Joe Rogan: Fetterman 'can't form a coherent sentence,' PA senate debate was 'public humiliation'

During an episode featuring Dr. Phil, comedian Joe Rogan said that Democratic candidate for Senate John Fetterman was in a "compromised" mental state and that mainstream media was attempting to gaslight the public into thinking that Fetterman's speech is normal.

Rogan made the comments after Fetterman used computer assistance and closed captioning technology in the debate.



"I'm sure you saw that debate between that guy Fetterman and Dr. Oz for the Pennsylvania senate. And the gentleman Fetterman had a stroke five months ago and he's clearly compromised to the point where while he's communicating, he's not just stumbling, he's kind of lost in thought and can't form a coherent sentence and bounces around. He looks troubled," said Rogan.

"I was watching MSNBC, and they're trying to say 'well, I mess up sometimes when I talk, and you know, I misspeak...' Of course, you do, everybody does, we're human, I do it all the time. But there's a big difference between the overall one-hour debate, you're looking at a guy that seems to have something really wrong with his brain. For you to gaslight and pretend it's not the case because it doesn't fit with your narrative. That's not news. That's propaganda, and it's fucking dangerous."

Dr. Phil interjected, "I hate to see him do that, and look, I haven't done any testing on Fetterman or President Biden, but it seems to me that President Biden is not at his best and that Fetterman is not at his best." to which Rogan said, "That's being very charitable."

"I don't hold that against Fetterman. He had a stroke," Phil continued. "Exactly. It seems unfair to put him in that position," said Rogan.

"It really does. I'm not trying to be unkind, he had a stroke. The poor guy had a stroke and he's going to have to rehabilitate and I hope that he's able to do that," he continued.

"Why did they think they could put him out there on a huge stage like that and not... There are interviews before that show that he used a teleprompter during interviews, where he was asked questions and he was allowed to look at a screen and read his responses off, and even then he struggled. He struggled to form coherent sentences while having the responses to each individual question laid out for him in a way that he could read," said Rogan, referring to an NBC interview where Fetterman had difficulty communicating in full sentences without the tech.

"This is not against the guy. I don't know anything about this guy. I really don't. I just know he's the Democratic candidate. But what you're seeing is a guy that has a problem with his brain. That guy should be rehabilitating. He shouldn't be forced into a high-stress job in a public display... It's humiliating," said Rogan.

Later, Rogan asked if there was a protocol in place for if a candidate were to die while on the campaign trail. Rogan said that, while Fetterman was not dead, it seemed appropriate that another candidate step in, as Fetterman is not in good enough mental shape to be senator and instead should be resting at home.

"Is there some sort of a protocol that's in place if someone is the candidate and something bad happens to them like this, you don't just have no one? Like, if he died from that stroke, would they have no Democratic candidate?" to which Phil responded, "I don't know what it is in Pennsylvania, maybe they'd have a quick special election?"

"That seems appropriate in this case, doesn't it?" Rogan said, to which Phil said, "I guess, would the other guy run unopposed?"

"That sounds crazy. You can't have no one from the Democrats as a candidate for Senate. You have to have someone. There should be a rule, and this is like, not quite that. But close to it. It's not that he died, but the man had a stroke. This is not debatable. He's been open about it," Rogan said. "To force him into this sort of a situation while he's rehabilitating, I mean, you'd be able to speak to this better than me, I'd think this would be counter to any rehabilitative treatments that he could have. It's high stress, public humiliation."

Phil responded, "Stress is the worst possible thing that you can do when you're trying to recover from some kind of brain event like this. I don't know what kind of stroke he had or what part of the brain it was in. But I can tell you, you want to give the brain an opportunity to recover and, I don't know what his age is."