Is it a Christmas miracle? Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who drew the ire of conservatives for being mentally unwell to serve and altering the Senate dress code to accommodate his gym leisure attire, appears to have had a political epiphany: he’s not a progressive. You read that right. He’s not a conservative, but he’s now channeling common sense liberalism, wanting to address the porous southern border while standing firm with Israel. It may not sound like much, but to the far left, being to the right on these topics could warrant a death sentence. Who is this man, and what has he done with John Fetterman (via NBC News):
What. Is. Going. On. https://t.co/3hWBrMRQ2C
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) December 15, 2023
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is breaking with progressives on hot-button issues with his fiery support for Israel and calls for Democrats to engage on tougher immigration laws, disappointing some on the left as he shows an independent streak.
He’s also continually scolding Democrats for not pushing Sen. Bob Menendez out of office after he was indicted on federal charges of taking bribes and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt, which the New Jersey Democrat denies.
[…]
“I’m not a progressive,” Fetterman told NBC News. “I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things. But with Israel, 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.”
Fetterman insisted he can be pro-immigration while also favoring policies to restrict the flow of migration to manageable levels, disagreeing with progressives who oppose new limits on asylum and bash some of the ideas in the negotiations as cruel.
“It’s a reasonable conversation — until somebody can say there’s an explanation on what we can do when 270,000 people are being encountered on the border, not including the ones, of course, that we don’t know about,” he said. “To put that in reference, that is essentially the size of Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania.”
[…]
Fetterman kept up his scathing criticisms of Menendez, mocking the New Jersey senator and suggesting he stop criticizing President Joe Biden for negotiating an immigration deal with Republicans.
“Oh, Bob Menendez,” he said, laughing. “What a guy. What a guy. He’s still running his mouth against Biden right now.”
“He needs to go. I don’t understand why he can be here, having expelled Santos,” he said. “But I’m sure there might be a very innocent explanation of having gold bars in your mattress and overstuffed envelopes of cash.”
As the kids would say, ‘That’s based.’ Based Fetterman is entertaining. We may not see eye-to-eye on immigration, but at least he’s acknowledging the problem, which has, in turn, infuriated liberals back home. The Pennsylvania Democrat nearly died from a stroke during the 2022 primaries, later beating Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz, which was a source of mockery and shame for the GOP: they couldn’t defeat a man who had overt cognitive issues. His hospitalization following his swearing-in sparked stories about whether he would even last his full term. That’s long forgotten, as Fetterman has morphed into a sensible Democrat...for now. Who knows—he might become insufferable. You never know what the swamp will do to people.
His support for Israel has driven progressives mad back home, so at least on two key issues, we have someone on the other side of the aisle who isn’t insane. And his name is John Fetterman. What a turnaround of events, though one that could quickly end in betrayal.