What’s the Plan Here, John?
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) campaigned and fundraised on being a “progressive.” Then, leftists were mean to him online for supporting war crimes.
Photo: Alex Wong (Getty Images) Politics John Fetterman
It’s the end of 2023, and it appears we’re also approaching the end of Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) relatively recent evolution into a villain. “I’m not a progressive. I’m just a regular Democrat,” Fetterman tweeted early Monday, appearing to double down on a similar comment he made on NBC last week. “I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things,” he told NBC’s Sahil Kapur while explaining his support for tougher restrictions on immigration and asylum, as well as his unflinching support for Israel, even as its gut-wrenching war on Gaza has killed close to 20,000 within two months. Apparently, his choice has been to turn into a cartoonish, warmongering provocateur.
“Weird, you were a progressive when you were begging me for money,” one Twitter user replied, attaching a screenshot of an ad from 2018 in which Fetterman wrote, “Chip in whatever you can to help us take this progressive momentum all the way to the ballot box.” The replies to Fetterman’s tweet feature torrents of receipts of him, not just identifying as a “progressive,” but actively fundraising off of this claim through the years—especially during 2022, when being a progressive was his main pitch over the more moderate Conor Lamb in their primary, and certainly over Republican opponent Dr. Oz. “So admit you lied to get elected,” one user replied. Others called him a conman, some asked point-blank for their campaign donations to be returned, while Twitter’s Community Notes cross-references a whole list of Fetterman tweets where he labels himself a progressive. Similarly, over the last week, Fetterman’s apparent immigration flip has a lot of people gawking after the immigration status of his formerly undocumented wife took a front-and-center role on the campaign trail.
Weird, you were a progressive when you were begging me for money pic.twitter.com/Ns8pj8UfIC