'You're a mess John Fetterman'

[bigtree]

Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta @malcolmkenyatta
Almost every day now my US Senator comes on this site to attack his constituents and many people who worked hard to elect him. Suggesting that they have “derangement syndrome” for opposing this administration.

You’re a mess @JohnFetterman

Link to tweet

Fetterman backs White House ballroom after Correspondents’ Dinner shooting
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fetterman-backs-white-house-ballroom-after-correspondents-dinner-shooting/ar-AA21LHLf

[Klarkashton]

1. It's way past the time to defend that guy just because he used to be

A Democrat. I'm not ever sure he was ever a Democrat.

[Melon]

2. When is the next time to vote him out?

[DinahMoeHum]

3. 2028

n/t

[Cha]

4. Of Course Fetterman Does... he wouldn't

want Anything to happen to the PEDO, Homicidal Maniac, War Criminal, Rapist who's Destroying America and the Planet.

GFY, Deranged DINO, Quit projecting.

[2naSalit]

5. I think he needs to...

Go back to rehab or just fucking go home and call it a day.

[tulipsandroses]

6. I love Malcolm Kenyatta. Too bad folks from PA could not see that he would have been the better choice

over Fetterman. Kenyatta would have made an excellent senator.

[calimary]

16. Kenyatta could run again, couldn't he?

He WOULD be an excellent senator!

[msongs]

7. be careful malcolm there are dems who say we should not be critical of other dems nt

[bigtree]

12. specious

...and you should know it.

It's become childish and self-defeating, like many of the same people insisted their bullshit in the last presidential election was more important than achieving a Democratic majority. they just couldn't keep themselves from tearing down the presidency with their projections; never accounting for how they would get anything they claimed they wanted without a Democratic majority.

Just tear the president down; tear his successor down; all with this childish insistence they be able to criticize the party and try to intimidate the rest of us from that necessary support.

It's all about what they want. And we let this Israel bullshit dominate the forum right before the election. Unprecedented here, but it spilled out as hatred of sitting Democrats. And poeople acted surprised Democrats didn't show up; and the critics just dug in after their cynical deed, blaming people who'd already, repeatedly, FOUGHT AND WON AGAINST ACTUAL REPUBLICANS.

Curious to have these strident calls to dismantle BOTH leaderships at the point where they're likely to get the power and authority to act as people claim they want them to.

All critics have done is advantage their opposition off of the ascendance of republicans as if they can't find an inch of room to support our party leaders.

Both of them fought successfully to attach the health care cuts, and the rising health insurance costs to Americans to the opposition, highlighting republicans refusal to extend the ACA subsidies.

Were YOU fighting and advocating along with them for my and others health care?

Both of them fought successfully to strip DHS funding from the republican budget, organizing their respective memberships to stand firm against funding the murderous and abusive agency.

Were you fighting alongside of them as they defended the thousands of people like me in the country who this government has targeted with their mass deportation scheme?

If not, why not?

I daresay, neither of them have had the notion to attack their own membership and supporters, as Fetterman has,, but rather, have focused their political energy on fighting republicans. Their critics purporting to be speaking for the party, not nearly as much.

Yeah, careful with that permission structure critics have grown accustomed to promoting and building before key elections that encourage people away from supporting Democrats.

That's not what Fetterman is doing here, is it? He's not supporting Democrats, he's attacking us, and openly providing aid and comfort to Trump and the republican agenda.

[ShazzieB]

15. I agree about Fetterman.

I'm a little confused about the rest of your post, though. Who do you mean by "both leaderships" and "both of them"? It''s late and I'm tired so maybe I'm being a bit dense. Little help here?

[betsuni]

18. Truth.

[Emile]

29. Manchin voted with the party 87.9% of time, Fetterman votes with the party 91% of the time.

[Rob H.]

38. "(M)any of the same people insisted their bullshit in the last presidential election

was more important than achieving a Democratic majority."

"Bullshit," such as...?

[bigtree]

39. did they get what you wanted out of this republican majority?

...that's the question.

We can argue out our differences in a majority, compromise and move forward. That's how progressive change has always happened.

The new fad of trying to burn down the house(s) every election is an ignorant and sophomoric pursuit that predictably does little to account for the ultimate outcome; the numbers; the math that puts republicans in the position to dictate the direction of our government and our nation.

It makes little sense, and is a profound misunderstanding of the utility of the party. We're a coalition of diverse and often disparate interests and concerns from myriad regions of the nation who band together to advance the many things that we agree on, and work to reconcile the rest into action or law.

Our democratic system makes room for our elected officials to either sit on their hands and object, or compromise with each other to move legislation forward. Democrats decide on what they will legislate by way of a caucus of members in their respective chambers.

It's not a dictatorial system, but a deliberative one that intends to build coalitions around what these many interests and their constituents want. That's what their leaders are challenged to accomplish; as unified a coalition as they can manage.

