John Fetterman mocks the right’s double body conspiracy theory

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) on Tuesday mocked a widespread far-right conspiracy theory that he was somehow replaced by a lookalike.

This week, several posts went viral on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, suggesting that the Pennsylvania Democrat is posing as different lookalikes. The unfounded allegations tend to crop up whenever he’s in the news — most recently — and appear to call into question his ability to serve in the Senate following his stroke, which left him with auditory processing difficulties and an interrupted speech.

“I need to talk to my significant other,” Fetterman deadpanned when asked about conspiracy theories during a brief interview with HuffPost on Tuesday.

“It’s all true. I’m Senator Guy Incognito,” he added, referring to a “Simpsons” joke in which Homer Simpson meets a lookalike who has a hat and mustache but otherwise looks exactly like him.

This isn’t the first time Fetterman, who recently started sporting a mustache, has jokingly played with fringe theories. In April, he posted a video in which he interrupted himself by explaining that the rumor was false:

Fetterman appears to be letting himself go, so to speak, by speaking more to reporters in the Senate hallways and making colorful remarks about Republican efforts to impeach President Joe Biden and even the new Senate dress code.

Republicans sharply criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for removing an informal rule that senators must wear business attire or coats in the Senate, allowing senators to wear whatever they want, even a hoodie.

“It is a terrible decision for Chuck Schumer to denigrate the institution of the Senate by forcing people to wear hoodies and shorts,” Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Tuesday. He added that senators should “demonstrate the level of decorum associated with the place.”

But Fetterman, who wore his short-sleeved shirt and shorts on Tuesday, decided not to take advantage of the new rule when voting that day. He voted by sticking his head through the bedroom doors, as usual.

“I just don’t want the world to burn,” he joked when asked why he didn’t enter. “Republicans think I’m going to burst through the doors and start break dancing on the floor.”