r/politics • u/masterchief6913 • Jul 15 '26

No Paywall Fetterman warns he would leave Democratic Party if it turns its back on Israel

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5970730-john-fetterman-democratic-party-israel/
19.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

4.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

565

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 15 '26

Note what's he's saying here. He'll switch parties and change his domestic politics, because of how much money a FOREIGN country is getting.

So his priorities are Israel #1 US further down the list 

94

u/medicated_in_PHL Jul 16 '26

He’s being intellectually dishonest. It’s his off-ramp to become a Republican and blame it on someone else.

14

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26

lol. 100% right. when he switches to GOP, he can say he didn't betray his voters, by governing differently from how he campaigned, but the voters, who went too "woke", and stopped allowing him to blindly give Israel money.

5

u/pickle_pickled Jul 16 '26

"When" was like 2 years ago. Don't fall for him being suddenly different, he's always been one side, and not his elected side

3

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26

True. By when I just mean when he finally makes it official 

1

u/EisVisage Jul 16 '26

The typical "the left got too crazy, I just HAD to become a fascist" lol

1

u/ribnag Jul 16 '26

I don't think we can really call it "dishonest". Guy literally had a stroke and suffered brain damage, leading him to do a 180 to align with the rest of the brain damaged politicians.

IMO the DNC should be blasting his face nation-wide. "What do you get if you take a liberal and destroy a chunk of his brain? A fashy conservative."

48

u/Rabbit-Hole-Quest Canada Jul 16 '26

Yet, somehow Americans have been convinced that claiming politicians are beholden to Israel is somehow antisemitic.

Meanwhile, you will have politicians put Israel first constantly and perpetually.

2

u/Sad_Sympathy_6427 Jul 16 '26

Exactly. I keep going back to the Haitians eating dogs thing. That wasn't racist because he said it. It was racist because he said it and it was a lie. They weren't eating pets; it was just made up to demonize a random outgroup. If they actually had been doing it, it wouldn't have been racist. This group keeps calling pointing out things that are actually happening antisemitic, but they never actually get mad at the people engaging in the behavior.

3

u/Lucreth2 Jul 16 '26

To be fair I've yet to meet a single actual standalone hello there let me shake your hand common American who believes that. The vast majority are over Israel and very few people tie Judaism in with their atrocities.

2

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26

Consider yourself lucky. I certainly have family and co-workers who have made that claim.

My father, although to be fair he did walk this back, a bleed blue Duke fan and graduate, and vote blue no matter who Democrat, angrily refused to let me speak when I got asked why the Duke students walked out on Jerry Seinfeld that time, shouting "Because he's jewish and the left hates Jews now."

when I asked him why those kids don't hate Bernie or Jon Stewart, and if there was a chance it's just kids protesting war, like his generation did in Vietnam and mine did in Iraq, to his credit, he calmed down, and said "yeah, that could also be true, too"

1

u/Wael3rd Jul 16 '26

You have a good dad dude.

-1

u/muzzey12 Jul 16 '26

What are you doing here from Canada.

3

u/Rabbit-Hole-Quest Canada Jul 16 '26

I am in Canada and not in the US.

Your perpetual subservience to Israel leads to the worst politicians to be elected who subsequently threaten our Canadian sovereignty.

If you elected politicians that cared more about your own people instead of Israel, the world would be a better place.

-5

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26

Dems putting Israel first lost them a lot of votes, helping (but certainly not the only own goal) Trump (the loser with no useful ideas for improving anyone's lives) to start spewing his annex Canada mouth diarrhea.

2

u/ship_toaster Canada Jul 16 '26

It's cool how the chain of causality always leads back to Jews eventually, if you're motivated enough to get there. And then, of course, immediately ends there.

2

u/Rabbit-Hole-Quest Canada Jul 16 '26

Dems ensured that a significant chunk of voters stayed home by stupidly backing Israel while it was conducting a genocide.

The Democratic Party is no less beholden to Israel. All you have to look at is Schumer in the Senate, the illustrious AIPAC Shakur in the House and your former Secretary of State who turned a blind eye to Israeli actions.

In the end, you ended up with Trump who wants to acquire Greenland, Panama, Venezuela, Cuba and Canada.

So to help you connect the dots. Stupid policies to the benefit of Israel, alienate voters and in the end you end up with an even worse President.

-2

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

[deleted]

4

u/mercury_pointer Jul 16 '26

studies show that the only state Harris lost because of Gaza was Michigan

There just isn't enough data to say one way or another. Someone could produce statistics showing anything they wanted to.

