Fetterman hears voices like the Peanuts cartoons’ adults post-stroke

Sometimes when Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman hears voices they sound like the adults in the animated ‘Peanuts’ cartoons, in which a muted trombone was used to give them indecipherable language.

The New York Times reported Friday on Fetterman’s struggles to adapt to life in the Senate as he continues to recover from his May stroke. 

The report comes after the Pennsylvania Democrat spent his second night at George Washington University Hospital, checking himself in Wednesday after feeling lightheaded at a Democratic retreat taking place in Washington, D.C. 

Fetterman was discharged from the hospital on Friday, and according to his office, ‘In addition to the CT, CTA, and MRI tests ruling out a stroke, his EEG test results came back normal, with no evidence of seizures.’

The 6-foot 8-inch tall, tattooed politician is expected to return to the Senate on Monday.

On Thursday night, Fetterman’s spokesperson Joe Calvello said an MRI and other tests showed the senator hadn’t suffered another stroke.

‘He is being monitored with an EEG [electroencephalogram] for signs of seizure – so far there are no signs of seizure, but he is still being monitored,’ Calvello added. 

Sen. John Fetterman arrives Tuesday night at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Fetterman spent Wednesday and Thursday nights in the hospital after feeling lightheaded at an event in D.C. Wednesday 

On Friday, The New York Times published a report on Fetterman’s stroke recovery, which included the tidbit that the Pennsylvania Democrats hears voices like the adults in the animated Peanuts cartoons – a muted trombone, in which the language is indecipherable

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Fetterman didn’t talk to The Times, but aides and allies told the newspaper that his entrée into the Senate has been a difficult period, especially because he still struggles from auditory processing issues. 

That means he has to use a transcription tablet to engage in conversations.

Last week, Time magazine reported on the accommodations the Senate has so far afforded him, including installing a monitor on Fetterman’s desk in the Senate chamber that provides live captioning and arming him with a wireless tablet for committee hearings. 

The Times reported that Fetterman’s hearing issues are inconsistent and often get worse when he’s in a stressful situation. 

His speech also continues to be halting and jumbled, apparent when he asked questions at his first hearing as a senator, as part of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. 

Still, his office sent out video clips of the back-and-forth. 

Fetterman won his race, easily the most-watched in the country, against the Trump-backed television personality, Dr. Mehmet Oz, by five points, despite the effects of his stroke being on full display during the candidates’ mid-October debate.

Colleagues have been taking it in stride. 

‘We’re going to have to learn our own styles with it,’ Sen. Amy Klobuchar told The Times. 

She said she recently experimented with talking into Fetterman’s tablet to provide him with closed captioning of their conversation. 

‘What I was saying was accurate even when I talked fast,’ she said. ‘I wanted to make sure it was accurate. It was kind of to imagine what it would be like to be him.’ 

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, a Washington Democrat, told the paper that she approached Fetterman at the White House’s receptions for new members of Congress and they had a back-and-forth about their clothing choices. 

Fetterman, usually in shorts and a hoodie, was sporting a suit, Pérez chose to wear boots, jeans and a Carhartt jacket. 

‘I thought I was going to have an ally here,’ she remarked. ‘He said, “Why does she get to wear jeans, and I don’t?”‘  

Pérez said Fetterman’s tablet allowed them to converse with ease.

‘It’s just a slight delay,’ she described to The Times. ‘I didn’t notice he was using it at first. Then I was like, “Why are they holding it?” It took me a minute to figure out what was going on.’ 

But while he has engaged with his colleagues, Fetterman hasn’t talked to the many Capitol Hill reporters that stalk the hallways due to his auditory processing challenges. 

A staff member told Time magazine that aides are working on accommodations so the Pennsylvania Democrat can participate in those impromptu interviews. 

‘Before the stroke, he was the kind of person who loved the give-and-take with reporters,’ said Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s chief of staff. ‘The challenge is to be able to get back to that place, given the current limitations.’