Gisele Fetterman blames Fox News and right-wing hate for threats in her inbox

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

Gisele Fetterman is in the midst of orientation training for the spouses of new senators yet she took some time to whine to the press over her perceived victimization. She put the blame for personal threats she receives in email on Fox News Channel and “right-wing hate.” How original.

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Mrs. Fetterman was often referred to as the de facto candidate during her husband’s campaign because she essentially took over for him after he suffered a stroke. She became the spokesperson for his campaign and her own ambitious nature was quickly on display. Everything seemed to go through her and she kept him secluded. He only minimally campaigned and agreed to one debate with his opponent, Mehmet Oz, a well-known surgeon. His limitations are obvious and he needs special help to understand questions and deliver answers. Yet, the voters in Pennsylvania elected him and here we are. His wife is taking her Edith Wilson-style of being a political spouse to D.C.

When the Fettermans arrived in Washington, she created quite a buzz for the way in which photos were cropped for her social media accounts. She was the focus of the photos, not her newly-elected husband. Granted, he is a giant of a man and she is petite standing next to him but, still. Is cutting out her husband’s head from photos good form? I don’t think so.

There was this one.

And, outside of Fetterman’s new office, he is almost out of the picture.

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You get the point. The focus is on her. I mean, I suppose she could do the job, as she’s as radically left as Fetterman is, but the voters didn’t elect her, his name was on the ballot.

Gisele is beginning her time as a senator’s wife with claiming she is a victim of right-wing hatred and Fox News Channel is inciting the hatred with its around the clock coverage of her. It’s true she was a part of the political coverage during the campaign – how could she not be? – but the fact is that since the general election ended, she is no different than any other political spouse. I keep FNC on throughout the day because it’s my job to keep up with the news but I can vouch for the fact that Gisele is not a focus of their reporting. Sure, her social media photos were scrutinized when the weird ones popped up which showed her and cut out her husband, but other than that? Crickets.

“The right-wing hates women,” Gisele Barreto Fetterman told The New Republic magazine in a new interview.

“They especially hate strong women, and I think that’s what you’re seeing,” said Gisele, whose Democratic husband currently is Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor.

“The fact that a spouse of a senator-elect has been attacked nonstop for the past 24 hours and everyone’s OK with it and everyone thinks it’s normal … It’s not normal,” she said after her first day of spousal orientation on Capitol Hill.

“Since entering the Capitol for training, my inbox has been completely filled with threats and horrible things,” she told the magazine.

“And that’s because I’ve been [on a] loop on Fox News,” Gisele said.

“Hopefully it’s not like this forever … and hopefully it’s not like this for the next young Latina or person of color or spouse who enters this space,” the Brazil-born Fetterman said.

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Bless her heart. She has quite an ego. I’ve never understood why progressive women are so quick to play victim. It’s not exactly coming from a position of strength. She sounds like AOC – everything is racial or sexist. No, sometimes it’s just them, not their ethnicity or gender. Political spouses usually support their husband or wife by putting them as the center of attention. She is focusing on herself and trying to distract away from her husband, who is disabled and may or may not be able to handle his new job. It remains to be seen.

She claims she has no political ambitions of her own. She doesn’t like mean people, you see. Never mind that she says things like Republicans “hate women.”

“Never,” she told TNR. “It’s not for me. It’s a very cruel world, and I am not cruel. I don’t ever wanna become cruel. I’m sensitive. I want people to like me. It hurts me when people are mean.”

In addition, she told the publication that she did not see a role for herself in her husband’s Senate office.

“I want to work closely with the spouses and get to know them, but I’m going to be in Pittsburgh. John will be in D.C. My work and my kids and my life is in Pittsburgh,” she said.

It’s a sad political reality that politicians and their spouses receive ugly emails, including threats. She asked for this life and it’s something she’ll have to adjust to. She isn’t unique, though, and it’s not simply because she is a Latina. Look at the abuse Kelley Paul or Heidi Cruz get from haters. And, it’s not Republicans running progressives and their spouses out of public places. That’s something progressives do to Republicans and feel entitled to behave like that.

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Good luck to Edith, er, Gisele as she navigates her new role.

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