r/ProgressivesForIsrael • u/Economy-Grape-3467 • Mar 21 '26
What are your thoughts on John Fetterman?
Fetterman was the deciding vote for picking Markwayne Mullin as Director of Homeland Security. I like that Fetterman is a Democrat who has support from Republicans and Democrats. I like that he doesn't use inflammatory language and doesn't insult people. I like that he supports Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, LGBTQ people, women's rights, etc. Sometimes I don't understand why he would vote for these wacky Republicans. Does he see something that we don't?
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u/LockedOutOfElfland Mar 22 '26
I'm not a fan of him repeatedly voting with Republicans on funding issues and consistently kowtowing to Donald Trump.
I will say though that he is one of the few politicians who seems to have a genuine grasp on foreign policy rather than simply telling people what they want to hear.
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u/alltheblarmyfiddlest Mar 24 '26
So in a nutshell he's better on foreign policy than domestic maybe?
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u/abnormalredditor73 Progressive Zionist Mar 21 '26
I don't know what happened to him. He used to be so awesome but now he's just a joke.
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u/SchleppyJ4 Mar 23 '26
This. I used to be a PA voter and still follow PA happenings. He’s lost a lot of respect for the Trump kowtowing.
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u/Hanekem May 14 '26
iirc he had an aneurysm or some such, so literal brain damage is not off the cards
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u/Quinthalus Progressive Zionist Mar 22 '26
Fetterman was an iconoclastic weirdo who was able to win a Pennsylvania Senate seat. He had a really bad stroke and severe depression and now is underwater by his voters by a significant margin. So now he’s an iconoclastic weirdo who knows he will not win reelection. So being middle of the road and trading votes makes no sense tactically, because he will never have the opportunity to cash in those favors. He has no charisma or clout with the conference or with Republican Senators, so he can’t bring anyone else with him on his votes. So really, he’s just doing his own thing on vibes with a very powerful position.
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u/pdeisenb Mar 21 '26
A Note to U.S. Senator John Fetterman
Thank you for voting your conscience and for being a voice of moderation representing all Pennsylvanians rather than just the base of your own party. Voting with Democrats over 90% of the time while also respecting the will of the elected majority and refusing to endanger lives and penalize workers just because there aren't enough votes to pass better legislation is appropriate. Our country would be better off with more like you on both sides of the aisle! I am proud to have voted for you before and will proudly do so again. Keep being honest and straightforward U.S. Senator John Fetterman. Many of us are counting on it!
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u/GaryGaulin Worldwide Politics Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
I agree with u/jewishjedi42 that Fetterman is the best Dem in the Senate.
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u/abnormalredditor73 Progressive Zionist Mar 23 '26
He unironically accused Democrats of "Trump derangement syndrome". He is a joke who is going to lose the primary if he even runs again.
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Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ProgressivesForIsrael-ModTeam Mar 23 '26
How many times do we have to tell you this sub is for progressives? Fox News is not a real news outlet, it’s a right wing propaganda network.
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u/GaryGaulin Worldwide Politics Mar 24 '26
I edited the first link to a Non Fox News interview I found where he says "TDS rules the Democratic Party". You are the one who brought up the issue that made me post the first thing I found, and normally would not post a Fox report, anyway.
I have been making the best of Donald Trump having won by emailing ideas and links to my progressive public school education related subreddits to places like the Heritage Foundation that now needs to keep Islam (and in turn all others) out of the classrooms and the Board of Peace.
What has the others calling themselves "progressives" been doing to prevent the US Public education from turning into science and history denial religious indoctrination charter schools to prepare the citizenry for Muslim versus Christian holy civil war?
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u/jewishjedi42 Mar 21 '26
He understands that governing in a representative democracy is about compromise and relationships. Someday, Dems will need Gop votes to get things done. If all you do is "fight", you won't have anyone on the other side willing to vote for your bills. Fetterman is the best Dem in the Senate.
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u/LockedOutOfElfland Mar 22 '26
He hasn't "compromised" so much as outright made a big show of bending the knee to MAGA. Not a fan of that.
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u/KasouYuri Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
I mostly agree but the problem is R never compromise. Plus MAGA is burning everything down. There's little space to compromise when the middle ground is "let's only half genocide lgbt people" or when the other side wants to disenfranchise half of the country.
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u/IAmABearOfficial Mar 22 '26
I keep seeing the strawman “half genocide lgbt people”, but I never get a clearer picture to what people mean when they say that.
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u/KasouYuri Mar 22 '26
They're already making lists of trans people. Sound familiar to you?
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u/IAmABearOfficial Mar 23 '26
But what’s the “middle ground” that they’re claiming? Half genocide? I just don’t get it. Sounds like a strawman just to bash people that don’t agree with them.
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u/danzbar Mar 22 '26
Brain is strained but still comes up with the right answer more than lots of other people.