I don't believe for a second that this is some organic, spontaneous evolution in John Fetterman's life. "Orchestrated" is a word that becomes harder to ignore...all the time.
The stories are coming out now how he’s basically checked out and not doing his job. Blowing off constituents to go on TV and not showing up for meetings.
If you don’t want to do the job anymore, leave. No one is stopping you. Go live your life and let someone else step up and do the work. Don’t be a spanner in the works.
Members of the U.S. Senate and House serve fixed terms and cannot be removed by voters through recall elections. However, each chamber may expel its own members via a two-thirds vote (which is nigh to impossible). Horrifying that his term does not end until January 3, 2029. PA's other choice for senator was Mehmet Oz.
You nailed the diagnosis on the suit and buried the lede on why it matters. Let me finish that thought.
The shorts were never about comfort. They were a message to his own constituents, and the message was contempt.
When you dress like you don't respect the room, you're not making a statement about the room. You're making a statement about the people who put you in it. A Senate floor isn't Fetterman's living room. It belongs to the people of Pennsylvania who sent him there to represent them in an institution built to be bigger than any one senator's personal brand. When he shuffles in wearing gym shorts, the message isn't "I'm one of you." It's "the office you elected me to hold matters less to me than my personal comfort, and I expect you to find that charming." That's not populism. That's a man telling eight and a half million Pennsylvanians that the job is beneath the effort of getting dressed for it. You don't get to skip the dress code and then act shocked when people start wondering what else you're skipping.
And now the flip question, because I know people are asking it — and the answer is he can't. Ever.
Not out of loyalty. Out of arithmetic. The entire value proposition McCormick's campaign got from Wednesday's stunt was the letter next to Fetterman's name staying exactly where it is. Republicans don't want John Fetterman the Republican. They already have plenty of those. What they paid for — and Jack, you called this dead right — was John Fetterman the Democrat standing in front of a steel mill telling swing voters it's safe to cross over. The entire product is contingent on him never actually crossing over himself. The second he switches parties, he stops being a testimonial and becomes just another guy. He becomes worthless to the exact coalition he's currently useful to. McCormick doesn't need Fetterman in the tent. McCormick needs Fetterman standing just outside it, waving people in. That's a permanent, structural trap, and Fetterman built it himself.
Which means he's now a man without a party in the only sense that actually costs you something.
No national Democrat will get near him — not for a fundraiser, not for a photo, not for a floor vote he needs cover on. He's radioactive to the people who'd normally protect an incumbent, and he's structurally barred from ever being useful enough to Republicans to earn their protection either. He becomes a token. A rental. A guy Fox News trots out twice a year to say "even a Democrat agrees," while his own party treats him like a man who wandered into the wrong building and started signing things.
You want the historical parallel? Zell Miller. Sitting Democratic senator from Georgia, keynoted the 2004 RNC, tore into his own party on national television while still caucusing with them. He never ran for reelection. Didn't retire because he wanted to — he retired because there was nowhere left to run. Not as a Democrat, who'd disowned him. Not as a Republican, who'd used him and had no further use for him once the cameras stopped rolling. He became a footnote and a cautionary tale in the same breath.
Fetterman's headed for the same parking spot. He just doesn't know it yet, or he does and figures the attention's worth it either way — which, given the shorts, given the hoodie, given a man who has never once in his career mistaken relevance for respect, honestly tracks.
Jane...your point about McCormick needing him OUTSIDE the tent...waving people IN...gets right to the heart of the matter.
(LBJ had something to say about "tents" and positioning.)
The Democratic label...gives that appearance its value. Switch parties...and...BOOM...much of that disappears.
I don't know that I'd go as far as saying he can NEVER switch. Republicans would still welcome another Senate seat. BUT...you’ve hit the bullseye in that he serves a PARTICULAR purpose for them...by staying right where he is.
He owes Pennsylvanians EFFORT...ATTENTION...and an EXPLANATION of his choices.
