Pete Hegseth joined the right-wing meltdown over Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) dress habits with an ugly take on Sunday’s “Fox & Friends” broadcast.
“He’s a slob who got elected as a zombie in Pennsylvania, and now he’s a senator and everyone knows it’s a joke,” the Fox News host ranted.
“He even knows it’s a joke. His family knows it’s a joke. Democrat Party looks like a joke for putting them on the dais in that outfit. We look like a joke as a country,” he continued.
Fetterman, who suffered a life-threatening stroke during last year’s Senate race, has been at the center of a Republican firestorm after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) relaxed the upper chamber’s dress code earlier this month, allowing senators to dress as they please on the floor.
The change was widely viewed as an accommodation for Fetterman, who often wears a hoodie and shorts around the Capitol.
The new policy will allow him to enter the Senate chamber to vote in casual attire. He usually casts his votes by ducking his head in the doorway.
“Fox & Friends” weekend co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy chimed in after Hegseth with a swipe at Fetterman’s acuity.
“Shame on his wife for … not telling him to spiff it up if he doesn’t have the judgment, in many cases, maybe not even the mental state, to know what’s appropriate or not,” she said.
Fetterman has been unconcerned by the right-wing tantrum over his clothing, telling Republican lawmakers in a series of viral zingers to rein in their hypocrisy and get their priorities straight.
Conservatives have repeatedly targeted Fetterman over his health since the stroke, which left him with an auditory processing disorder ― a common condition among stroke survivors that affects the brain’s ability to recognize and interpret sounds.
Last week, he grew emotional at a disability access hearing while recalling the ridicule he faced during his recovery.
Many Republicans have made cruel taunts about the senator, who was hospitalized for depression in February.
His Republican opponent in the Senate race, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, suggested last year that Fetterman might not have had a stroke “if he had ever eaten a vegetable in his life.”
Donald Trump Jr. in November suggested Fetterman has “mush” for brains and in March drew backlash when he described him as a “vegetable.”