I really enjoyed making fun of John Fetterman. I mean, I really did enjoy it. It was easy, most of the jokes wrote themselves, but they were still fun to say. But now, he’s not a joke. What he’s become as a United States Senator is nothing short of shocking, and I owe him a (qualified) apology.
Senator Fetterman has demonstrated something most people in the political world can’t bring themselves to, or are incapable of – change their position based on new evidence coming to light. There aren’t many Members of Congress who surprise anyone; they wear the uniform for whatever team they’re on and that dictates everything that comes out of their mouths.
Members of Congress aren’t exactly the deepest thinkers. How many Democrats have you heard burping out a line like, “There is no evidence” regarding anything Joe Biden has done while they refuse to look at any of the evidence? It’s amazing what you don’t find when you refuse to look for it, isn’t it?
And I’m not saying Fetterman has come around to realizing just how corrupt Joe Biden is. He’s not there, at least not yet. But his turn on Israel vs the terrorists Democrats are goosestepping behind and his statements on Biden’s open border are more plan spoken and forceful than many Republicans have been.
He’s also forcefully called for New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez to resign over his indictment for allegedly taking bribes and selling influence.
It appears to be the case that John Fetterman is operating from a set of principles, not party loyalty. I could be wrong, it might all end up having been a show, but he has not followed the pathway carved by people like the junior Senator from Delaware, Chris Coons, who was on TV just this weekend lying that “prices have come down” under Biden. That is so patently false that only someone with zero character or scruples could say it with a straight face, yet Coons does such things regularly. Many Democrats do.
I thought John Fetterman would. He has not.
To be sure, he’s no conservative. He’s as liberal as he was on all other issues, but his willingness to buck his party and embrace the truth on issues about which there is no ambiguity is admirable.
He is what the liberal media claimed John McCain was, only in the opposite direction. Yet, there is no celebrating him, no lionizing him as a “renegade” or whatever. He’s largely been ignored by the left-wing media.
I’m sure, behind the scenes, they’re scrambling to “get him in line,” or to learn whatever it is they think his place is, but he doesn’t seem to care in the least.
I saw a joke on how Fetterman has evolved on Twitter, or X (whatever it’s called this week), that went something like the more his brain recovered from his massive stroke, the more conservative he’s become.
It’s funny because it’s true, though it’s doubtful one has anything to do with the other.
I will say that Fetterman’s wife, Gisele, went from being a liberal media darling and literal mouthpiece of the campaign (because he could not talk) to disappearing. The glowing media profiles have dried up, and now she’s being used as a weapon by leftists against her husband
For his part, Fetterman is unfazed, at least publicly. “I’m not a progressive,” Fetterman bravely said to NBC, “I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things.” The “progressive network helped drag him across the finish line in his election. “But with Israel,” he continued, “I’m going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well.”
Good for him, and thank you to him. I’d prefer no politician disagree with me on anything, but I do have respect for those who do so in an intellectually consistent way, especially when they have nothing to gain from it but the scorn of their party.
I know the easiest way to get burned is trust any politician, so I don’t trust John Fetterman, or any of them. But I do want to acknowledge the fact that he has been a much better Senator than I gave him credit for or ever thought he would be. That’s not to says he’s good – he’s still a Democrat, after all – but as far as Democrats go, he’s not completely horrible.