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Unfortunately, John Fetterman used to be known as the guy who had the stroke.
And maybe the man who always wore the hoodie.
That has changed dramatically.
Now the Pennsylvania senator has distanced himself from much of his own Democratic Party with an independent streak that often leads him to side with the Trump administration.
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Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has spent the last few years emerging as a maverick within his party. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
Now he has become Joe Manchin, who drove Biden’s people crazy by resisting many of his liberal initiatives.
But I would go further. I think he’s become more like the late John McCain (without the POW role, of course) as a maverick who seems to delight in breaking with party orthodoxy. As you may recall, Republican McCain was a champion of campaign finance reform with a true Democrat in Russ Feingold.
Is Fetterman paying a price? Oh yes.
Fetterman’s popularity has taken a serious hit. In 2023, it was at plus 68 points. Now it is at negative 40 points. It’s a 108 point swing, absolutely impressive.
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Now some Democrats are openly talking about a primary challenge against Fetterman in 2028, assuming he runs again.
In an appearance on Fox News, Fetterman explained his latest transgression: voting to confirm President Trump’s pick, Markwayne Mullin, as secretary of Homeland Security, turned out to be the deciding vote in getting his nomination out of committee. Mullin had just been confirmed.
“I believe in a very secure border,” Fetterman told Lara Trump. “We also agreed that we should deport all criminals. My friend Markwayne and I agree on that…
“I know I’m going to get a lot of Democratic backlash, which is strange to me, because there really wasn’t a lot of Democratic outrage when 300,000 people were found at our border during the previous administration. I was… We might be in the same Democratic Party, but they clearly didn’t have a problem with that open border situation.”
And he added: “That can isolate me from some people in my party. But that is not country over party.”
Fetterman voted to confirm Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Country over party? Does the concept already exist in this hyperpolarized era? That feeling used to be admired. Now, not so much.
Let’s face it, Democrats would have voted against any DHS candidate this side of Bernie Sanders simply because that person was chosen by Trump.
In the same vein, Fetterman has largely supported the president’s war against Iran, the world’s leading terrorist state since 1979, again breaking with Chuck Schumer and the party line, which is that the attack can only be criticized.
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In X, Fetterman alluded to the fact that he had urged President Trump to fire Kristi Noem.
He has also said that his party is motivated by Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
James Carville, who admits to suffering from TDS and has attacked Trump with obscenity-laced tirades, has also criticized Fetterman.
“Can I say a public prayer?” Carville said in a podcast. “John Fetterman, whatever you do, stand your ground. Don’t change. We don’t want you. Stay where you are. Because you’ve been wrong about every (expletive) thing you’ve ever said, and we don’t want you to break your streak.”
Fetterman responded to Carville in his interview with Fox News: “Jim has been fighting for relevance for the last 30 years. I’m proud to be on the right side of Epic Fury. I’m proud to be on the right side about standing with Israel…
“He recognized that [he’s] blinded by TDS. I’m a guy who really represents Pennsylvania. I’m not some weird, angry online guy. You know, representing a state like Pennsylvania keeps you honest, and I’m the only one this cycle who also changed a seat.”
Fetterman is attracting a lot of critical press. The Guardian reports that his vote for Mullin “prompted U.S. House member Brendan Boyle, another Pennsylvania Democrat, to say the vote showed why Fetterman was Donald Trump’s ‘favorite Democrat.'”
“He needs to go,” Boyle said.
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Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., said, “If you needed any more proof that Fetterman has completely abandoned his constituents, here it is. Pennsylvanians deserve a senator who will actually fight for them.”
In the 2022 U.S. Senate race, Fetterman defeated former Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., in the primary before defeating Dr. Mehmet Oz, R-Pa., overall, despite a horrible debate in which Fetterman could barely function.
Lamb now says, “People thought this vigilante was voting to protect his rights? Come on.”
North Carolina’s Moe Davis, who ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives, is now apologizing for sharing his donor list with Fetterman’s camp. “I sincerely regret any involvement I had in helping elect [Fetterman] in 2022.”
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., tells Fetterman “he has to go.” (Robert Deutsch/USA Today Network)
On the other hand, Washington Examiner columnist Salena Zito, who has reported extensively from Pennsylvania, shared this statistic with radio host Hugh Hewitt: “The argument Lamb is making is that Fetterman is not a true Democrat. Fetterman votes 93% of the time with the Democrats, while Lamb voted 68% of the time with the Democrats. That’s almost a 30-point difference.”
Zito added that “there are a lot of positions, but the Democrats that I talk to, even they know that there is some kind of online movement against Fetterman, it’s very difficult for me to find anyone outside of the far left and, by the way, this all has to do with Israel, right?”
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If you put aside the partisan warfare for a moment (very difficult, I know), Fetterman is showing the value of his convictions. The man has guts.
Perhaps Fetterrman, who still wears the trademark hoodie, has strayed too far from his Democratic constituents, but that’s a risk he chooses to take.
I wonder if fighting a stroke is a factor here. In a brutally candid memoir, Fetterman admits that he struggled with depression, including suicidal thoughts, and that his wife exiled him from the family home because his presence was too hard on the children. In retrospect, he wrote: “I should have left it.”
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“Paranoid. Not eating. Not sleeping. Not talking. Not functioning. Resigned. Ashamed. Desperate.”
John Fetterman was harder on himself than anyone. I wonder if that fueled his desire to say what he really thinks, whatever the political cost. Whatever happens with his Senate career, he’s been through much worse.