Fox News reported late last month that Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Jon Fetterman checked himself into a hospital to receive treatment for depression and is expected to remain there weeks.
It was far from being Fetterman’s only health concern, as he also suffered a stroke last spring. This led Donald Trump Jr. to recently comment on the lawmaker’s mental state, with critics denouncing his words as being awful.
Don Jr.: “Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable”
In a clip tweeted out by self-described “anti-Trump independent journalist” Ed Krassenstein, Trump could be heard saying, “Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable. I’d love for John Fetterman to have good gainful employment.”
“Maybe he could be like a bag guy at a grocery store, but is it unreasonable for me to expect, as a citizen of the United States of America, to have a US Senator have basic cognitive function?” Trump added.
BREAKING: At CPAC, Donald Trump Jr. just disgustingly attacked disabled people, just like his father did.
Here is the direct quote from Don Jr.:
“Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable. I’d love for John Fetterman to have good gainful employment. Maybe he could be like a… https://t.co/s9cEAjvoox pic.twitter.com/T687un4SSh— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) March 3, 2023
In his tweet, Krassenstein alleged that Trump “disgustingly attacked disabled people, just like his father did,” which was almost certainly a reference to a 2016 incident in which critics accused former President Donald Trump of mocking journalist Serge Kovaleski’s physical disability.
Videos debunk claim that former President Trump mocked reporter’s disability
However, Fox News reported that the conservative group Catholics 4 Trump posted multiple videos in which Trump could be seen using the same gestures and mannerisms to attack people without disabilities and even make light of his own shortcomings.
While Donald Trump Jr.’s remarks about Fetterman were slammed by Democrats, even some conservatives expressed outrage over them.
Among them was National Review contributor Wesley J. Smith, who wrote, “That rhetoric — even at a red-meat political event — is completely unacceptable and viciously cruel.”
Columnist compares “vegetable” comment to using the N-word
“The sole intent of that dehumanizing epithet is to demean, diminish, and denigrate the moral value of the person against whom it is wielded,” Smith continued.
“As far as I am concerned, it belongs in the same category of unacceptable terminology as the N-word,” the columnist went on to insist.