Really, what is the John Fetterman brand?
If his dress is weird, so are many of his ideas, and his personality.
As a self-described loner, what do you make of Pennsylvania’s senior U.S. Senator, John Fetterman?
A one-time trust fund baby, the man I playfully call Lurch, turned away from a career in finance that would have made him rich, and instead devoted himself to the causes of the underclass.
As I asked a few months ago, is he a “traitor to progressive policies? A manic depressive? A brave, middle-of-road politician? A speeding car looking for a guard rail to crash?”
I am fascinated by the 6-8, 270-pound former football lineman who was a Reagan Republican in college, the mass of contradictions he seems to be.
Although he now denies running as a progressive (maybe his injured brain has amnesia) he certainly is a centrist now, causing his stock to plummet among Democrats, while rising among Republicans.
Among Democrats, his approval has fallen from 80% early this year to 54%, according to Quinnipiac University polling. At the same time, his support among Republican voters has increased dramatically, rising from 16% in 2024 to 62%. The poll shows that independents are currently split on Fetterman’s performance.
This is a remarkable political transformation, which has allowed the Right to welcome Fetterman like the Prodigal Son, while Democrats treat him like a particular invasive skin rash.
The likes and dislikes don’t seem to phase him, any more than the criticism of his ridiculous sartorial choices. He has chosen hoodies and shorts to send a message, which might be that he identifies with the common man, except the common man doesn ‘t dress like a hip hop hobo.
If his dress is weird, so are many of his ideas, and his personality.
“I am not collegial,” he said in a recent interview, “and as a senator, you need to be to get anything done. Loners in the Senate remain exactly that — loners.”
The reporter, who was interviewing him following the release of Fetterman’s biography, “Unfettered,” apparently did not ask the natural followup question: “As a loner, what have you accomplished in the Senate?”
One thing he has accomplished is to become the No. 1 supporter of Israel in the Senate, and that is not a comfortable place to be.
He said he has become friends with Republicans Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, as well as Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont.
He says Democrats have been very brutal in their judgment of him, calling him a traitor.
“I’ve drunk deeply of the venom of both the Left and the Right. And as a connoisseur, I can confirm that the most poisonous, the bitterest, is from the Far Left. The Right tells me I suck and calls me names. The Far Left calls for my death.
Think about that Dems, you who are supposed to be the educated, the rational part of the electorate. Is Fetterman wrong?
Right-wing radio keeps pressing the idea that the polling suggests Fetterman might run for reelection in 2028 as a Republican.
Given his unpredictable health and his fairly obvious disdain for the job, I doubt he will run. If he does, going back to his college Ronald Reagan days seems a stretch. Should he run as a Democrat, he is certain to be challenged in the primary, most likely by former congressman Conor Lamb.
The progressive Working Families Party has declared it is against him, saying he “sold out” by voting, with six other Democrats and one independent, to end the government shutdown without getting the Republicans to extend subsidies to pay for Obamacare. The seven said the GOP was not going to budge on that ever, so prolonging the shutdown was pointless.
Does Fetterman even care about the Dems and the Working Party?
Aside from the tattoos, one thing we know about Lurch is that he plots his own course, no matter how improbable.
