Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., urged panicked Democrats to "chill the f--k out" about President Biden’s widely panned debate performance because he is living proof "a rough debate" doesn’t disqualify a political candidate.
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May 2022, causing clear auditory processing issues that impacted his speaking abilities in the months leading up to Election Day that November. Despite a jarring debate performance that left many Americans questioning his fitness for office, Fetterman still defeated Republican and former daytime TV host Mehmet Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race.
Fetterman believes Biden can overcome similar criticism after the president’s performance during Thursday’s CNN Presidential Debate left liberals calling for him to step aside or be replaced on the ticket.
"I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on Biden’s shoulder after the debate. No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record," Fetterman posted on X to accompany a Politico headline about Democrats panicking over Biden’s debate struggles.
"Morning-after thermonuclear beat downs from my race from the debate and polling geniuses like 538 predicted l’d lose by 2," Fetterman continued. "And what happened? The only seat to flip and won by a historic margin (+5). Chill the f--k out."
Due to Fetterman’s auditory processing issues, he requested closed captioning during his debate against Oz, but still appeared to struggle with delivering his responses. Although Fetterman said his doctor cleared him as able to "work full duty in public office," he refused to release his medical records to the public.
As for Biden, a variety of liberal pundits have said he failed to prove he is not too old to serve another term, as questions about his cognitive abilities have taken center stage. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a close friend of Biden, wrote that the debate was one of the most "heartbreaking" events he has witnessed in American politics.
"Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election," Friedman wrote.
CNN commentator Van Jones, who cried for joy when Biden won the 2020 presidential election, offered an emotional plea for the president to step aside.
"I love that guy as a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight, to restore confidence of the country and of the base, and he failed to do that," Jones said. "And I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now."
"We’re still far from our convention and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward if he will allow us to do that. But that was not what we needed from Joe Biden," he added. "And it’s personally painful for a lot of people. It’s not just panic. It’s pain of what we saw tonight."
Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady, Joseph A. Wulfsohn, Jeffrey Clark and Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.
