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U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s greatest political gift may be his ability to get journalists to pay attention to him. Whether that helps his party this year remains to be seen.
The one-time mayor of long-suffering Braddock may not have reversed the town’s fortunes — its population today stands around 1,700, down from 2,900 before he took over — but numerous national media accounts of his efforts vaulted him into stardom. Reporters couldn’t ignore mentioning his 6’ 8” frame, his tattoos, or the fondness for hoodies that prompted multiple stories about his struggles with the Senate dress code.
Fetterman is now reaping another round of headlines, this time as an independent-minded apostate willing to break with his party’s base. His staunch support of Israel, even as others in his party express misgivings about its war in Gaza, has been extensively covered in numerous media outlets. USA Today just had one this week, and I know of at least one national magazine story in the offing.
And then there was his Fox News appearance with Bret Baier this week.
While Fox is famously hostile ground for Democrats, those who go on can broadcast a message its audience may not hear otherwise. But in his own 13-minute segment, Fetterman:
- Played down Donald Trump’s legal troubles. “I’m a sitting senator, and I’m truthfully not exactly sure what his trials are about — how many of them, whatever,” he said. Rather than remind Fox viewers that the trials include accusations of election interference, mishandling classified federal documents, and stoking the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, he played pundit: “If I’m not following it that closely, I don’t think a lot of the voters [are] going to.”
- Derided protesters against Israel. “I’m not even sure what they’re really protesting about. If you ask them, they’re not really sure.” Citing a demonstration that took place on another continent and reportedly involved less than a dozen people, he added, “they had protesters at Auschwitz yesterday … How much more tasteless and disgusting that could be.”
- Played up his criticisms of President Joe Biden’s handling of Israel, including a move to suspend weapons shipments amid concerns about its conduct of the war: “He’s been very supportive of Israel [but] I don’t think we should be withholding any kind of munitions,” Fetterman said. “Israel is in this kind of a war, and I have no conditions. I never have, and I can’t imagine I ever will.”
None of this was a shock. Fetterman expressed staunch support for Israel when he ran for Senate, saying he would “lean in” any time he could to “take up the cause of strengthening and enhancing the security of Israel.” He’s been a caustic critic of protesters — referring to one demonstration as the "Columbia pup tent intifada" — and repeatedly proclaimed his differences with Biden on Israel.
Still, it’s worth noting that no less a hardliner than Ronald Reagan once delayed transfer of F-16s to Israel, out of concerns that its military operations could escalate into a broader conflict. And while there has been no shortage of antisemitic outbursts at some Gaza protests, many protesters and Democrats are sincerely concerned about the plight of Palestinians and very capable of explaining their demands.
In all, it was the kind of performance that has made Fetterman many Republicans’ favorite Democrat. But it’s also the kind that has prompted critics to liken him to Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — a Democrat who won election by appealing to progressives but then hamstrung the party’s agenda once in office.
Fetterman, they note, opposed fracking for natural gas during a Senate primary in 2016, when his chief rival was a strong proponent of the industry, but favored it in 2022. While he criticizes the Palestinian protest movement today, when he ran for lieutenant governor in 2018, he sought out the endorsement of a local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose members are active in that cause.
To be sure, comparisons to Sinema don’t survive even a cursory look at his voting record. As Fetterman staffers have pointed out to me, he has voted in near-lockstep with his party and Biden’s domestic agenda. And his defenders say that many of the causes he advocated for in earlier cycles — such as marijuana legalization — have been taken up by his party’s mainstream … while more progressive groups who embraced him early on have made support for Israel a litmus test in a way it wasn’t a few years ago.
In this view, it’s not so much Fetterman who has changed, but the political dynamics around him. (As for fracking, he’s said that the state better regulates the practice today than it did when he opposed it.)
Still, feelings of betrayal were inevitable. When you look beneath the hoodie, you see a guy who may be less progressive than many assumed, but who mastered a meme-driven style that is increasingly what politics is all about. Democrats loved it when he was draping a rainbow flag from his office window in a fashion sure to aggravate Republicans. But it’s less fun when he’s draping an Israeli flag across his shoulders in a fashion sure to aggravate protesters.
One reason Fetterman expresses such antipathy toward protesters, those around him tell me, is that he’s worried about a reprise of 2016, in which disenchantment with Hillary Clinton on the left arguably helped open the door for a Trump win. The same could happen in 2024: There’s already been a movement among pro-Palestinian activists to sit out the primary. Democrats also certainly can’t expect judges or juries to defeat Trump for them, which may have been Fetterman’s broader point.
But it’s hard to see how Fetterman’s appearance on Fox will inspire Democrats, either. I’m told he was wearing a Florida Democratic Party hoodie during the segment. But his arms were crossed as he decried his party’s missteps … and it may be one Fetterman fashion statement that didn’t come across.
