defy progressive pressure groups. The right-wing critique also fails to explain why Fetterman's staffers refuse to ride in any car he's driving. If their disagreement was ideological in nature, remaining in his employ while engaging in a targeted boycott of Fetterman-driven vehicles would be a very odd form of protest. Franklin Foer: How Biden destroyed his legacy The conservative complaints more or less begin from the premise that Fetterman's ideological apostasy is the only possible explanation for a story on his infirmity. The possibility that a journalist would report on a public figure's health for nonideological reasons seems to escape them completely. Some of the right's suspicious minds appear not to understand the basics of journalism. Consider this passage from the Examiner: So, who are these current staffers? We'll never know, because just like every political hit piece, these allegations are based on anonymous sources. But here's where things get both nefarious and obvious: A letter written by former Fetterman chief of staff Adam Jentleson to Walter Reed Medical Center regarding his concern for the senator's health was miraculously leaked to New York magazine. The writer proceeds immediately from claiming that 'we'll never know' the source of the allegations to insisting that the fact that we know the primary source is nefarious. The 'miraculous' leaking of Jentleson's letter is not evidence of a conspiracy but a straightforward description of how reporting works. Many conservative publications are built on a hyperbolic critique of the mainstream media, which assumes that all 'objective' journalism is mere cover for left-wing activism and advancement of the Democratic Party's agenda. With that false premise, they then set out to create the very same thing for the right. But this inability to believe that a reporter might report a story for reasons not of ideology but of public interest reveals a broader form of sophistry—one that not only is endemic on the right but also has grown more common on the left—in which a partisan mind builds its worldview entirely in response to the perceived bad faith of the other side. Suppose you observe, accurately, that many liberals downplayed evidence of Biden's mental decline. Now you can use that as a license to dismiss evidence of mental decline in any politician you favor. As long as the hypocrisy of the opposing side is your only point of contact with the facts of the case, you have no standard of internal consistency that you need to follow. Your position on Biden's fitness can be that the libs are liars for denying it, and your position on Fetterman's fitness can be that the libs are hypocritical because they used to defend Biden. Of course, when they were defending Biden, many libs did the same thing, turning every question about his ability to handle the job into a game of Why aren't we questioning Trump's fitness? The misguided assumption beneath this hyper-partisan fallacy is that refusing to hold one's own side to account is an advantage. The conservative movement operates largely on a poisonous distrust of any mainstream institution dedicated to upholding standards (journalism, science, academia). Growing swaths of the left, having seen Trump ride to power on a wave of cult-like obedience, have now decided that maintaining any standards for their leaders is a sucker's game. But looking the other way as Biden's mind was slipping was not a shortcut to defeating Trump. It was an act of self-sabotage. Although conservatives may take longer to pay a price for failing to restrain their mad king, their policy of dismissing all doubts about the mental fitness of their leaders and allies of convenience—a habit now causing them to rally behind Fetterman—is a shaky foundation upon which to build a movement.
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
John Fetterman explodes at journalist for asking whether he's 'off his meds'
John Fetterman got into it with a New York Magazine after being asked whether he is taking his medication. The query was posed by former Washington Post political journalist Ben Terris, for a lengthy first feature for the publication. It occurred towards the end of the interview, which was held in-person in Washington, DC. Things got touchy when Terris brought up details he said he obtained from 'a number' of former Fetterman staffers - 'that they are worried that you are not on your recovery plan,' the journalist said. 'That you might not be taking your meds.' The exchange came weeks after it was confirmed the increasingly Donald Trump-aligned Democrat was put on medications in February, following a meeting with then-Senator Sherrod Brown where his behavior was described as 'catatonic.' In months since, the progressive has surfaced as an unlikely Trump supporter, and has offered him kind words at every chance. This paved the way for Terris's rather pointed question. He asked whether Fetterman wanted to comment on what was supposedly coming out of his camp. The Pennsylvania politician - who barely beat out Republican Mehmet Oz back in 2022 - responded with a resounding 'no.' He went on to eye two of his staffers, Terris said - recalling how Fetterman then adjourned for an abrupt break. First, though, he offered the reporter some stern words. He claimed that no one in his staff would know about his personal health situation and that anyone claiming otherwise was merely misinformed. 'There's not really anything to respond when that's just not accurate,' he said, shortly after fielding a question about Trump's mental faculties. Terris, however, pressed on - saying that these former staffers told him 'they've witnessed ups and downs that could be associated with kind of a relapse. 