John Fetterman Compares Himself To That Great American Hero The Joker
John Fetterman Compares Himself To That Great American Hero The Joker
Wait’ll you get a load of this.
Last December, Republican Meghan McCain posted on social media, “I don't know what that stroke did to reboot his brain but [Senator John] Fetterman is truly becoming one of my favorite politicians on the left.” This was a typically horrid remark from the poster child for meritocracy and it wasn’t even all that original. Less famous right-wingers had made similarly repulsive comments. They’d all spent more than a year mocking Fetterman’s disability and mental health, but now they’re decidedly “pro-stroke” if the result is a staunchly pro-Israel, anti-progressive position.
However, Fetterman himself embraces this narrative. HBO’s Real Time host Bill Maher praised Fetterman for his bold defiance of the Left.
“When I see you, especially the last couple of years, you speak so freely,” Maher told his casually dressed guest. “You speak like what politicians who I get on this show — who aren’t in politics anymore, the ones who are out of office when they can be honest and that's the way you speak now and it’s a beautiful thing.”
This is an absurd statement. Regardless of your views on the Israel-Gaza war, you can’t objectively argue that openly supporting Israel is politically risky, certainly not in a purple state like Pennsylvania. Fetterman’s pro-Israel position aligns him with the White House and Senate leadership. It’s the smart move for Fetterman. You’ll notice that he receives far more media attention than fellow freshman senator Peter Welch, who I just made you Google. Fetterman’s supposed “free speaking” doesn’t reveal any actual subject matter expertise or innovative policy perspectives. He’s just saying the same thing as most mainstream elected Democrats, only while wearing shorts and a hoodie.
“You speak for a lot of Democrats that are afraid to say a lot of that stuff,” Maher continued. “I mean, it’s a lot of release for a lot of Democrats to be able to be like ‘Thank God, someone’s actually platforming that.’”
Fetterman accepted these flattering falsehoods, and Maher asked him if his 2022 stroke had perhaps “freed” him to promote politically popular positions.
“Absolutely,” Fetterman said. “There’s a line from the first Batman, Joker’s like ‘I’ve been dead once already. It’s very liberating.’”
The Joker (Jack Nicholson) says this just before gunning down his former mentor, who’d set him up after learning he was running around with his girlfriend (Jerry Hall). The Joker is a homicidal maniac for whom loyalty means nothing — he later shoots his closest henchman to death (with his own gun) just because he’s mad at Batman (Michael Keaton). I guarantee there are movies with inspirational quotes from people who aren’t supervillains. I happen to like Jeff Bridges’ line from Fearless: “People say they want to know the truth, but what they really want to know is that they already know the truth.” Or the one from The Big Lebowski: “I love you, but sooner or later, you’re going to have to face the fact you’re a goddamn moron.” Fetterman’s probably better served quoting Jeff Bridges. The Dude would’ve seen through Bill Maher.
“It’s freeing in a way,” Fetterman said. “And I just think after beating all of that, I just really [want to] be able to say the things that I have to really believe in and not be afraid of if there’s any kind of blowback.”
There is zero political blowback to supporting Israel. I personally disagree with the pro-Palestinian progressives who claim that Biden’s tacit support for Israel’s less defensible actions will cost him the election. If he loses, it’s because Americans think the rent’s too damned high. Fetterman risks very little with his reflexive support for Israel. Voters don’t link the war to the cost of eggs.
Maher expressed disbelief “that the people who consider themselves the most liberal have abandoned Israel.” However, Israel is not identical to its current government. Benjamin Netanyahu is a far-right leader. If Donald Trump returns to the White House and starts rounding up anyone who might resemble an illegal immigrant, liberals who react with disgust have not “abandoned” the American people.
Fetterman said, “Some of the most progressive and left parts of the Democratic Party are standing for the kind of side that have kinds of organizations like Hamas or these kinds of nations that there are no rights for women and they certainly don’t embrace the LGBTQ kinds of lifestyle.”
