this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025
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Summary

Pennsylvania Democrats are protesting Sen. John Fetterman’s growing alignment with Trump, citing his visit to Mar-a-Lago and votes for Trump nominees.

Critics, including Rep. Summer Lee and local leaders, accuse him of abandoning progressive values and failing to oppose Trump’s policies.

Some see his shift as a strategic move in a GOP-leaning state, but others compare him to former Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema’s alienation from her base.

Discontent among Democratic activists raises questions about a potential 2028 primary challenge.

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[–] [email protected] 270 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

Primary his ass.

Actually, everyone who says they're democrats and approves a trump nominee for anything should get their ass fucking primaried. and primaried hard. and the DNC should give their primary opponents all the help.

[–] [email protected] 85 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (17 children)

2015 flashbacks, Frustrated Bernie Sanders face, smiling Hillary Clinton face...

Yes. Yes they should.

Sigh

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

some states have recall elections

[–] [email protected] 57 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

IMO every state, city, municipality, township, HOA etc should be required to have recall elections.

If a supermajority of people feel they are no longer represented by the current representative, then that should be enough to recall them. 3/4 of electorate signs a petition which gets verified, immediate recall election. Why should we always have to wait for the NEXT election.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It should also be automatic if a person changes party affiliation

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

3/4 of electorate signs a petition which gets verified

Good luck getting 3/4 of any group of people to agree on anything. Even 2/3 would be a hard target to hit.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You’re right, but historically anytime someone primaries a Dem from the left the DNC will look to bury the challenger in favor of keeping the establishment figure in office. Sometimes we get an AOC, but usually it’s a Cuellar.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Only vaguely conscious of this guy from my nice safe seat abroad but IIRC he wasn't exactly "establishment" in the first place? He can't have that many friendly colleagues after basically completely changing his policies once in office. Never mind the reputed reason for that happening.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago

Well my comment was about how Pelosi helped defeat the progressive Jessica Cisneros in TX, by giving tons of DNC money to Henry Cuellar, a corporate shill. Both dems, but the DNC tipped the scales in favor of the neoliberal, to the detriment of democracy. All too often this is what happens in primaries where there is a challenger from the left. No worries though, that isn’t a race I would expect those from abroad to know anything about, just using it as an example.

The guy you’re talking about, Fetterman - actually I think he has been making moves to become more establishment, and has likely gained allies as a result. AIPAC is the Israeli lobby group that buys all of our politicians so that our government does whatever they want - I don’t think they even needed to give Fetterman any money though, he seems like a rabid Zionist from the start. This attitude signaled his departure from progressive politics - we saw the exact same thing with Kyrsten Sinema, who got into office as a “progressive leftist” but then immediately went mask-off right wing. Establishment/centrist politicians love people like Fetterman and Sinema because they can be used to kill any legislation that is “in danger” of passing, when it might result in things like higher taxes on the rich and corporations, or more stringent regulations to protect people that might cost businesses some money. This is a key factor regarding how corporations and other private interests have captured our government, such that we presently live in a corporate oligarchy.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I’d primary him but I have no money, no political experience, and don’t want the job.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago

You already sound like a better choice than Fetterman!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You have 4 years to get the money and change your mind.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

If I could get millions of dollars that quickly I’d buy a huge spread of land and divorce myself from society

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Marco Rubio’s confirmation was unanimous so uh…guess we’re primarying all of Congress, lol

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago
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[–] [email protected] 111 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Confirmation that brain damage results in becoming more conservative

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

He probably just lied the entire time

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The other explanation is funnier tho

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[–] [email protected] 89 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Brain damage makes you conservative.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

The British deadpan is just right.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago

It's all the fucking lead. Conservatives straight up can't feel empathy because of brain damage

[–] [email protected] 54 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I remember when he was popular and I would point out that despite his hoodies and shorts, he’s not an every man, he’s not one of us. He’s a silver spoon nepo baby who never really cared, and was using his wardrobe as a distraction. I kept saying he shouldn’t be trusted and that the other shoe would drop, and I would get downvoted and banned for it

[–] [email protected] 51 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

He was saying some agreeable things and got a lot of attention for it at the time. I'm not sure if he was hiding his real opinions back then or if they just got ignored. Ever since he got brain damage he's been acting like a guy with, well, brain damage... It's been obvious for a lot longer than his Mar a lago visit a month ago

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 weeks ago

His wife was, I’m sure, a huge influence on him and his work. Now that he’s gone MAGA she’s nowhere to be found.

I hope she’s okay. And that she primaries him.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

As a PAian who voted for him, I never liked his wardrobe. I actually hated it. Dress for the job you want bro. But the fact is I voted because of what he said, not how he looked. I voted for him because of what he seemed to represent ideologically, not because of his privilege. I was wrong and he had a stroke and I want him primaried.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

I liked the hoodies because I don’t trust anybody in suits.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago

That other shoe was a flip-flop

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 weeks ago

Fuck this guy

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

$10 says Fettersman swaps parties

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

yup. this one hurts, because he seemed so fucking real when he got started...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

This is directly out of the KGB Playbook... Insert your own people into the opposition under the guise of being the perfect opposition member, get elected, further the one true cause of dismantling the opposition.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago

Critics, including Rep. Summer Lee and local leaders, accuse him of abandoning progressive values and failing to oppose Trump’s policies.

John Fetterman was never a progressive.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's a damn shame the Constitution doesn't allow for representative recalls. We really need to get rid of the fucking turncoat before he does any more damage siding with these Nazis.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Bout time. Hope they protest hard enough they force him to resign.

He is NOT a democrat.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago

He'll never resign.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Fetterman has changed so much.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I feel like maybe he hasn’t and we just prescribed things about him that were never real. He’s got a few progressive type positions (lgbt, legal weed), but beyond that I’m not sure he was ever the progressive we thought he was. We just cloaked him in things and he never disabused us of it until now where the rubber meets the road. I’m greatly disappointed, but the lesson for me is to look closer at people rather than “thinking” their beliefs align with my values.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

He definitely had this no BS progressive streak he amplified ahead of his election. He had a massive stroke, then turned increasingly conservative -- seems to track. Alas, the cause doesn't matter. He revealed his true colors.

Seems we were double-crossed yet again akin to Sinema.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's almost like brain damage makes people more reactionary. I wonder if there's a lesson there.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

I'd genuinely be interested in having a neuroscientist analyze his brain via mri / eeg.

An interesting study of self-identifying conservatives and liberals revealed conservatives had larger amygdalae and shrunken anterior cingulate cortices. This translated to greater fear and disgust responses and reduced empathy and pattern recognition.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

He was also the progressive choice in the primary. His opponent was a centrist party hack.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago

That's not fetterman, fetterman died.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ah, the classic "politician discovers spine flexibility" story. Another one bites the dust in the grand theater of pretending principles matter until they don't.

Remember when everyone was celebrating this guy as some sort of progressive champion? Now he's doing the Mar-a-Lago shuffle like it's totally normal. The speed at which these "representatives" switch scripts would give a quantum computer whiplash.

But hey, at least he's honest about his betrayal instead of pretending to "reach across the aisle" while stabbing his base in the back. That's progress, right?

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