In the latest installment of “wtf is John Fetterman doing, ”the Senate’s most overgrown toddler decided to make a surprise appearance at Trumpalooza, aka the entirely unnecessary Republican midterm convention.
Worst. Festival. Ever.
However, in keeping with his overall lazybones vibe these days, Fetterman couldn’t even be bothered to exert much effort to betray his party. He didn’t travel to Dallas in person because why bother, instead shooting a little video in front of a steel mill, explaining how he would work with President Donald Trump to defend the “steel way of life.”
Is the steel way of life where Trump’s crushing tariffs have netted a whopping 1,000 more steel mill jobs total while killing a mere 75,000 in manufacturing?
Is the steel way of life where Trump has slashed the workforces of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, all agencies that help keep steelworkers safe?
Cool thing to sign onto, bro.
It isn’t at all clear what Fetterman sees as his future in government. Even after showing up for the convention so laughable that even Republicans skipped it, he seems to think he’s still a valued and necessary member of the Democratic Party. “I’m a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party—and should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on.”
Buddy.
Fetterman voted to confirm the now-departed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He’s voted with Trump 26% of the time, the highest among Senate Democrats. Since February 2023, he’s missed 12.9% of roll call votes versus the median of 2.8% for other current senators.
Perhaps Fetterman knows somewhere in his heart of hearts that he’s really only useful to the GOP as a rogue Democrat, one that can be trotted out as standing athwart the woke wing of his party, yelling stop, rather than one of their own.
Sure, if the GOP could flip him now, until the end of his term, that could provide them a brief boost, but there’s no way the GOP would put their full resources behind such a mercurial weirdo in 2028 when they already always have their own lifetime Republican mercurial weirdos willing to debase themselves.
And if Fetterman did decide to run again as a Democrat, he doesn’t really have any meaningful constituency to draw on. Even the squishiest of centrist types aren’t going to line up for a guy who seems to spend most of his time actively alienating his constituents.
And that isn’t meant to say he’s just tacking to the center or something. He’s ignored officials from Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, families of slain police officers, state elected officials, and disabled veterans.
Pennsylvania Democrats clearly, and rightly, wish the guy would just disappear already, as the Philadelphia Inquirer notes, where Thursday’s editorial about the feckless behemoth began with: “News flash: U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is still an embarrassment.”
The Inquirer’s editorial is a good reminder that while his behavior has definitely been accelerating of late, Fetterman has been a garbage person for quite some time now. Remember how he complained about missing a family beach vacation because he had to stay for debates on Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill? Or that his own staffers are afraid of him? Or that he stays in his office scrolling on his phone instead of doing his job?
Fetterman has found friends in the GOP who are willing to use him, willing to let him make a fool of himself by getting trotted out to prop up the least popular, most corrupt president imaginable. He should in no way mistake being allowed to have a little guest-star turn at the convention as real support for his future endeavors, whatever lazy nonsense those will be.
Published with permission of Daily Kos
