John Fetterman, Right-Wing Troll, Keeps Attacking Biden for…Not Being Pro-Israel Enough??

Since October, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has been working overtime to burn through the enormous goodwill he garnered among the progressive coalitions that got him elected in 2022, all to cheerlead a foreign government’s war crimes. Between declaring himself “not woke” last week and, before that, laughing at veterans arrested for protesting Israel’s horrific attacks on Gaza, Fetterman has become something of a right-wing troll who just occasionally criticizes Trump. Over the weekend, following Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel in response to Israel allegedly attacking its consulate in Syria, Fetterman quadrupled down, this time breaking with Biden (again). Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would not join Israel in attacking Iran, and discouraged Israel from responding to Iran, something that  Fetterman called “astonishing.”

“It’s astonishing that we are not standing firmly with Israel,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union on Sunday. “There should never be any time for conditions—all of that when a nation can launch hundreds of drones towards Israel—and I’m not going to be talking about conditions ever.” This comes as more and more Democrats have called for the U.S. to adhere to federal law and require Israel to follow international human rights law in order to receive aid and weapons. Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed over 33,000 Palestinians—70% of whom were reportedly women and children—per the latest numbers reported by Gaza’s health ministry this week.

“The president is entitled to his own views and whatever he decides to do, but I would never capitulate to the fringe,” Fetterman said. By “fringe,” he is referring to the majority of American voters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Fetterman then seemingly suggested that Biden’s position—that the U.S. not get into a regional war against Iran—is “[empowering] Hamas,” because “Hamas is actually convinced that they are winning the PR war, and they’re never going to negotiate at this point. They think that they’re going to hold onto the very end.” (Welp, it only took six months, but we finally reached the “Biden is Hamas” stage of things!) It’s very weird to live in a reality where the Israeli military—with U.S. funding and weapons—has killed almost 15,000 Palestinian children in Gaza in six months and a once-beloved “progressive” senator is ranting and raving about it being a so-called “PR war.”

Oddly enough, Biden has been plenty pro-Israel, bypassing Congress several times to send the increasingly rogue, far-right foreign government more weapons, and over the weekend, affirming that his administration unequivocally stands with Israel, even as it’s spent the last six months terrorizing refugee camps and hospitals. It says a lot that that’s still not enough for Fetterman.

And Fetterman’s openly split with Biden on Israel several times by now. Earlier this month, he insisted that under no circumstances should the U.S. condition aid to Israel, amid reports that Biden was beginning to *possibly* consider this after Israeli attacks killed several World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza. Fetterman also broke with the majority of his party writ large by rejecting a resolution in favor of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine earlier this year.

Fetterman’s positions are utterly abominable, yet, I can’t help but notice his critiques of Biden amid a critical election year are receiving none of the same backlash that more progressive members of the party face when they try to push the administration on issues like affordable health care, student debt forgiveness, or, more recently, a ceasefire in Gaza. It’s pretty glaring that when progressive women of color like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) or Ilhan Omar (D-MN) make pretty basic, broadly popular demands of this administration, they’re accused of tearing the Democratic Party apart, helping Trump, dividing the left, and so on, and so forth. Tlaib was censured in November simply for a slogan that advocated for Palestinian freedom and self-determination while Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive Democrats were also criticized for condemning Israel’s attacks on hospitals.

In any case, I’m sorry to even be writing about Fetterman at this point. His stubborn, racist ignorance comes off as little more than a spectacle, a childish and desperate performance to “own the libs” and betray every diverse, progressive voting bloc that he’s relied on throughout his political career—again, in favor of a rogue, bloodthirsty, foreign government. The hoodie-clad, wannabe Republican troll is hardly worth paying attention to anymore—but it does feel worth questioning why none of his attacks on the party’s standard-bearer in an election year are met with the same liberal pearl-clutching that someone like, say, AOC would face.