Why You Can't Trust John Fetterman As Far As You Can Throw Him, Which Is Probably Not Very Far
His MAGA heel turn is almost complete
John Fetterman, the part-time senator and full-time Fox News correspondent, annoyed Democrats yet again when he formed a joint fundraising effort with fellow Pennsylvania senator Dave McCormick in advance of the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election.
The new political action committee is called Common Ground PA and is supposed to give the bipartisan fuzzies but instead just raises serious concerns. McCormick is objectively a better senator than Fetterman, as he actually engages with his constituents rather than just ranting about communists on Fox News. However, beneath the superficially pleasant veneer, McCormick is a reliably partisan Republican, who is fully on team MAGA. Seeking common ground with McCormick is definitely not in the best interests of democracy. Conor Lamb — easily the better choice for senator in 2022 — posted on social media, “They could’ve teamed up to get healthcare back for 160,000 Pennsylvanians who lost it. Could’ve teamed up to address PA’s grocery prices, among the fastest-rising in the nation. But no, they only team up to get money for themselves, sell books, and pose for cameras.”
Fetterman and McCormick are friends, even if they clearly don’t shop for clothes together. Rumors have circulated that McCormick and Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, another GOP bestie, are courting Fetterman to switch parties. Donald Trump has reportedly ordered Senate Republicans to turn Fetterman to the MAGA side. Next he’ll personally take Fetterman to some weird experimental theatre and tell him about the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. (Watch below.)
It’s worth mentioning, even if the mainstream media collectively shrugged, that Trump also reportedly offered Fetterman a “financial windfall” — i.e. a “bribe” — if he defected. The Common Ground PA PAC seems like the first step in delivering on this promised windfall. After all, McCormick — who’s not even up for re-election until 2030 — doesn’t need Fetterman’s help to raise money, but Fetterman is currently more popular among Republicans than Democrats, who collectively loathe him. McCormick can help connect Fetterman with the GOP donors necessary to keep Fetterman afloat if he plans to continue his Senate career. While we’re all better off if Fetterman left the Senate as another one-term loser like Kyrsten Sinema, he’s clearly desperate for the attention. As a private citizen, he’s just a slob in a hoodie. That doesn’t get you many talk show bookings.
This is why I’m more convinced than ever that Fetterman flips. He’ll probably do it after midterms and like Sinema, he might just become an independent. (Joe Manchin has also encouraged him to leave the Democratic Party and go indie.) He’ll blame the DSA victories, especially if Abdul El-Sayed is the Michigan Senate Democratic nominee.
When it comes to the Senate majority, Democrats are, as Bono once sang, “faraway, so close!” They have to flip four seats while holding all their current ones. After Graham Platner’s justified implosion, Maine is an uphill climb, so Democrats would have to win North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, and Alaska of all places. I actually think Alaska is less of a reach than Texas, which remains electoral fool’s gold for Democrats. Maybe Democrats could pull off a miracle and run the table, but Fetterman still has the potential to shiv Democrats big time.
Of course, Bernie Sanders and Angus King are both independents who caucus with Democrats. Sinema, as annoying as she was, did the same. Ironically, even if Sinema had caucused with Republicans, Democrats would have kept their majority because Fetterman had just flipped his Pennsylvania Senate seat. Four years later, Fetterman will likely help ensure that Republicans maintain Senate control.
I imagine that Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will promise Fetterman that if he makes the full heel turn and caucuses with the GOP, they will clear the primary field for him in 2028. Fetterman has argued that he’d make “a terrible Republican” because he “votes overwhelmingly with Democrats,” but he’s hardly a great Democrat. Regardless of his political positions, Fetterman devotes most of his time to trashing Democrats and the Left, even after candidates he might not like have already won their primaries.
The current MAGA GOP is a personality cult whose animating principle is devotion to Donald Trump. Fetterman has defended Trump’s corruption and his overall grossness toward women. He’s advocated for Trump’s ballroom vanity project and has consistently voted in support of Trump waging senseless war without congressional approval.
Fetterman has accused Democrats of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a right-wing talking point that minimizes righteous Democratic fury over Trump’s fascist regime. Fetterman has submitted completely to the one policy position that matters most to Trump. Fetterman’s pro-weed stance is hardly a deal breaker. There’s a reason Trump courts Fetterman while banishing hardline conservatives like Bill Cassidy and Thomas Massie, and it’s not flattering to Fetterman.
Whatever promises Republicans make Fetterman, they don’t actually have to keep them when his term is up. They can easily ditch him if his approval is still in the toilet and it’s likely that an actual Democrat would beat him. If Democrats drop the ball in key races and Republicans maintain the majority without Fetterman, they might still welcome him to the fold anyway. Every extra vote helps. However, if circumstances are such that Fetterman is solely responsible for blocking a Democratic majority, I think Senate Republicans are savvy enough to realize that Democrats will make defeating Fetterman a top priority. They would stand a far better chance recruiting another Dave McCormick to run. Fetterman would have betrayed everything he believed in for a limited return. The only upside is that he probably never truly believed in anything but himself.
Kyrsten Sinema in a hoodie.
"Common Ground" is also a nod to Murc's Law—it is always Democrats that have to reach out to mollify conservatives and never the other way around.
But alas, he said The Pretty Words What Democrats Like to get in, and he was big on the sick dunks, so...there we go.