John Fetterman’s Annoying But He’s No Republican
He’s also not Manchin or Sinema ... yet.
The other day, New Jersey Democrat Jamel Holley posted on social media, “Just left a conversation and my source indicated to me that a key Democratic senator is expected to change party affiliation to Republican by next week. Wow!”
There was immediate buzz that the Democratic senator in question was John Fetterman. Someone also suggested Kyrsten Sinema, who is neither a Democrat nor a senator at this point. This person didn’t win the trivia round.
Holley is the former mayor of New Rochelle, a former assemblyman, and a current adviser to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Nothing about his resume would suggest he’d have the inside scoop on the senator from Pennsylvania’s plans, but it says a lot that so many people consider Fetterman the Paulie Gatto of the family.
It’s true that after Donald Trump won the presidential election, Fetterman quickly rolled over for belly rubs. He’s the first sitting Democratic senator to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, perhaps enjoying some classified document reading after a heavy meal. Fetterman immediately supported MAGA stooge Elise Stefanik’s nomination for UN ambassador. He’s said he’s open to supporting RFK Jr.’s disturbing appointment to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Worse, he was the only Democrat to vote to advance unqualified, drunken sex offender Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of Defense.
Fetterman has reassured everyone that he’s still a Democrat: “It’s not gonna happen,” he told Semafor. “And even if I wanted to do that, that is a rocket sled to Palookaville to try to switch. I would make a pretty bad Republican.”
Most Republicans are “pretty bad,” but I assume that he means he wouldn’t do a good job as a pretty bad Republican.
Pollster Lakshya Jain suggested on social media that Fetterman is just doing what’s necessary to survive as a Democrat.
“At the risk of starting an insane amount of discourse, the process of Democrats winning a lot more rural voters and turning red states bluer likely involves running a lot more people like John Fetterman and allowing them to flip the middle finger to the party establishment.”
Jain added, “Widely adopting Fetterman’s ... unorthodoxy will be an extremely traumatic process that can cause ruptures in the party, like Trump 2016. But a lot of his appeal lies in his willingness to basically say anything and buck the party on a few key issues. Worth it? You decide.”
Fetterman is no maverick
I think Lakshya Jain fundamentally misunderstands John Fetterman and what rural voters want from politicians. Fetterman’s behavior isn’t that “unorthodox.” He consistently takes the safest political position:
He reflexively supports Israel and expresses little concern for the Palestinian people.
He defended Joe Biden when most of his colleagues wanted Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, but he didn’t have to share a ballot with an unpopular incumbent that year.
He makes nice with Donald Trump, who currently controls the federal government and has no qualms against weaponizing the justice department against his political enemies.
However, like Kyrsten Sinema, Fetterman’s political instincts aren’t that great. For instance, he’s an outspoken supporter of the Laken Riley Act, which might seem like the smart move politically but many Democrats thought the same thing about their Iraq War vote. If the Laken Riley Act gives Trump’s thugs free rein and leads to horrible abuses of immigrants, regardless of actual status, Democrats who voted for it will have blood on their hands. If by some miracle, the bill does what Democratic supporters claim it will, Trump and the GOP will take all the credit and keep spreading the lie that Democrats support open borders.
Rural voters aren’t nihilists. They don’t want someone who’ll just “flip the middle finger to the party establishment.” Besides, Fetterman didn’t do that when he said Senate Democrats had no “spine” because they wouldn’t mindlessly defend Biden after his disastrous debate performance and cratering poll numbers.
People mistakenly assume Fetterman is some great white rural vote hunter. Fetterman actually comes from a privileged, well-off suburban background. Yet, he’s so committed to the working-class cosplay that he showed up for Trump’s second insulting inauguration wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. That’s appropriate attire if you’re watching at home.
He apparently dressed the same way when Senate Democrats met with Biden at the White House in July. Fashion aside, there’s like a 100 degree difference between DC in July and January.
I grew up in rural Greenville, South Carolina, where everyone had at least one “Sunday best” outfit for church, funerals, and special occasions that weren’t related to religion or death. No one from my high school, regardless of race, could’ve started Facebook while wearing a hoodie and flip-flips. We wouldn’t have gotten a loan. Only the most privileged among us believe they can function in society as if every moment is Saturday afternoon.
Fetterman hasn’t yet sunk to Sinema’s grifty lows. He was a reliable Democratic vote while Biden was president. The problem is that if he wants a future within the party, he’ll need to take the fight the Trump. Fetterman carried the state in 2022 by more than Trump did in 2024.
Republicans aren’t going to thank Fetterman for his accommodations when he’s up for re-election. These are the same people who treated him like garbage after he had a stroke. They claimed he was brain damaged and had been replaced by a fake Fetterman sometime after Revolver. During the 2022 Senate campaign, Trump accused Fetterman of Charlie Sheen-in-2011 levels of drug abuse.
“Fetterman supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete decriminalization of illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra lethal fentanyl," Trump said at one of his hate rallies. “By the way, he takes them himself.”
Fetterman still isn’t a Republican
Some liberals have dismissed John Fetterman as “Republican-lite,” a term that seems especially misplaced in our current MAGA reality. Someone on social media with “Free Palestine and Overturn Citizens United” in their bio posted, “Fetterman is just a republican and we have seen time and time and time again that when Dems run as republican lites, they lose every single time.”
I realize we currently exist in a nuance-free reality, but Fetterman is by no means “Republican-lite.” Even his most frustrating positions are well within the Democratic mainstream.
Fetterman is pro-choice and opposed Republicans’ Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. He’s pro-union and workers’ rights. He supports Ukraine and isn’t one of Putin’s patsies. He stands with the LGBTQIA+ community. He believes your vote should count. If his commitment to liberal positions is not always reliable, that just makes him a normal Democrat. Republicans are reliably terrible.
Democrats can’t afford to keep shrinking our tent. I agree with Lakshya Jain that we need liberal, moderate, and conservative Democrats who can appeal to a wide variety of voters. My issue with Fetterman is that he’s collaborating with MAGA. That won’t help him win elections, even if Trump lets us have any more.
The Laken Riley Act proves that our government could respond to mass shootings, and the murders of Native women, and the murders of women in general by abusive partners or exes, but they choose not to because they don't care or the solutions don't align with their prejudices.
SER you nailed exactly what's wrong with his attire. Aside from just being sloppy and disrespectful, it's a look that no one else but a 'down with the working class' white guy could get away with. The mind reels at the meltdown MAGA would have if, say, Hakeem Jeffries showed up in sweat pants.