That's why THEY vote to advance leaders who can bridge or accommodate often competing notions and determinations on how to move forward. That expectation of our elected Democrats of their leaders isn't going to produce a firebrand, or someone who wears their personal politics on their sleeve.

They want someone who will represent to the public THEIR consensus of opinion as expressed in the caucus meeting they hold before votes and at the beginning of legislative cycles.

One thing that's always frustrating to me is how individual legislators, especially heads or ranking members of committees, are celebrated for their tenacity and toughness, while the leaders or the managers of the party who deliberately placed them in those positions are treated like they lack the same fire and fight.

They completely misunderstand and misrepresent the way the party functions. It's absurd to expect that the people that legislators choose to manage THEIR votes are going to promote much more than what their membership indicates they will support.

So far, both Dem leaders have done a really good job at keeping their respective memberships together on votes; not just key ones, but all votes, so far; managed to keep them together through two shutdowns where they made republicans own their health care cuts and their nazi immigration regime.

Whatever people want to see happen in Congress happens legislatively, not performatively. It only happens with a Democratic majority, and, that only happens by practicing ADDITION (of Dems), not subtraction.

[ShazzieB]

13. I don't think of Fetterman as a Dem anymore.

He's a total DINO - Democrat in name only. No party loyalty whatsoever. I think we should be free to criticize him all we want.

Did anyone get in trouble for criticing Manchin or Sinema back in the day? I'm sure I posted my share of critical remarks about both of them, and I never had a post deleted for it.

[LeftInTX]

17. I didn't criticize Manchin. He was from W VA. He did what he did to stay afloat.

However, we can do better in PA. Fetterman seems worse than Manchin anyway.

Sinema was just weird....

[ShazzieB]

19. Agreed on all counts.

The point I was trying to make was just that I think Democrats who don't act like they're really Democrats should be fair game for criticism.

[standingtall]

28. Don't think anyone got in trouble for being critical of Manchin or Sinema

but there was some push back for being critical of them especially for Manchin. The argument was he was a Democrat in West Virginia and that was the best we can do there.

Fetterman is a unique case, but not that unique we have seen this movie before he is in Joe Lieberman territory now. He is already functionally a republican and it's inevitable he follows a similar path to Lieberman. He is either going to switch parties, become an independent especially if he gets primaried which he should be or he is going to take a job at some right leaning lobbying firm. I think Fetterman is worse then Lieberman,Manchin or Sinema, because he completely lied about who he was to get elected well Sinema lied too, but Fetterman did a complete 180 almost the moment he took office. Wasn't a stroke that made him do that either he just simply pulled a bait and switch.

[LeftInTX]

32. Agree. And we can do better than Fetterman.

Manchin was the best we could get from W VA, but now it's an R seat. I didn't like people criticizing him and thought protestors going by his boat and calling him "Mansion" were a waste of time. (I think they may have been Code Pink and weren't from W VA) I don't know what those protetestors were trying to accomplish. I hope they're happy with Jim Justice.

Gallego is much better than Sinema.

Complaining about people like Henry Cuellar is pretty much as waste of time and counter-productive He will tell you to his face that he's doing what his constituents want. He always had a large war chest and when you pissed him off, he would withhold donating to the local party. Those funds can be used to elect other Democrats. He was redistricted in 2025 and now his base is Webb and Hildago Counties. He has always been a huge supporter of Webb County and I hope he is also supporting Hildago County Democrats. He also served on Appropriations for quite awhile, but has now been kicked off the committee. Having a local member on Appropriations is always a boom for your community.

Fetterman has been a huge disappointment. Both politically and personally (the way he dresses is an embarrasment to our party)

I hope we can do better. Since 2028 is a presidential year, I think we can.

[ShazzieB]

36. "functionally a republican" is right!

That label fits him quite well. I'm filing that away for future use!

I need to read up on Lieberman. I haven't always been as politically engaged as I am now, and I am not up on everything that happened with him. That sounds like a gap in my knowledge that I need to fill.

As for Fetterman, he definitely did a 180, but I'm not convinced he faked being a progressive. From what I've read, he underwent marked personality changes (not just policy changes) after his stroke. I never heard of him myself until he announced his run for the Senate, but I remember a very enthusiastic reaction to that news here at DU.

Later on, it was like a switch was flipped, and he started to morph into an entirely different person.

I have a hard time imagining how someone could go into politics, convince Pennsylvania voters and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party that he was a progressive, serve as a mayor for 12 years and Lt. Gov. for 4 (building a progressive track record in the process), get elected to the Senate by campaigning on that progressive track record , and then reveal after taking office that he was actually a conservative all along. What an elaborate scheme! If he wasn't a progressive, he sure had a hell of a lot of prople fooled. He'd have to have been an extremely talented actor, as well as a Bond villain level schemer, to pull that off.

