What’s With John Fetterman? Why Is He Crossing the Aisle for Donald Trump?
Fetterman — who, unlike Joe Manchin, represents a purple state — betrayed his constituents by voting with Republicans to reject a war powers resolution that would put limits on the US attacks on Iran.
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Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has turned out to be a bewildering disappointment to Democrats and progressives who supported him during his race against Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 election. It is hard to tell whether his turn to the right was a result of the stroke he suffered days before his primary victory or if he hid his contrarian ideas during the campaign, though, as a candidate, Fetterman did express unqualified support for Israel.
Whatever the reason, Fetterman has betrayed his supporters repeatedly. He voted against a War Powers Resolution that would have reined in Trump’s “excursion” into Iran. The big man broke with Democratic leadership to vote with Republicans over a dozen times on various funding bills during the government shutdown. He voted to confirm several of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, including Pam Bondi and Markwayne Mullin (his vote was in fact responsible for Mullin’s nomination clearing committee and making it to the Senate floor). Fetterman even supports Voter ID laws that analysts believe will result in targeted voter suppression.
Independence of thought is one thing — generally something we regard as courageous and worthy of praise. But when it takes the form of a political bait and switch — at a time of what amounts to political total war, when the lines of battle could not be more sharply drawn — that is something very different. It is just about impossible to reconcile the candidate who was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) with the sitting senator who seems hell-bent on being the odd man out in the Democratic caucus while giving political aid and comfort to a rampaging Trump.
Here is Fetterman during his campaign explaining why he will never be a hold-out:
https://www.twitter.com/JohnFetterman/status/1510033517173911552
Here is Fetterman on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo supporting Trump’s war in Iran:
While you’re here enjoying DonkeyHotey’s latest cartoon, please take a moment to read these articles on related topics:
- The Iran War Is About To Escalate
- Iran Stands to Make Billions as Trump Administration Waives Oil Sanctions
- Other DonkeyHotey cartoons
The cartoon above was created by DonkeyHotey for WhoWhatWhy from these images: John Fetterman (DonkeyHotey / Flickr – CC BY 2.0), body (Governor Tom Wolf / Flickr – CC BY 2.0), and background (NASA HQ PHOTO / Flickr).