Summary
Pennsylvania Democrats are protesting Sen. John Fetterman’s growing alignment with Trump, citing his visit to Mar-a-Lago and votes for Trump nominees.
Critics, including Rep. Summer Lee and local leaders, accuse him of abandoning progressive values and failing to oppose Trump’s policies.
Some see his shift as a strategic move in a GOP-leaning state, but others compare him to former Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema’s alienation from her base.
Discontent among Democratic activists raises questions about a potential 2028 primary challenge.
Fetterman has changed so much.
I feel like maybe he hasn’t and we just prescribed things about him that were never real. He’s got a few progressive type positions (lgbt, legal weed), but beyond that I’m not sure he was ever the progressive we thought he was. We just cloaked him in things and he never disabused us of it until now where the rubber meets the road. I’m greatly disappointed, but the lesson for me is to look closer at people rather than “thinking” their beliefs align with my values.
He was also the progressive choice in the primary. His opponent was a centrist party hack.
He was a very vocal critic of Trump and a very vocal supporter of progressive causes and bills until he was elected. He was vocal about climate change, for instance.
We had no reason to believe otherwise until it was too late.
He definitely had this no BS progressive streak he amplified ahead of his election. He had a massive stroke, then turned increasingly conservative – seems to track. Alas, the cause doesn’t matter. He revealed his true colors.
Seems we were double-crossed yet again akin to Sinema.
It’s almost like brain damage makes people more reactionary. I wonder if there’s a lesson there.
I’d genuinely be interested in having a neuroscientist analyze his brain via mri / eeg.
An interesting study of self-identifying conservatives and liberals revealed conservatives had larger amygdalae and shrunken anterior cingulate cortices. This translated to greater fear and disgust responses and reduced empathy and pattern recognition.