Thanks for putting this much thought into the piece, Jane
Hooray!!!! HK Jane, now I get it!!!! Your comment makes perfect sense to me, and now I understand why Jack was explaining the “gift” the inept traitor gave the audience. Still, that gift is enough to show them that they would not want to vote for a turn coat. As you described the other msn, there will be no where to run for an office after this.
F. gave his own state the gift of showing who he is and that he can never be trusted to represent them, the party, or anyone else with such repulsive, untrustworthy behavior.
I have seen petitions about people trying to remove him from his position. One comment above explained why they cannot. Now I feel much better about grasping the article’s meaning, and I definitely understand what a downright jerk the person is for the people of Pennsylvania, for his party, and for the country!
Pennsylvania got a DINO. Fetterman has fully embraced the MAGA position of just say anything. Facts and evidence don't matter. Don't ask me to explain because what I say doesn't require explanation. I wonder what Fetterman is being paid and how. If I were him I would avoid returning to Pennsylvania for fear of my life. He certainly would never do a town hall, because he is a coward. He avoids criticism and if it comes, he simply ignores it. The MAGA way!
Steven, this "If I were him, I would avoid returning to Pennsylvania for fear of my life" is something that no one, especially John Fetterman, should take lightly. This emotionally charged political landscape is RIPE for extreme violence...particularly when people not only find out they've been LIED to...but then have their noses rubbed in it like this.
"The MAGA way!" captures it well.
When you think about it, it's amazing how many in the GOP have put themselves in similar positions...and...are literally scared to death of doing a town hall today.
Fetterman was never a serious person about representing his people. He presents as a slob and insults the people of . And since this was him before the stroke that can not be an excuse if he were to try it. If the dems were to gain the senate then they may be able to oust him. Just appearing in Texas is a slap in the face to his voters.
If I ran a Five-star restaurant...and he showed up for an interview in a hoodie, sloppy shorts, and high-tops with no socks...I'd send him away without a thought. I would have learned exactly what I needed to...without him ever saying a WORD. He would have arrived, giving a nonverbal résumé of many things...the least of which is how badly he wants a job.
I've found it disturbing how many times I've seen people make excuses for his sloppiness and his attempts to show up to events as a representative of voters...looking like he is going to a Hobo convention. It DOES matter. A LOT.
And, thank you for making clear...that...YES...this was also John BEFORE his stroke. He didn't go from pressed suit and shined shoes...before his stroke...to "Hobo Jack" post-stroke. His station was transmitting sloppiness...instead of attention to detail...from the beginning.
I’m guessing he wanted to appeal to his constituents who are blue collar workers and wear similar clothes in order for them to vote for him in the first place.
I never bought that this guy was a “Democrat” who cared about his constituents or this country…there was something that just didn’t ring true about Fetterman. I cannot put my finger on exactly what made me wary of him, but I have been from the moment he ran and then was elected. He’s a fraud, a shyster who doesn’t care about anything or anyone but himself and he definitely belongs with the party who’ve made that their agenda…the hell with the voters, the hell with the country, whatever works best for “me” should be the GOP’s new motto!
Christie...you're NOT alone in that...and I think the thing you said you couldn't put your finger on...is simpler than it seems.
It's that everything about him was a CHOICE.
Nobody accidentally becomes the guy in shorts on the Senate floor. Somebody sat in a meeting and DECIDED that was an asset. And...any strategist who is HONEST with others about how Washington works...would say EXACTLY that.
A man like Fetterman...who builds his whole damn identity out of...NOT CARING WHAT YOU THINK... has told you something critically important...right up front. People just have to be willing to hear it.
Same thing last night. His lumbering ass didn't wander into that video. He went TO a steel mill. Somebody set up the shot. Period.
As for where he belongs...I'd say let's watch what he DOES rather than guess at what he is. He's told us he's staying. Fine. Then he can ANSWER for the COMMERCIAL.
Your instinct, Christine...was right on the money!
