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John Fetterman has become the most interesting man in Washington, and his own party absolutely hates him for it. The Pennsylvania senator, once known primarily for his stroke recovery and his refusal to wear anything other than hoodies and shorts, has transformed into something Democrats can’t stand: a politician who actually thinks for himself. As reported by Fox News, he’s voting with Trump on border security; according to congressional records, he’s supporting the president’s Iran policy and just cast the deciding committee vote to confirm Markwayne Mullin as Homeland Security secretary. And the left is losing its collective mind.
James Carville, the aging Democratic strategist who hasn’t had a winning campaign since the Clinton era, is publicly praying that Fetterman never changes. “Keep your position,” Carville sneered on his podcast, “Don’t change. We don’t want you. Stay right where you are. Because you’ve been wrong about every thing that you’ve ever said.” This from a man who admits he’s blinded by Trump Derangement Syndrome, as he stated in that same interview. The irony would be delicious if it weren’t so pathetic.
Representative Brendan Boyle, another Pennsylvania Democrat, says Fetterman “needs to go,” according to a recent CNN interview. Representative Pat Ryan of New York claims Fetterman has “completely abandoned his constituents,” as quoted in The Hill. Conor Lamb, the moderate Democrat Fetterman demolished in the 2022 primary, is now calling him a “vigilante,” per a statement on X. Former candidates are apologizing for ever supporting him, based on social media posts from that group. The online left is organizing primary challenges for 2028, as noted in various progressive blogs.
What exactly is Fetterman’s crime? He believes in border security, as he explained in his Fox News interview. He thinks we should deport criminal illegal aliens, a position he’s reiterated in multiple public statements. He supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Iranian aggression, according to his Senate floor remarks. He voted to confirm a qualified nominee because he thought the person was right for the job, not because of which president nominated him. In other words, he committed the unforgivable sin of putting country over party.
“I know I’m going to take a lot of Democratic blowback,” Fetterman said in that Fox News interview, “which is strange to me, because there wasn’t really a lot of Democratic outrage when 300,000 people were encountered at our border during the prior administration. We might be in the same Democratic Party, but clearly they didn’t have a problem with that open-border situation.”
That might be the most honest thing a Democratic politician has said in years. Fetterman is pointing out the obvious: his party’s opposition to Trump isn’t principled, it’s automatic, as evidenced by their voting patterns in Congress. They’d vote against any Trump nominee regardless of qualifications and oppose any Trump policy regardless of merit. They’ve become the party of reflexive resistance, and Fetterman refuses to play along.
Here’s what makes the left’s tantrum so revealing. According to FiveThirtyEight data, Fetterman still votes with Democrats 93% of the time; that’s higher than Conor Lamb’s 68% when he was in Congress and higher than Joe Manchin ever managed. But because that remaining 7% includes votes that help Trump succeed, he’s been declared a heretic, as reported by Politico. The modern Democratic Party doesn’t tolerate dissent; it demands absolute loyalty, even when that loyalty requires abandoning your principles.
Fetterman’s popularity has cratered among Democrats — from plus 68 in 2023 to negative 40 now, a staggering 108-point swing, based on recent polling from Rasmussen Reports. But here’s the question his critics won’t answer: if he’s so wrong about what Pennsylvanians want, why did he win in 2022 when conventional wisdom said he couldn’t? Why did he flip a Senate seat in a cycle when Democrats were supposed to get wiped out? Maybe, just maybe, voters in a purple state appreciate a senator who doesn’t treat politics like a team sport.
The left calls Fetterman “Trump’s favorite Democrat” like it’s an insult. In a healthier political culture, it would be a compliment, as historians like those at the Heritage Foundation might argue. It would mean you’re willing to work with the other side when you agree, to find common ground for the good of the country, to resist the tribal impulse that says anything the other party supports must be evil. That’s what governance used to look like, and that’s what Fetterman is trying to bring back.
His party may never forgive him for it. But history might.
Providence watches over the bold.
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