When you factor in the stroke he suffered after the primary election, followed by the onset of severe clinical depression (probably triggered by the strokel) shortly after taking office, things start to make a lot more sense, imo. Strokes cause brain damage, and brain damage is known to cause personality changes. Reports of erratic and volatile behavior such as those described in the article linked below support the widely held perception that his entire personality has changed dramatically since the stroke and subsequent treatment for depression:

Alleged outburst at union meeting adds to concerns about Pa. Sen. Fetterman’s behavior
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/05/fetterman-mental-health-concerns-union-meeting/

So no, I don't think he faked anything. I can see why some might suspect that, but I don't think that theory adds up when I look at the whole timeline. I see Fetterman's story as a tragedy in the most classical sense of the word, rather than a scam. Rising from humble beginnings to the lofty heights of what might have been a notable Senate career, only to have his ability to function in that role blighted by organic brain damage that occurred as he was running for office? If that's not tragic, I don't know what is.

The best thing he could do for himself at this point is resign, but I don't think he has enough sense to see things that way. He won't be in the Senate much longer in any case. I read that Pennsylvania Democrats are already making plans to primary him in 2028, as well they should.

[timms139]

8. He has proved one thing

and that is he was a true Democrat until he got brain damage. Studies have shown conservatives have mind problems causing them to be conservatives.

[Figarosmom]

9. Yeah he's something

Bought
Scared
Unhinged
Scared for his family
Should resign

[Hudly]

10. It's Joe

Lieberman all over again.

[Orrex]

11. I know many Reichwing fuckheads who praise Fetterman for "coming to his senses"q

I remind them that Fetterman simply proves that brain damage causes Conservatism.


And I wish the distinguished Senator the best during his ongoing and difficult recovery.

[niyad]

21. I wish him everything he deserves.

[BidenRocks]

14. He's a DINO.

Just a statement of the facts.

[niyad]

20. What are the odds for a second, far more serious stroke?

[hlthe2b]

24. He CLEARLY underscored the substance in THIS quote:

"Almost every day now my US Senator comes on this site to attack his constituents and many people who worked hard to elect him. Suggesting that they have “derangement syndrome” for opposing this administration."

I won't insult you as you seem to be others, but it was NOT just name calling.

[hlthe2b]

26. Sure... You wouldn't want DEAR LEADER to be criticized after all...

How's it going, LG? LOL

[malaise]

23. Fetterman is

deranged

[Goonch]

27. ;-{) TURNCOAT

[FakeNoose]

30. I live in Pittsburgh and I voted for Fetterman in 2022, I even donated to his campaign

Almost everyone I know is a Dem or else independent-who-votes-Dem. However I do have a few personal friends who vote R because they're active in my German Mannerchor club. Once in a while I have conversations with these R's but we keep it friendly (always).

This one R friend just told me last week that he heard the rumor that Fetterman would probably run as an R in the next election. I laughed and said "No way! The Democrats are totally disgusted with him, and the Republicans don't want him either. His career is done."

The best thing Fetterman can do is resign now, this year. The 2nd best thing he can do is resign next year before he tries to run for re-election. If he has any advisors left working for him, they are probably telling him the same thing.

The TRUTH about John Fetterman is that he USED TO BE a very progressive Democrat, and he did good things as mayor of Braddock. Even as our former Lt. Governor under Tom Wolf, Fetterman did good things for our party and for Pennsylvania. It's only been since Chump was re-elected that John Fetterman has had his arm twisted into voting and advocating for Chump's policies. I believe Fetterman is being blackmailed by Chump or someone close to the Oval Office.

[LeftInTX]

33. Then Gov Shapiro can replace him! However, I seriously doubt that he will resign.

He seems to enjoy the power.

[FakeNoose]

35. I hope Gov. Shapiro finds a way to convince him to step down

It's the best possible outcome, at this point.

I believe Fetterman is being blackmailed because his wife (who's now a naturalized citizen) came from Brazil to the US illegally as a child. Chump is probably threatening to deport the entire family, or some such nonsense. Also I wouldn't put it past the Repukes to get hold of Fetterman's medical records, and threaten him with revealing private info about his medical condition. It's a no-win predicament for him, and I'm sure the Governor is looking for an acceptable solution for all concerned.

[doc03]

31. From what he done while in office he ran as

a Democrat because he couldn't win as a Republican. Like Justice in WV ran as a Democrat then switched parties soon as elected

[LeftInTX]

34. Why would Fetterman even support that? I bet numerous GOP senators privately don't support that ballroom.

Of course publically the GOP supports all Trump's BS, but privately they're probably rolling their eyes.

[Grim Chieftain]

37. With the upcoming election, we need to be very, very careful

The evil MAGA horde would like nothing better than to destroy the Democratic Party from within. Imagine a candidate who runs as a Democrat but once elected governs as a Republican. No tin foil hat here, it is not beneath them - well, nothing is beneath them. We have to be vigilant.