Americans love an underdog story, and no comeback has been more fun to watch than that of Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.
The man who ran as a progressive ideologue is now establishing himself as a reasonable voice inside the Democrat Party by becoming independent-minded and breaking ranks with liberal Democrats on crucial policy matters. His first year in office has seen Fetterman rise from a disastrous political figure to one of the funniest, bravest, and politically toughest U.S. senators in recent memory.
It’s incredible to think how poorly his Senate career started. Fetterman spent the first quarter of 2023 hospitalized at Walter Reed Military Medical Center for his struggle with clinical depression. There was sufficient evidence to believe that he could not function as a member of the Senate, given his battle with depression and the lingering effects of the stroke he suffered in May of 2022.
His surprise victory over Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 midterm elections had media sources like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and the New York Post editorial board calling him “unfit“ to serve in public office. Meanwhile, Fetterman’s campaign team downplayed the seriousness of his stroke. Whenever the press asked questions about his health, they slandered these questions as ableist.
It became clear on his return to the Senate that Fetterman wasn’t back to his old self. He struggled to communicate during his first subcommittee hearing and even got choked up when speaking. The humiliation only increased when the Senate briefly altered the dress code so he could dress more casually, though a bipartisan group of senators quickly voted to nix that idea.
Fetterman should be thanking them. Correlation may not be causation, but when he ditched the hoodie and shorts for a suit and tie, the senator was reborn.
His first act of courage came after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, which left some 1,200 Israelis dead and over 200 taken hostage. Fetterman pushed back against the antisemitism of the left, rejecting calls to appease Hamas. “Hamas does not want peace, they want to destroy Israel. We can talk about a ceasefire after Hamas is neutralized,” he tweeted.
After calling for Israel to destroy Hamas, Fetterman appeared at the March for Israel rally with an Israeli flag tied to his hoodie. “Of course I’m here, how could I not!” he told a fellow attendee.
His Senate office is covered in posters of kidnapped Israelis that he refuses to take down until they’re released.
He’s demonstrated zero patience for pro-Hamas protesters. “They could be protesting Hamas’ systematic rape of Israeli women and girls or demanding the remaining hostages be immediately released. Instead, they targeted a Jewish restaurant. It’s pathetic and rank antisemitism,” he tweeted.
Fetterman’s willingness to speak out didn’t stop with Israel. While a majority of Democrats want open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens, Fetterman believes the border crisis is unsustainable and must be dealt with to curb the mass flow of migrants. “Honestly, it’s astonishing. And this isn’t a Fox News kind of statistic. This is the government’s,” he told Politico. “You essentially have Pittsburgh showing up there at the border.”
“It isn’t xenophobic to be concerned about the border,” he reiterated to his Democrat colleagues.
It takes courage to call out your party and its members in today’s political environment, but Fetterman is doing just that. He recently criticized Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom for running a shadow campaign for president and not having the “guts to announce it.” On Oct. 12, Fetterman strongly condemned New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, a fellow Democrat who has been accused of taking bribes from Egyptian government officials.
“Senator [Robert] Menendez should not be a U.S. senator. He should have been gone long ago. It is time for every one of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in expelling Senator Menendez,” he tweeted.
He even went on “The View” to slam Menendez as “a senator for Egypt, not New Jersey”. To make the situation comical, Fetterman hired expelled former Republican Congressman George Santos to troll Menendez in a cameo video. When asked by progressive activists why he put Santos in the video, Fetterman put it as clearly as possible: Get over it. Even longtime Democratic strategist James Carville is not safe from Fetterman’s wrath, who he described as not being relevant “since grunge was a thing.”
He even told NBC News in an interview that he’s “not a progressive” anymore.
It’s unclear if the improvement in Fetterman’s health is making his politics more mainstream or if he’s just finding his groove after a full year in politics. Either way, it’s been surprisingly delightful as a conservative.
Arlen Specter once held the Senate seat Fetterman now occupies. He was a Republican who flipped to the Democratic Party in his later years. I wouldn’t expect a party change for Fetterman, but his “I’m not a progressive” comment on NBC News confirms his nonpartisan approach.
While there will undoubtedly be instances in which Fetterman will enrage conservatives and vote in line with Democrats, I think it’s fair to say the freshman senator is the new maverick, a true successor to the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, who was known for bucking his party, often on critical issues. Washington politics is a mess as usual, and we need a senator who can break out of his tribal echo chambers and do what is best for the country. Go John Fetterman!
Alex Adkins is a graduate of Benedictine University in political science. He has written for the Washington Examiner, American Thinker, American Spectator, and The Federalist. You can follow him on Twitter @Zylinger.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.