Facebook Twitter Tumblr Close Skip to main content
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Posts on Social Media Use Different Photos of Fetterman to Boost Bogus Claim

Posts on Social Media Use Different Photos of Fetterman to Boost Bogus Claim

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has been hospitalized since Feb. 15 for treatment of depression, an aftereffect of a stroke. Social media posts use two photos of Fetterman — taken years apart — to falsely claim the Democrats are using a body double for Fetterman. Differences in the photos are due to camera focal lengths and lenses, experts said.

Fetterman Working on Legislation While in Hospital, Contrary to Social Media Claims

Fetterman Working on Legislation While in Hospital, Contrary to Social Media Claims

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman checked into a hospital on Feb. 15 to be treated for clinical depression following his recent stroke. Social media posts falsely claim that Fetterman is “brain dead” and that he hasn’t been seen in public. Fetterman has been shown working from the hospital in a March 6 tweet shared by his chief of staff.

Major Themes of the Midterms

Major Themes of the Midterms

Voters are about to get a respite from the political attack-ad onslaught: Election Day is tomorrow. That means no more messages from Democrats attacking Republicans over abortion rights or the future of Medicare; no more Republicans blaming Democrats for inflation or crime. At least for a little while.

Fetterman’s Tattoos Under Scrutiny in Pennsylvania Senate Race

Fetterman’s Tattoos Under Scrutiny in Pennsylvania Senate Race

John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor who is running for the U.S. Senate, has tattoos on his arms, some of which memorialize victims of violence. But conservative pundits — including Newt Gingrich — claim, without proof, that his tattoos suggest drug use and ties to a violent street gang.

Fetterman Ad Pushes Back on Crime

Fetterman Ad Pushes Back on Crime

A sheriff featured in an ad defending U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman accurately states that Fetterman “voted with law enforcement experts nearly 90% of the time” on the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, and voted to give “a second chance” to nonviolent offenders. But it’s what the ad doesn’t say that may mislead viewers.

Fetterman’s Commutation Vote on Convicted Murderer

Fetterman’s Commutation Vote on Convicted Murderer

A Republican super PAC’s ad labels Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman “dangerously liberal on crime,” citing a case in which Fetterman, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, voted to recommend the commutation of a life sentence for a man convicted of murder in 1970. We thought readers may want to know more of the context of the case.

FactChecking Republican Attacks on Fetterman’s Crime Stance

FactChecking Republican Attacks on Fetterman’s Crime Stance

Political ads and social media attacks by opponents of Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman have sought to portray Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor as dangerously soft on crime, but some of the claims stretch the facts.

NRSC’s Misleading Green New Deal Attack on Fetterman

NRSC’s Misleading Green New Deal Attack on Fetterman

John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, says he “never supported the Green New Deal” though he does support a longer-term transition away from fossil fuels. Nonetheless, a TV ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee argues that Fetterman is “too radical” and misleadingly tries to put a price tag on his position, saying that Fetterman has “embraced parts of the Green New Deal that’d cost you 50,000 bucks a year.”