Yea Todd! The Democrats need to be proactive. Kick him out of the Democratic Party. How can I be expected to donate to a party that puts up with his back stabbing? The tent should not be that big!
Your confusion is MY fault...NOT yours; I quoted a fragment...and fragments don't make sense. Let me fix three things...and it'll click.
One.
He wasn't criticizing Republicans. He was criticizing Democrats. That phrase...came from a longer sentence...about what he REJECTS...and the "extremes" and "socialism" he meant were his OWN party's.
Every knot-headed Republican in that room...understood it as a compliment...to THEM. That's why they cheered. (We can call it the "Knot-Head Cheer."
Two.
The clothes weren't at the convention. He wasn't in the room at all; it was a one-minute video...filmed in front of a steel mill...played on a screen in Dallas. The hoodie...and shorts business...that was years of him doing that in the Senate. I brought it up as a PATTERN... not as something that happened Wednesday. My fault for not making that clear.
Three.
Now...here's the part you're looking for...and it's simpler than you think.
Republicans didn't NEED his ideas. They needed his LABEL. A Democrat standing in their commercial says to a voter: even one of THEM agrees with us. That's the entire value. He didn't have to make a point. SHOWING UP...yeah...THAT was the point.
So, Judy...no...you didn't miss anything. You were looking for an argument. There wasn't one. There was just a man with a "D" after his name...standing where Republicans needed him to stand.
Ask me anything...anytime. Truly. This one was on ME.
He barely got elected in the first place. The Dems fought for that.
He had a stroke and had mental health issues. The Dems fought to protect him.
How does he repay their loyalty? He records a video for the Republicans.
Fuck that traitor.
Todd... that's pretty much where I am, too.
I don't believe for a second that this is some organic, spontaneous evolution in John Fetterman's life. "Orchestrated" is a word that becomes harder to ignore...all the time.
-Jack
The stories are coming out now how he’s basically checked out and not doing his job. Blowing off constituents to go on TV and not showing up for meetings.
If you don’t want to do the job anymore, leave. No one is stopping you. Go live your life and let someone else step up and do the work. Don’t be a spanner in the works.
Agree
Members of the U.S. Senate and House serve fixed terms and cannot be removed by voters through recall elections. However, each chamber may expel its own members via a two-thirds vote (which is nigh to impossible). Horrifying that his term does not end until January 3, 2029. PA's other choice for senator was Mehmet Oz.
The lesser of 2 evils!!
"Horrifying" isn't hyperbole, Rod. It's precision.
-Jack
Rod, thank you for that reminder of who his opponent was. It helps in understanding how he received votes.
Jack —
You nailed the diagnosis on the suit and buried the lede on why it matters. Let me finish that thought.
The shorts were never about comfort. They were a message to his own constituents, and the message was contempt.
When you dress like you don't respect the room, you're not making a statement about the room. You're making a statement about the people who put you in it. A Senate floor isn't Fetterman's living room. It belongs to the people of Pennsylvania who sent him there to represent them in an institution built to be bigger than any one senator's personal brand. When he shuffles in wearing gym shorts, the message isn't "I'm one of you." It's "the office you elected me to hold matters less to me than my personal comfort, and I expect you to find that charming." That's not populism. That's a man telling eight and a half million Pennsylvanians that the job is beneath the effort of getting dressed for it. You don't get to skip the dress code and then act shocked when people start wondering what else you're skipping.
And now the flip question, because I know people are asking it — and the answer is he can't. Ever.
Not out of loyalty. Out of arithmetic. The entire value proposition McCormick's campaign got from Wednesday's stunt was the letter next to Fetterman's name staying exactly where it is. Republicans don't want John Fetterman the Republican. They already have plenty of those. What they paid for — and Jack, you called this dead right — was John Fetterman the Democrat standing in front of a steel mill telling swing voters it's safe to cross over. The entire product is contingent on him never actually crossing over himself. The second he switches parties, he stops being a testimonial and becomes just another guy. He becomes worthless to the exact coalition he's currently useful to. McCormick doesn't need Fetterman in the tent. McCormick needs Fetterman standing just outside it, waving people in. That's a permanent, structural trap, and Fetterman built it himself.
