Why is John Fetterman a Senator if He Can't Do The Actual Job? With Jim Geraghty and Maddy Kearns

So, John Fetterman remains in the news, a senator now from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and for all the wrong reasons, as it kind of usually is with him. The Senate, you guys know, has now lowered its standards to allow people to show up dressed like the three of us are. But you know what? We're doing a podcast. We're not showing up as U.S. senators on the floor of the U.S. Senate to do the people's business. John Fetterman all along now, I mean, he shows up like he's at a college frat party in his weird little shorts and sweatshirt, his hoodie. It's disrespectful. And instead of saying, put on a damn suit, would it be so hard to wear a tie and a blazer, sir? They've now lowered the standards, Chuck Schumer, to meet where Fetterman is. So now they can all show up like that. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted out, she's in the other chamber, the Senate no longer enforcing a dress code for senators to appease Fetterman is disgraceful. Dress code is one of society's standards that set etiquette and respect for our institutions. Stop lowering the bar. Now, what's interesting about that is, of course, we're not surprised to hear Marjorie Taylor Greene took a shot at Fetterman is he decided to respond. He went on with Chris Hayes on MSNBC in what was just a train wreck of an interview. We're going to go through a few of the soundbites, but here's the first one in which he responds to her. Her platform, you know, really, she runs on more and more dingaling, you know, pics, you know, on in the meetings over in Congress. So again, I I'm not really sure why she cares how I dress, but, you know, she really takes it a different way. OK, I managed to at least comprehend what he was trying to say there, Mattie Kearns. I mean, I got followed a bit. But the bottom line is he's thrilled. He's thrilled that now we're going to have a bunch of schleps walking to vote for us on the Senate floor, looked looking just like him. And is this part of some loss of civility, formality, pomp and circumstance that mattered? Yeah, I think definitely. I think on one level, there's a certain vanity to it. I mean, he wants to be remembered for the guy who changed the dress code, who made it OK to wear your your sweatshirt and your slacks. And also, as you say, there's a kind of symbolism to it. This is one of many examples that we can point to recently, and maybe we'll get on to some of them of just a general disintegration of standards, both in in how you you present yourself and how you conduct yourself when you're when you're in private. We obviously saw with Lauren Bobar and her incident. This is just, I think, a kind of depressing move. I mean, the fact that he's trying to present himself as edgy and eccentric is one thing. But the fact that Chuck Schumer responded by quietly changing the dress code is just really, you know, very depressing. I mean, to share kind of a personal anecdote as to why I think it's really important that people with serious jobs who make serious consequences on other people's lives should be dressed in a way that reflects that seriousness. I remember once going for a visa and the lawyer had had got everything sorted out and I was in the embassy and some guy who worked for the embassy who had just he was mistaken because the lawyer had sorted everything out. Anyway, he denied my visa while wearing a Christmas sweatshirt. And I was just so mad about this because I was like, you're you're making a decision that like really upends my life and you're wearing a Christmas sweatshirt. Like, this is just what is going on. This is really just not I feel like you're not taking me seriously. I feel insulted. Yes, I can relate to this. I think I've told the story once before, but we were when we lived in Manhattan, right across the street from us was this church. Now it was Methodist. I'm Catholic, Doug's Presbyterian, but we're raising our kids Catholic. And it was our kids were really little. It was Christmas. There was no we're not going to wake up our kids and go out in any event. Long story short, we had a babysitter. She watched the kids and we just popped right over there for a quick service. And then I found out that at least this particular Methodist church, which is in the most liberal area of New York, was more like a variety show than it was a service. And I mean, it was bizarre. I've never seen anything like it. And this woman's coming down the aisle with like the spiky like colored hair and she's wearing a Santa hat. And, you know, it's like the most holy holiday in, well, one of them in Catholicism. And I'm like, oh, that's not really an appropriate outfit for Christmas Eve mass, but OK. And she was our minister. She went behind the lectern. I'm like, what's happening? I missed the formality of the Catholic church. But this is kind of it's a pattern, Jim Garrity, where, you know, again, I feel kind of hypocritical because I wear Lululemon every day, but I'm doing a podcast. If I were doing U.S. Senate work, I would be in a proper suit. You know what, Megan? Actually, I thought I was feeling kind of hypocritical, too. So I actually I'm going to change into a suit for the remainder of this segment. I just don't feel right. Usually I wear, you know, look, I work from home, which means I'm wearing business casual most days. Black tie and tuxes later on. I apologize to everyone who's going to do the video first. Don't worry. It's coming off, Matty. If you want to play into Mr. Rogers theme. No, no, it's much more. