October 13, 2022
The Pennsylvania race for U.S. Senate between Democratic candidate John Fetterman and Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz is starting to heat up before election day on Nov. 8.
On a new episode of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" Wednesday night, host Trevor Noah used criticism that Fetterman received after a recent interview with NBC to poke fun at other political leaders who have struggled with their speech.
During a segment titled "Votedemic 2022," Noah took verbal shots at people who deem Fetterman unfit to run for office because of health concerns. He not-so-modestly criticized President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump for misspeaking or using incorrect words.
"Lets be real, if stumbling over a word every now and again disqualified you from politics, America wouldn't have had a president for the past six years," Noah jokingly said, referencing the many times Biden and Trump have had slip-ups during public addresses.
The late-night host noted how Biden often mumbles and that Trump would have played off an incident similar to Fetterman's by simply not acknowledging that he made a mistake, instead trying to convince people he used the correct word.
As his dialogue continued, Noah got serious while pointing out several politicians serving the country with disabilities. He stood firm on his point that Fetterman's need for assistance should not disqualify him from working in politics.
"Look, I'm not vouching for Fetterman over Dr. Oz or anything like that, but I do think this whole debate is veering into the territory of saying that people with disabilities cannot be lawmakers, which is trash," Noah said.
Fetterman, who suffered from a stroke on May 13, has since developed auditory processing and word retrieval issues. He kept a notably low profile over the summer while recovering from his health incident and corresponding procedures, but has recently returned to the campaign trail.
For the first time since May, Fetterman had an on-camera interview done with NBC reporter Dasha Burns, which aired Tuesday. Because of the auditory issues the former lieutenant governor has dealt with, he asked for closed captioning software to aid him in processing questions during the conversation.
Burns asked the U.S. Senate candidate about his transparency, why he hasn't publicly released his medical records and if his health issues would impact how he did his job if elected.
"I don't think it's gonna have an impact," Fetterman said. "By January, I'm gonna be much better and Dr. Oz is still gonna be a fraud. I guess what I'm saying is that there really isn't anything that's going to stop me from doing this job."