Which means he's now a man without a party in the only sense that actually costs you something.
No national Democrat will get near him — not for a fundraiser, not for a photo, not for a floor vote he needs cover on. He's radioactive to the people who'd normally protect an incumbent, and he's structurally barred from ever being useful enough to Republicans to earn their protection either. He becomes a token. A rental. A guy Fox News trots out twice a year to say "even a Democrat agrees," while his own party treats him like a man who wandered into the wrong building and started signing things.
You want the historical parallel? Zell Miller. Sitting Democratic senator from Georgia, keynoted the 2004 RNC, tore into his own party on national television while still caucusing with them. He never ran for reelection. Didn't retire because he wanted to — he retired because there was nowhere left to run. Not as a Democrat, who'd disowned him. Not as a Republican, who'd used him and had no further use for him once the cameras stopped rolling. He became a footnote and a cautionary tale in the same breath.
Fetterman's headed for the same parking spot. He just doesn't know it yet, or he does and figures the attention's worth it either way — which, given the shorts, given the hoodie, given a man who has never once in his career mistaken relevance for respect, honestly tracks.
#HOLDFAST
Jane...your point about McCormick needing him OUTSIDE the tent...waving people IN...gets right to the heart of the matter.
(LBJ had something to say about "tents" and positioning.)
The Democratic label...gives that appearance its value. Switch parties...and...BOOM...much of that disappears.
I don't know that I'd go as far as saying he can NEVER switch. Republicans would still welcome another Senate seat. BUT...you’ve hit the bullseye in that he serves a PARTICULAR purpose for them...by staying right where he is.
He owes Pennsylvanians EFFORT...ATTENTION...and an EXPLANATION of his choices.
Thanks for putting this much thought into the piece, Jane
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
Excellent commentary! Perfectly accurate.
Hooray!!!! HK Jane, now I get it!!!! Your comment makes perfect sense to me, and now I understand why Jack was explaining the “gift” the inept traitor gave the audience. Still, that gift is enough to show them that they would not want to vote for a turn coat. As you described the other msn, there will be no where to run for an office after this.
F. gave his own state the gift of showing who he is and that he can never be trusted to represent them, the party, or anyone else with such repulsive, untrustworthy behavior.
I have seen petitions about people trying to remove him from his position. One comment above explained why they cannot. Now I feel much better about grasping the article’s meaning, and I definitely understand what a downright jerk the person is for the people of Pennsylvania, for his party, and for the country!
Pennsylvania got a DINO. Fetterman has fully embraced the MAGA position of just say anything. Facts and evidence don't matter. Don't ask me to explain because what I say doesn't require explanation. I wonder what Fetterman is being paid and how. If I were him I would avoid returning to Pennsylvania for fear of my life. He certainly would never do a town hall, because he is a coward. He avoids criticism and if it comes, he simply ignores it. The MAGA way!
Steven, this "If I were him, I would avoid returning to Pennsylvania for fear of my life" is something that no one, especially John Fetterman, should take lightly. This emotionally charged political landscape is RIPE for extreme violence...particularly when people not only find out they've been LIED to...but then have their noses rubbed in it like this.
"The MAGA way!" captures it well.
When you think about it, it's amazing how many in the GOP have put themselves in similar positions...and...are literally scared to death of doing a town hall today.
-Jack
Well phrased. Keep up the good analysis.
Fetterman was never a serious person about representing his people. He presents as a slob and insults the people of . And since this was him before the stroke that can not be an excuse if he were to try it. If the dems were to gain the senate then they may be able to oust him. Just appearing in Texas is a slap in the face to his voters.
#HOLDFAST
Teri
Teri...agreed.