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day. I went more R-rated. You went Mr. Rogers. I'm like, I'm giving you the striptease. He's taking off clothing, people. Because I know that me taking my shirt off is exactly what's going to bring in the viewers to the Megyn Kelly show. But anyway, like I'm being joking about this. And Fetterman said, oh, you know, people shouldn't judge me by what I wear. OK, let's judge him based on his record there in the Senate. He's missed more than 33 percent of the votes so far in this session. Now, a lot of that was because of his treatment for depression at Walter Reed. We're all glad that that treatment appears to be working. His mood is better. He's not fighting very serious depression. And his description of that in a cover profile in Time magazine, it sounds devastating. So I'm really glad to see Fetterman is feeling better. I also noticed, though, he did this interview with the New York Times in late July, where they asked him, you know, how's life in the Senate? And he really sounded miserable. He sounded like he felt like the place was- FYI, listening audience, he's now putting on his tie. He's now removed his shirt, put on a nice collared shirt, and he's now putting on a red tie. Keep going. Won't you do that? No. So he sounded like he feels like the chamber spends a lot of time doing dumb s-word. He also likes to use bad words. He likes to use four letter words. I'm not going to judge you for doing that, Megan. I think, as you said, the standards for a podcast and the standards for the U.S. Senate are a little bit different. But I do think he thinks that adds to that authenticity there. You know, this is who I am. I mean, at least you can understand him. At least when he's swearing, I understand the words coming out of his mouth. Um, and he also, this is something, again, I feel very sympathetic to. He talks about when you join the U.S. Senate, it's a guarantee you're going to spend 50 percent less time with the people you love the most, his family. And I heard that. I was like, wow. You know, like, so you had this guy. He's had this life-threatening stroke that really left him in rough shape. There was this kind of ridiculous letter from his doctor that was put out in October of last year saying that he was fit for duty and had no major, you know, physical challenges. And then we all saw in the debate that he was still in really rough shape, having a very hard time communicating. And so he goes through that. But he gets to the Senate. He has depression that is so serious that he says he was not suicidal, but that he's going on and layering up. Yeah. I'm talking about the most serious topic imaginable. And you know, doing this ridiculous psych gag that I started five minutes ago and seemed like a good idea at the time and now quite doesn't seem like such a good idea at the time. Well, your your your headphone cable is actually buttoned into it. It's part of me, Maddie. I am now man and machine, complete cyborg. This is the worst script tease ever. No, because I'm putting more on. It's kind of that's that's an indication of like how the money is going. They're paying to put more clothes on. Heavy coat goes on next. But semi-seriously, like he seems like a guy who's had like really serious problems. He's away from his family. And it sounds like he hates the job of being senator. And he literally is just made very clear. He does not believe the job is worth putting on a suit for. So I'm kind of left asking, why is he there? Why? Like, why was it so important for him to be a senator? The state of Pennsylvania has like 12 million people. Quite a few of them are over age 30, which is residents of the state, which are the only real requirements to be a U.S. senator. Could we find another? Junk science. That's what the doctor called many of those fruit and vegetable supplements on the market. Junk science because they use extracts of common produce department fruits and vegetables with very few health benefits. But I want to tell you about Field of Greens. Field of Greens is different. They use whole organic fruit and vegetable, not a watered down supplement. And it's backed by a better health promise, which I'm going to tell you about. Each ingredient in Field of Greens was scientifically chosen to support vital organs like heart, lungs, and kidney health. Others support your immune system, blood pressure, metabolism, and healthy weight loss. Their better health promise is simple. The next time you're at the doctor for a checkup, if the doctor does not say you're looking healthier than before, you get your money back. That's a deal for you right there. So let me get you started with 15% off. Visit fieldofgreens.com, use my promo code MK, promo code MK at fieldofgreens.com. Hey, thanks so much for watching. If you like what you just saw, hit the subscribe button for more clips and full episodes.