'They also worry that the medication that you're on is not just for depression, but more serious drugs that if you're not on them would be a problem,' Terris added. 'Is there truth to that?' At this point, Fetterman - who suffered a stroke whilst running against Oz - declared he had nothing to comment, before bringing the conversation off the record for the next few minutes. That conversation remains shrouded, but once it ended, Terris was reportedly left out in a hallway with a few of Fetterman's aides. Five minutes later, Terris was brought back into Fetterman's DC office where the interview was held. 'The office felt different now,' Terris wrote in his piece, remarking how it now felt 'quiet and tense.' Fetterman sat in the same chair but was now 'slumped into himself,' he noticed - comparing the senator who checked himself into Walter Reed in 2023 to receive treatment for depression to 'a deflated parade float.' 'He avoided looking at me,' Terris further claimed, before breaking the silence. 'Anything to say about that?' he asked, referring to his earlier inquiry. 'There's not anyone that you're referencing who would be privy to my medical history,' Fetterman insisted again, before being asked whether he cared to comment on whether the unnamed staffers were right or wrong. Fetterman - whose politics were once more aligned with those of Bernie Sanders before an apparent shift right in recent months - framed the insight as rumors from 'disgruntled' former staffers. When asked why these employees may have been disgruntled, Fetterman shot back, 'For whatever reason.' 'There's a lot of people who just hide behind unnamed sources in articles,' he added. The exchange ended there, with the interview ending minutes later. 'I feel like there's been kind of a tone shift here,' Terris told Fetterman as the interview waned, attempting to catch the senator's eye. 'Can you tell me what you're feeling? What you're thinking?' The question spurred the senator to finally look at him, Terris recalled - before remembering Fetterman's response. 'No, everything's great,' he said, reportedly with little emotion. 'Everything's great. I don't know what you're referencing.' During a sunnier point in the sit-down, Fettered offered some insight into his now notorious Mar-a-Lago meeting with the president - a summit that made him the first sitting Democrat to visit the then freshly sworn in conservative. He said the January meeting went smoothly, lasting around 75 minutes. Fetterman also said it strengthened his belief that Trump 's mental acumen is as strong as ever. 'His faculties haven't slipped at all,' he told the magazine, keeping course with his recent infatuation with the Republican.' 'It's not that I admire it - I acknowledge it, and if you don't, you do it at your own peril politically.' He added how he now advocating for Trump to cut off nuclear negotiations with Iran - and get to dropping bombs on the country instead. Fetterman, 55, is a staunch Israel ally. There have also been public disagreements with staff and fellow Democrats over such policies - as well as legitimate reports of a high turnover in Fetterman's office since he was elected. Last May, Fetterman's behavior reportedly became so concerning that one of his since gone employees wrote a letter to the medical director of the traumatic-brain-injury and neuropsychiatry unit at Walter Reed asking for help with his boss. 'I think John is on a bad trajectory and I'm really worried about him,' he wrote, claiming that if things did not change, the senator 'won't be with us for much longer.' 'We do not know if he is taking his meds and his behavior frequently suggests he is not,' it continued. The email further described 'conspiratorial thinking; megalomania… high highs and low lows; long, rambling, repetitive and self centered monologues; lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious to everyone in the room.'
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
WaPo's Ben Terris Replaces Olivia Nuzzi at New York Magazine
Another Washington Post writer is leaving the paper, with national politics reporter Ben Terris sharing on Friday that he is headed to New York Magazine. He will replace Olivia Nuzzi — who left last year after her digital relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came to light — as the magazine's Washington correspondent. 'Very excited to be joining New York Magazine as their Washington correspondent,' Terris wrote on X. 'I'll miss the Post, of course. Especially Style — which remains the best newspaper section in the world.' He is one of several new hires announced by New York on Friday. Town & Country Executive Style Director Erik Maza, and reporters Rachel Corbett and David Freedlander — who have both written for New York previously — will become features writers, as well as Vox senior correspondent Rebecca Jennings. Terris replaces Nuzzi, who was a star reporter for New York, but left the magazine after she developed a relationship with RFK Jr. while reporting on his presidential campaign. The news of Nuzzi and Kennedy's relationship quickly became a massive media story after it was first reported in September, with outlets like the New York Post reporting on the pair allegedly having 'incredible' FaceTime sex (both sides have denied the relationship was ever physical). New York editor-in-chief David Haskell in December said the Nuzzi-Kennedy affair was the 'hardest thing' for him to deal with in his five years on the job. Terris adds to a growing list of WaPo writers to leave Jeff Bezos' paper in recent months, including Jen Rubin, a vocal critic of President Trump, and White House reporter Tyler Pager. The post WaPo's Ben Terris Replaces Olivia Nuzzi at New York Magazine appeared first on TheWrap.