If I ran a Five-star restaurant...and he showed up for an interview in a hoodie, sloppy shorts, and high-tops with no socks...I'd send him away without a thought. I would have learned exactly what I needed to...without him ever saying a WORD. He would have arrived, giving a nonverbal résumé of many things...the least of which is how badly he wants a job.
I've found it disturbing how many times I've seen people make excuses for his sloppiness and his attempts to show up to events as a representative of voters...looking like he is going to a Hobo convention. It DOES matter. A LOT.
And, thank you for making clear...that...YES...this was also John BEFORE his stroke. He didn't go from pressed suit and shined shoes...before his stroke...to "Hobo Jack" post-stroke. His station was transmitting sloppiness...instead of attention to detail...from the beginning.
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
I’m guessing he wanted to appeal to his constituents who are blue collar workers and wear similar clothes in order for them to vote for him in the first place.
#HOLDFAST
Jack,
I never bought that this guy was a “Democrat” who cared about his constituents or this country…there was something that just didn’t ring true about Fetterman. I cannot put my finger on exactly what made me wary of him, but I have been from the moment he ran and then was elected. He’s a fraud, a shyster who doesn’t care about anything or anyone but himself and he definitely belongs with the party who’ve made that their agenda…the hell with the voters, the hell with the country, whatever works best for “me” should be the GOP’s new motto!
Christie...you're NOT alone in that...and I think the thing you said you couldn't put your finger on...is simpler than it seems.
It's that everything about him was a CHOICE.
Nobody accidentally becomes the guy in shorts on the Senate floor. Somebody sat in a meeting and DECIDED that was an asset. And...any strategist who is HONEST with others about how Washington works...would say EXACTLY that.
A man like Fetterman...who builds his whole damn identity out of...NOT CARING WHAT YOU THINK... has told you something critically important...right up front. People just have to be willing to hear it.
Same thing last night. His lumbering ass didn't wander into that video. He went TO a steel mill. Somebody set up the shot. Period.
As for where he belongs...I'd say let's watch what he DOES rather than guess at what he is. He's told us he's staying. Fine. Then he can ANSWER for the COMMERCIAL.
Your instinct, Christine...was right on the money!
Oh...you are 100% correct on the GOP motto.
-Jack
Whenever I see Mr Fetterman I feel like where’s Denzel to rescue this poor bastard.
Boy, John...that's brilliant in its simplicity...and accuracy.
-Jack
Appreciate
Yea Todd! The Democrats need to be proactive. Kick him out of the Democratic Party. How can I be expected to donate to a party that puts up with his back stabbing? The tent should not be that big!
Don't apologize, Judy.
Your confusion is MY fault...NOT yours; I quoted a fragment...and fragments don't make sense. Let me fix three things...and it'll click.
One.
He wasn't criticizing Republicans. He was criticizing Democrats. That phrase...came from a longer sentence...about what he REJECTS...and the "extremes" and "socialism" he meant were his OWN party's.
Every knot-headed Republican in that room...understood it as a compliment...to THEM. That's why they cheered. (We can call it the "Knot-Head Cheer."
Two.
The clothes weren't at the convention. He wasn't in the room at all; it was a one-minute video...filmed in front of a steel mill...played on a screen in Dallas. The hoodie...and shorts business...that was years of him doing that in the Senate. I brought it up as a PATTERN... not as something that happened Wednesday. My fault for not making that clear.
Three.
Now...here's the part you're looking for...and it's simpler than you think.
Republicans didn't NEED his ideas. They needed his LABEL. A Democrat standing in their commercial says to a voter: even one of THEM agrees with us. That's the entire value. He didn't have to make a point. SHOWING UP...yeah...THAT was the point.
So, Judy...no...you didn't miss anything. You were looking for an argument. There wasn't one. There was just a man with a "D" after his name...standing where Republicans needed him to stand.
Ask me anything...anytime. Truly. This one was on ME.
-Jack