Can John Fetterman do the job? That question hovers over Pennsylvania’s election for its US Senate seat, and thus far Team Fetterman’s efforts to quell doubts have not succeeded much. Fetterman has turned an easy win into a nail-biter, which is likely why he sat down with NBC News for a one-on-one interview for publication today.

Fetterman insisted that he could function perfectly well enough for an interview and for the work needed in the US Senate, but even NBC’s print report had a skeptical tone to these claims:

John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee in a crucial Pennsylvania Senate race, still struggles to understand what he hears and to speak clearly following a stroke in May.

In an exclusive broadcast interview with NBC News taped Friday at his home, Fetterman said both that his recovery “changes everything” and that it would not affect his ability to serve in the Senate if voters choose him over Republican Mehmet Oz.

“I don’t think it’s going to have an impact,” said Fetterman, who resumed his duties as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor in May but did not begin appearing at public campaign events until mid-August. “I feel like I’m gonna get better and better — every day. And by January, I’m going [to] be, you know, much better. And Dr. Oz is still going to be a fraud.”

That wasn’t the only reason for NBC’s skeptical tone either. Team Fetterman still refuses to release any records or grant permission from his doctors to speak to the media about his prognosis:

Pressed by NBC News why he declined requests to share his medical records and make his doctors available for interviews, Fetterman said he’s not aware of any undisclosed symptoms and argued that he has been open with the public about his health and recovery, including the auditory processing challenges. He has said that his cognitive function and memory are unaffected.

If that were true, why not let reporters talk to the doctors? Why not produce the medical records, which media routinely demand from any candidate and especially those with significant chronic issues?

The answer appears to be that Fetterman and his team are not being honest about his condition. That is so apparent that NBC’s Dasha Burns told MSNBC’s audience that Fetterman is clearly still having cognitive issues five months after the stroke, and even their accommodations for the interview didn’t make up for it:

MSNBC: John Fetterman "has a hard time understanding what he's hearing…he still has some problems, some challenges with speech…he had a hard time understanding our conversations." pic.twitter.com/EYLNVxb0Cy

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 11, 2022

BURNS: We had a monitor set up so that he could read my questions, because he still has lingering auditory processing issues as a result of the stroke, which means he has a hard time understanding what he’s hearing. Now once he reads the question, he’s able to understand. You’ll hear he also still has some problems, some challenges, with speech. And I’ll say, Katie, that just in some of the small talk prior to the interview before the closed captioning was up and running, it did seem that he had a hard time understanding our conversations.

In other words, this isn’t an “auditory processing” or speech issue. It’s a cognitive issue, even during a relatively friendly interview in an environment with as much adaptation to Fetterman’s condition that could be provided. And even Fetterman kinda-sorta conceded that by claiming that he’d be okay by January when he’d take office rather than, say, by Election Day or his debate against Mehmet Oz before the end of this month.

That’s why Team Fetterman hasn’t made his doctors or his records available to the media. They’re still covering up for Fetterman, a pattern that began in the immediate aftermath of the stroke and has continued since, with almost nary a complaint from mainstream media outlets.

Jim Geraghty looked ahead earlier today, prior to these revelations, about what this means for the upcoming debate:

In that debate two weeks from last night, either Fetterman will look, sound, and appear fine, or he will come across as a man who still has a long recovery ahead of him, and who is likely to struggle with the routine duties of a senator. If Fetterman looks good, some Pennsylvanians will wonder what the fuss was about, why he only agreed to one debate, and why he wanted it so late in the campaign. If Fetterman looks bad, some Pennsylvanians will conclude that the candidate is not well, and that he and his campaign have never been honest about his condition, going back to the initial characterization of his life-threatening stroke as “a little hiccup.”

Unless a miracle occurs over the next two weeks, expect the latter and a lot of recriminations over how Democrats and the media tried to drag Fetterman over the finish line.