John Fetterman says he's feeling liberated after brush with death, rips fellow Democrats

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Fetterman tells Stephen Colbert America is 'not sending their best and brightest to Washington, D.C.'

Sen. Fetterman told late night host Stephen Colbert that Americans weren't sending their "best and brightest" to Washington, D.C., during a Wednesday appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., says he is enjoying a new sense of freedom after returning from time in the hospital, according to a recent Washington Post interview, which described someone comfortable taking open potshots at Democratic colleagues like Joe Manchin and Bob Menendez.

"It’s that line from … the original Batman with Jack Nicholson where as Joker he starts laughing and he’s like, ‘I’ve already been dead once,’" Fetterman told The Post. "That’s really what it is. It’s been freeing."

The Post emphasized that the "new, liberated Fetterman looks and talks like a completely different person than the Fetterman who first joined the Senate nearly a year ago" after suffering a stroke on the campaign t

Known for his extremely informal attire and trolling social media account that the Post said sounds more like the "host of a liberal podcast" than a U.S. Senator, Fetterman has also shown he'll shoot inside his own tent. He's openly ridiculed and criticized Menendez, D-N.J., over his corruption indictments, calling for his expulsion and trying to strip him of committee assignments, and stood against the far-left with his support of Israel in its war with Hamas.

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Despite having few friends, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., says he is enjoying a new sense of freedom after returning from time in the hospital, according to a recent Washington Post interview.  (Getty Images)

In addition, he ripped Manchin, the centrist Democrat from West Virginia who wanted to codify a more formal dress code after Fetterman's role in its controversial relaxation. He suggested to the Post that Manchin, who is up for re-election in the deep red state next year, wouldn't be "around much longer."

"At first I was really kind of angry [at him]," Fetterman said. "And then I realized, well, he’s not going to be around much longer and I’m going to get his parking space."

When he first became a senator, Fetterman was known for walking "silently around the halls of the Capitol, looking deeply uncomfortable in a suit and almost startled whenever another senator or a reporter approached him."

The Post also revealed that Fetterman has a lonely social life when he's in Washington D.C., which led the senator to remark on Utah Sen. Mitt Romney's biography which describes Romney's solo nights watching television. 

"It’s lonely sometimes after things are done here," Fetterman said.

"Most nights he generally ends up getting a Sweetgreen salad or Ethiopian food to eat solo back at his apartment in Navy Yard," The Post wrote. "He’s curious about the restaurants in his neighborhood but worries he’d look like a ‘creeper’ if he showed up to them at a 'table of one dressed in a hoodie and shorts.'"

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John Fetterman was hospitalized for depression at the beginning of his Senate term this year. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Fetterman is no longer as reliant as he was on digital transcription tools to speak with reporters and with strangers as he used to be as he continues to recover from a stroke he suffered last year, the Post reported. He was hospitalized for depression earlier this year as well.

"During an interview with The Washington Post, he glanced at the screen of his iPhone at times but was also able to talk back and forth without looking at the transcription," The Post wrote. 

The Pennsylvania senator's office has repeatedly slammed critics for drawing attention to his apparent speech problems and has maintained that he is more than capable of doing the job. Fetterman's office was found to have doctored some of his remarks in press releases earlier this year to make them sound more coherent.

Fetterman's office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

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Fox News' Joe Schoffstall and Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.