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.
You’re right, but historically anytime someone primaries a Dem from the left the DNC will look to bury the challenger in favor of keeping the establishment figure in office. Sometimes we get an AOC, but usually it’s a Cuellar.
Only vaguely conscious of this guy from my nice safe seat abroad but IIRC he wasn’t exactly “establishment” in the first place? He can’t have that many friendly colleagues after basically completely changing his policies once in office. Never mind the reputed reason for that happening.
Well my comment was about how Pelosi helped defeat the progressive Jessica Cisneros in TX, by giving tons of DNC money to Henry Cuellar, a corporate shill. Both dems, but the DNC tipped the scales in favor of the neoliberal, to the detriment of democracy. All too often this is what happens in primaries where there is a challenger from the left. No worries though, that isn’t a race I would expect those from abroad to know anything about, just using it as an example.
The guy you’re talking about, Fetterman - actually I think he has been making moves to become more establishment, and has likely gained allies as a result. AIPAC is the Israeli lobby group that buys all of our politicians so that our government does whatever they want - I don’t think they even needed to give Fetterman any money though, he seems like a rabid Zionist from the start. This attitude signaled his departure from progressive politics - we saw the exact same thing with Kyrsten Sinema, who got into office as a “progressive leftist” but then immediately went mask-off right wing. Establishment/centrist politicians love people like Fetterman and Sinema because they can be used to kill any legislation that is “in danger” of passing, when it might result in things like higher taxes on the rich and corporations, or more stringent regulations to protect people that might cost businesses some money. This is a key factor regarding how corporations and other private interests have captured our government, such that we presently live in a corporate oligarchy.
I think everyone should have been suspicious when party leadership didn’t sabotage his campaign.