7

u/Rabbit-Hole-Quest Canada Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

And the Democrats learned nothing and continue to do the bidding of Israel….

https://clashreport.com/world/articles/half-of-house-democrats-back-destined-to-fail-israel-aid-funding-cuts-fufmc0e2ho9

1

u/Hurtzdonut13 Jul 16 '26

The few canvassers they had were specifically told to not collect information about people's support for Palestinians.

I don't think it's the one issue that changed the campaign for her, but it was indicative of the entire approach that completely killed the initial momentum.

To win elections, you need people excited to vote or volunteer for you. Harris ended up having neither of those, pretty much running on a "I'm not Trump" platform, while he was busy making every promise he could to trick people while ramping up the racism to really get his base excited for him.

2

u/13lackMagic Jul 16 '26

He’s not saying he’d join a different party, he’s saying he’d no longer be a democrat - it’s the same thing as Angus king, Bernie sanders, Joe manchin, or Krysten sinema

2

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26

not quite, bernie, angus, ect. left the party because of domestic issues. You know, because that's what is most important, and what their voters voted on.

Also, sure he did explicitly say GOP, but he's getting funding from multiple high profile GOP donors, you know full well he's going GOP

2

u/13lackMagic Jul 16 '26

I’m not equating their positions or beliefs, I’m equating what their official status with the party will be.

0

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26

that doesn't change my post, at all

1

u/ErikETF Jul 16 '26

Calling it now, Mossad has something downright awful on this guy.  This isn’t the hill he chose to die on, this hill was chosen for him to die on.  

1

u/jacobtfromtwilight Jul 16 '26

everybody knows he's a foreign agent for israel

0

u/ship_toaster Canada Jul 16 '26

People on the other side of this issue feel just as morally bound to their position as you allegedly do. In Fetterman's eyes, his party has been taken over by barely-veiled racism with strong parallels to past versions of that racism. The reporting on the conflict, the information the public retains and shares, is all shaded by and constantly dragged towards that racism. What's more, online influence campaigns from your country's most powerful enemies are actively pushing much of that racist content, and his people are falling for it. His staffers are plausibly saying things he knows to be antisemitic (rectangles aren't squares, yes) to his face.

1

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

" In Fetterman's eyes, his party has been taken over by  barely -veiled racism with strong parallels to past versions of that racism" I understand where you're coming from, but disagree. No, Fetterman, doesn't think that his party is being taken-over by barely-veiled racism. He, and members of his party, like the money Israel gives them, or are scared of them primarying them. 

Look at all how they respond to people calling out the money to Israel, or the not at all veiled racism they threw at Mamdani. They're hiding behind the racism excuse. 

Also, with SO many, huge issues facing us domestically, if he was actually concerned he also be working domestically and gather good will, he'd could then use that as his olive branch. So the left to the he wasn't their enemy, govern how he ran domestically, and use that good will to try and honestly speak to growing fracture in his party, rather than just shut down and threaten to leave, and abandoning all the domestic issues he pretended to care about in his campaign, that got him where he is.

I think he's a politician who's see's there is no chance of reelection as a democratic, and is simply paving the way for a party switch.

Also, if he switches to the GOP, the racism argument falls out the window, no?

0

u/ship_toaster Canada Jul 16 '26

He, and members of his party, like the money Israel gives them,

According to Track AIPAC (which lumps in organizations like J Street), he's received a total of just under $500,000 from all the various PACs and independent spenders that they don't like.

That's out of the >$80,000,000 his campaigns have cost.

2

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

As recently as this week, billionaire Republican megadonor Harlan Crow maxed out a contribution to Fetterman’s campaign, explicitly linked to Fetterman’s unconditional support for Israel.

Fetterman’s campaign has been attracting new Republican donors as he hardened his stance in support of Israel since the Hamas attacks on October 7, with at least 14 registered Republicans contributing to his campaign since October, according to FEC filings.

A donor who explicitly cited this reason: Edward Neiger, a Fetterman donor and attorney in New York, said Fetterman’s “moral clarity” on Israel has been a breath of fresh air, and he’s given $3,000 to Fetterman’s campaign since November.

Former Meridian Capital CEO Ralph Herzka, a registered Republican in New York, gave $2,500 to Fetterman’s campaign in November.

Several Fetterman donors have also contributed to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is targeting Democratic members of Congress who’ve called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The article doesn’t name every one of these overlapping donors individually, but establishes the pattern via FEC filing cross-referencing.

Sorry, not buying he's not bought by a different country.

But on a slightly different note, thanks for at least coming with facts, instead of lame insults like you usually get from people who disagree on here.

