Warning: The following article contains graphic descriptions and images that may be traumatic to some audiences.
Sen. John Fetterman's (D., Pa.) communications director, Joe Calvello, is a former collegiate lacrosse player, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
Calvello, the taxpayer-funded spokesman responsible for keeping the American public informed about the senator's health, was a member of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) men's lacrosse team from 2011 to 2014. The 5-foot-8, 150-pound face-off specialist started all 13 games as a senior, leading the Minutemen to a 7-6 record.
Why it matters: Generally speaking, lacrosse players are among the most loathsome individuals in America and should never be trusted by anyone. Calvello's ties to the sport, not to mention his sub-six-foot height, undermines his credibility and raises serious questions about Fetterman's judgment.
It wouldn't be the first time Fetterman employed a disreputable figure to make public pronouncements about his physical and mental fitness. For example, Dr. Clifford Chen, the physician who gave Fetterman a clean bill of health several weeks before the election last November had donated tens of thousands of dollars to Fetterman and other Democrats.
Background: Fetterman returned to Capitol Hill this week after suffering a health scare last Wednesday. The stroke victim was rushed to a hospital in Washington, D.C., after feeling "lightheaded" and remained under observation for more than 24 hours. Calvello insisted everything was fine.
While the senator was hospitalized, the New York Times published a damning report on Fetterman's "extraordinarily challenging" adjustment to serving in the U.S. Senate. The report appears to contradict Dr. Chen's glowing assessment of Fetterman's health in October 2022, detailing the "physical impairment and serious mental health challenges" Fetterman suffered as a result of his stroke.
Fetterman "has had to come to terms with the fact that he may have set himself back permanently by not taking the recommended amount of rest during the campaign," Times reporter Annie Karni wrote, "and he continues to push himself in ways that people close to him worry are detrimental."
What they're saying: "Lacrosse is a sport of extreme privilege" and "racial fragility" that "holds a mirror to the history of Indigenous cultural erasure and appropriation in the United States."
Bottom line: Prior to the election, journalists and other liberal activists shouted down anyone who suggested Fetterman might be downplaying his health problems. It would appear these skeptics were right. Fetterman has been a senator for just over a month and has already been hospitalized. The Times report suggests that a normal person in his condition would be at home resting, not risking permanent damage to his health by pretending to do a job that is clearly too much for him to handle.