This is arguably true of Louisiana and Florida, but I don’t support bombing New Orleans or Disney World. Individuals aren’t the same as their government or even their dominant culture, and it’s perversely cynical to invoke the oppression of women and queer people as justification for killing women and queer people.
Is Fetterman a fraud?
Many liberals have lamented Fetterman’s supposed rightward turn. Journalist Mehdi Hasan posted on social media Sunday, “I don’t think I have ever misjudged any politician as badly as I misjudged Fetterman. I was even one of those people who defended Fetterman against a torrent of rightwing attacks after he had his stroke. And yet Fetterman is now using that stroke to justify going full rightwing.”
Elie Mystal at The Nation responded, “It’s not misjudging people when they just straight lie to you to win. He said what he needed to say to get progressive support ... but he was lying.”
Mystal argues that Fetterman conned voters and ran as someone he’s not. This was a deliberate calculation because the “real” Fetterman would’ve lost to charisma machine Conor Lamb.
“The person who should be pissed at Fetterman is Conor Lamb,” Mystal wrote. “Lamb, not Fetterman, was the rising DNC centrist *star* in PA. But Fetterman lied and ran as a progressive, getting him lefty support from white folks who wouldn’t vote for [Malcolm] Kenyatta, and ate Lamb’s lunch.”
State House Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta is an actual progressive who’s both Black and gay. He’s also young and was only elected to Pennsylvania office in 2018, the same year Lamb won his U.S. House seat in a Republican-leaning district. Fetterman was the lieutenant governor and a former small-town mayor. He’d received national attention talking smack about Donald Trump’s bogus election fraud claims in 2020. You could reasonably argue that Fetterman was the “safer” choice.
It’s not clear to me that Fetterman posed as a progressive to win the primary. Here’s his lieutenant governor campaign announcement spot.
Sure, he’s openly anti-Trump, but otherwise, he sounds like a moderate “red” state Democrat. His rhetoric is not that far removed from Jon Tester in Montana or Tim Ryan in Ohio.
His 2022 Senate spot isn’t dramatically different. He’s described as a “Democrat with backbone,” so he’s already setting the stage to separate himself from his party as necessary. Fetterman’s positions on unions, minimum wage, and filibuster reform are liberal but not outside the Democratic mainstream.
Lamb is the one who tried to paint Fetterman as a “Bernie bro.” During an interview with John Heileman, Lamb said he wouldn’t accept Bernie Sanders’ endorsement, which he wouldn’t have received anyway. It’s not hard to simply state that you’ll graciously take all the help you can to keep Republicans from winning control of the Senate. Lamb just proactively attacked a future colleague. Lamb suggested that Fetterman would have trouble shaking off the Sanders stink, and a pro-Lamb super PAC ran ads overstating Fetterman’s progressive bonafides.
It wasn’t a smart move because Democratic voters were especially wary of electing another Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema. Lamb seemed like he was auditioning for membership in their centrist club, while Fetterman cozied up to Biden and sold himself as a team player.
Fetterman understood in 2022 that elections are often more about personalities than specific policies. He presented himself as the average Joe in sweats, not a smug, buttoned-up preppy like Lamb nor an out-of-touch elitist from New Jersey like Mehmet Oz. He just ran a better campaign, and Lamb has no one but himself to blame for the end of his brief political career.
The narrative that Fetterman was once a progressive champion who broke with the “radical Left,” especially over Israel, might make right-wingers swoon, but it’s simply not true. A guy who chased down a Black man with a shotgun because he thought he was a robber probably isn’t going to find much issue with Netanyahu’s tactics. He never apologized for the shotgun incident, either, so honestly very little he’s done since winning his Senate race surprises me.
Follow Stephen Robinson on Bluesky and Threads.
Subscribe to his YouTube channel for more fun content.
He was always that guy with the shotgun.
Finally, proof that Fetterman has gone ‘round the deep bend.