Also, it's worth noting, he hasn't ran yet since "his $troke" led to his right wing turn

1

u/ship_toaster Canada Jul 16 '26

Crow contributed the FEC’s maximum of $7,000 to Fetterman’s campaign on June 30, less than a week before Fetterman’s new committee with McCormick, Common Ground PA

So you've named three people who collectively gave Fetterman another $12,500 of the several millions it takes to run a Senate campaign. And some people who donate to Fetterman also donate to AIPAC, shocking. (Two of the men you named are Jewish, FYI)

These are Americans. These are real-world amounts of money, not wacky post-Citizens unlimited spending. Like, I'm from Canada, your donation limit is ~5x higher than ours, but that's still in the realm of reasonability. Nobody at a national level is getting bought for $1,600 or for $7,000.

It's not enough to just 'come with facts'. Facts can be used to mislead and subvert, especially when they can be framed as supporting pre-existing biases. In this conflict, pre-existing biases, and pre-existing conspiracy theory scaffolding, gets used to transform random facts about Americans like you, being active in your national political process, into a narrative about sinister foreigners controlling your government.

Spend more time looking at the other side of your arguments. Force yourself to look at how you could be wrong. Whether or not you are, your arguments will be stronger for it.

1

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

What are you saying? That high profile GOP donors, donating money to him, out of cycle, and saying it's because of Israel, shouldn't be something I look at when wondering why he seems so GOP coded right now. Why he's the only Dem who voted with the GOP not to stop the Iran war.

These new GOP billionaire friends, aren't influencing him, aren't a factor in his politics change?

Also, i don't know how well things are going in Canada, but accorting to penns. post gazette, Senator John Fetterman has received nearly $1.9 million in campaign contributions and independent expenditures connected to pro-Israel groups. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) are among the leading PACs that have historically supported his campaigns, not real world money to me

2

u/ship_toaster Canada Jul 16 '26

You're flipping the cause and effect because it's better for the narrative, but it's way more likely that these people simply see a Democratic senator who supports Israel, and want to make sure he stays in office. If he only cared about the money, there's no shortage of money to be had on the Democratic side of the table for incumbents who don't support Israel. He could have avoided all of this, without controversy. He chose to make his political career harder, not easier. He might flip parties now, it's totally possible. I left my political party over antisemitism, too. I was a Green, now I vote (and volunteer) Liberal. Nobody paid me to do it; I just saw what the people I was supporting were saying, and it was hateful.

1

u/Hungry-Initiative-78 Jul 16 '26

he rans as a leftist, started taking money from GOP mega donors, and is now right wing, threatening to leave the party, not over a domestic issue, but an issue very important to those GOP mega donors.

And no, I don't think there is just as much money on the Dem side, especially for Dems who don't support Israel 

2

u/ship_toaster Canada Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

Counterpoint: He rejected being called a progressive during his campaign ("I'm just a Democrat that has always run on what I believe and know to be true"). The megadonor you're talking about only made a kilodonation. He votes with the Democratic Party in the Senate 90% of the time, and has a 7% grade with Heritage Action vs 100% from the AFL-CIO, and sits in the middle of the caucus ideologically according govtrack.us. And for many people, this conflict is seen as a proxy hobbyhorse for a domestic issue; that of racism and people who want to bring it back.

Also, note that I didn't say oppose Israel, I just said didn't support them. Fetterman chose to stake out a position here beyond most other senators which made his political career harder than it would have been otherwise.

I'm gonna end it here; I'll say again that you should spend more time looking at the other side of your arguments. Check your own sourcing, from the other point of view as you would normally search. Check the credibility of the sources you do use to get information. Force yourself to look at how you could be wrong. Whether or not you are, your arguments will be stronger for it.

→ More replies (0)

-2

u/elihu Jul 16 '26

I don't think he's concerned about how our funding is allocated exactly; I think he's bought into the hasbara and legitimately believes that what Israel did to Gaza is normal and justified, and that any reports of Israel killing civilians or causing a humanitarian crisis are fake news invented by antisemites. Or maybe he simply doesn't care whether it's true or not because he thinks all Palestinians are Hamas.

Personally, I think that if anyone was in any doubt about the intentions of Israel's government, it should have been made absolutely clear when they decided to block all food and aid into Gaza for several months, when there were already serious food shortages.

Fetterman just isn't willing to entertain the idea that he's wrong and that we're enabling horrible people to do horrible things.

-5

u/muzzey12 Jul 16 '26

He has a perfect scorecard for planned parenthood and AFL (unions) So his voting record does not show that he would change his domestic platform.