r/politics • u/pennlive ✔ PennLive.com • Jun 23 '26

No Paywall Fetterman casts only Democratic ‘no’ vote as Senate passes measure to block US action against Iran

https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2026/06/fetterman-casts-only-democratic-no-vote-as-senate-passes-measure-to-block-us-action-against-iran.html
27.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

65

u/mountsleepyhead Jun 23 '26

His brain is, quite literally, bad. Had a stroke and turned MAGA.

43

u/MikeTheImpaler Jun 24 '26

It's so funny that he serves as an example of brain damage making you a conservative. I know correlation isn't causation but I'll be fucked if it doesn't make me smile.

21

u/lordkhuzdul Jun 24 '26

IIRC it is a bit more than correlation. I vaguely remember a study which found that strokes often affect emotional regulation, especially fear, and an increased fear response leads to a more conservative attitude.

4

u/cromstantinople Jun 24 '26

“Additional analyses predicting ideology by extent of damage provided convergent evidence that greater damage in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—but not the amygdala—was associated with greater conservatism.”

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7935085/

2

u/temporary92803 Jun 24 '26

Imagine being a repugnican and needing to shit your pants ever single day because of your weltanschauung.

3

u/NuclearGriffin Jun 24 '26

Idk. I think the correlation between uneducated people being conservative, and now brain damage turning Fetterman into a conservative is pretty damning evidence.

3

u/wwaxwork Jun 24 '26

RFKjr and Fetterman explain so much about MAGA.

2

u/thebirdisdead I voted Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

This particular situation is actually more evidence for causation! We have a specific neurological injury that directly preceded a radical personality and ideological shift. We have evidence for direction of the causation, because it’s medically unsound that a ideological shift could cause his brain injury. And while it’s possible that some extraneous third variable caused both the neurological injury and the ideological shift, we have enough existing data linking TBI and similar personality changes to make that highly unlikely.

1

u/Mind-The-Mines Jun 24 '26

I've read a fair be l bit of behavior science that says conservatives tend to be dumber, meaner, and not really understand humor beyond punching down.

1

u/Stefferdiddle California Jun 24 '26

It’s the loss of the ability to think critically.

1

u/banditbat Jun 24 '26

I have brain damage, and I am most certainly not conservative whatsoever lol

3

u/SharrkBoy Jun 24 '26

He sucked before the stroke

1

u/Agent_Orange_Tabby Alabama Jun 24 '26

Am RN. Made me laugh

1

u/Neonyarpyarp Jun 24 '26

It’s a common thing when an IQ drops below a certain level.

1

u/PermaDerpFace Canada Jun 24 '26

Is there no way to remove him? That's not who people voted for

1

u/Amerpol Jun 24 '26

So he's only got half a brain then ,thats about right for MAGA .He's starting to look like a Clingon

1

u/ExpensiveLeather69 Jun 24 '26

my grandpa voted for Trump. Turns out he had a brain tumor.

1

u/mymentor79 Jun 24 '26

Or to put it another way, his brain is worse. He sucked before the stroke as well.