If you needed any more proof that John Fetterman is the last sane Democrat, merely consider his own party’s aggressive determination to overthrow him.
Fetterman surprised just about everyone, first by winning a Senate seat after having a crippling stroke mid-campaign. But then, he was running against Donald Trump’s inexplicably ludicrous ‘captain’s pick’, the slimy Dr Oz (of course, Trump outdid himself on that score, this year, by picking the even-more ludicrous slimeball, RFK Jr).
While many on the right mocked Fetterman as a ‘vegetable’ for using a close-captioning app (to overcome his post-stroke difficulties with auditory processing), paying attention to what he says shows that his intellect is functioning just fine. Even those (like me) who dismissed him as a trust-fund layabout playing at being a politician have had to admit that he’s a hard-working representative for his state. He’s also pursued a stubbornly independent and principled policy platform of traditional, blue-collar, pre-Obama Democrats.
So of course the post-Obama Democrats hate his guts.
A growing number of Pennsylvania Democrats are reportedly preparing to challenge Sen John Fetterman (D-PA) in the 2028 primary, as the senator’s independent streak and willingness to align with former President Donald Trump on select policies continue to unsettle party leaders.
Democrats mentioned as potential contenders include Reps Brendan Boyle and Chris Deluzio and former Rep Conor Lamb, according to multiple Pennsylvania political insiders. Boyle has accused Fetterman of becoming “Trump’s favorite Democrat” and claimed he “went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring.” Lamb has earned praise from progressives for his repeated criticism of Fetterman, while Deluzio has positioned himself as a populist voice from the Rust Belt and said maintaining a “good working relationship” with the state’s senior senator “matters more than taking opportunistic shots.”
But Fetterman, to his credit, is not for turning.
When Axios began reporting on the story, Fetterman texted, “Enjoy your clickbait!” When asked a follow-up question, he replied, “Please do not contact.”
Fetterman later shared an article showing he has voted with Trump just six per cent of the time – compared to Boyle’s nearly 14 per cent – emphasizing, “ACTUAL NUMBERS, less clicks.”
Fetterman may not be Trump-adjacent, but he is definitely out of step with the modern Democrats. Meaning, he’s sane, at least.
The possible challenges come after a series of public statements in which Fetterman distanced himself from the Democratic mainstream. In recent months, he has condemned fellow Democrats for embracing socialism, telling reporters that party members who romanticize socialist systems are “morons.” In June, he declared the Democratic Party had “sided with the Hamas regime” and “lost that argument,” asserting that Israel was not committing genocide and that Hamas “doesn’t have the kind of values and live the kind of ways that we want here in our country.”
Fetterman has also repeatedly clashed with party leaders over border and immigration policy. He was the first Democrat senator to co-sponsor the Republican-led Laken Riley Act, stating that “no family should have to endure the pain of losing a loved one to preventable violence.” The bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal aliens charged with certain crimes.
He has additionally rejected calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), writing that the agency “performs an important job for our country” and describing efforts to abolish it as “inappropriate and outrageous.”
Even more fatally for a modern Democrat, Fetterman isn’t surrendering to drooling anti-Semitism.
On foreign policy, Fetterman congratulated Trump earlier this month for brokering what he called a “historic peace plan” between Israel and Hamas, saying the two shared an “ironclad commitment to Israel.”
He’s also calling out the left’s unhinged rhetoric and escalating violence.
Fetterman has also drawn attention for his tone toward intra-party critics, recently sharing a study showing left-wing terrorism had reached a “30-year high” and warning that “unchecked extreme rhetoric, like labels as Hitler or fascist, will foment more extreme outcomes.” He urged that “political violence is always wrong — no exceptions.”
In September, he told CNN that Democrats should “stop saying Trump is acting like an autocrat,” arguing that such comparisons were harmful. “A lot of Americans happen to disagree with you,” he noted, “that does not mean they are fascists.”
More Democrats should be ‘vegetables’ like this.
