Senator John Fetterman no longer wishes to be called a progressive. He said he is just a regular Democrat because progressives are too radical.
On common sense issues, Fetterman has shown his ability to be rock solid in doing the right thing for the United States and our allies. Two major issues come to the forefront - the Israel-Hamas war and the Biden border crisis.
The political transformation of John Fetterman is a sight to behold. When he ran for the Senate, he was the lt. governor of Pennsylvania, an important battleground state. Joe Biden has to win Pennsylvania in November to win re-election. Make no mistake about it, Fetterman is a surprising partner on some issues but he is still a loyal Democrat. He is working to get Biden re-elected.
Fetterman feels loyal to Biden because he said that Biden came to Pennsylvania and campaigned for him. He did that at a time when many people were calling for Fetterman to drop out and be replaced in the race because Fetterman suffered a life-threatening stroke. He found himself disabled and struggling on the campaign trail. His campaign events had to be scaled back. It was hard for Fetterman to communicate. His wife and other surrogates had to fill in for him to pick up the slack.
I wonder if the stroke is the reason for Fetterman's moderation from a far-left progressive. His recovery has been long and intense at times. Accommodations have been made in the Senate for his disabilities. He has trouble reading and speaking due to damage by the stroke. As far as I can tell, and I'm not a medical professional, he is still recovering to some extent. He seems to be doing better in the communication department. He is doing more interviews. Fetterman looks more confident.
He was hospitalized for clinical depression after he became a member of the Senate. The story made a big splash. His time in treatment was extended longer than originally expected and that brought about questions. Can he do the job? Since then he has proven that yes, he can do the job.
I think that the stroke shook something up in his brain. Fetterman seems to have more clarity when it comes to national security and the importance of standing with our longtime allies overseas. Maybe he was a progressive in Pennsylvania politics and used that label to get elected but he no longer wants to be identified as such. He says it isn't so much that he left the progressive wing of the Democrat Party but that they left him.
"I'm not a progressive, I just identified myself as a regular Democrat," Fetterman said, talking to CNN's Dana Bash. "Now, eight years ago, I was a progressive, but the situation's changed and I‘ve been very clear that I didn‘t leave that label. That label leaved [left] me and I think it’s much more important to be focusing on Donald Trump instead of those kinds of purity tests and those kinds of issues."
Progressives keep moving leftward. Nothing is too outrageous for them, it seems. The more radical, the better. Most are Marxists who wish to tear down our country as we know it. Sadly, President Biden has sided with them on some important issues. Joe Biden is more concerned with securing his re-election than he is with securing the homeland or giving unwavering support to our longtime ally, Israel.
Take the Biden border crisis. The chaos on the U.S.-Mexico border is both a humanitarian crisis and a national security crisis. Biden deliberately opened the southern border on his first day in the White House. He wanted to prove he is the opposite of former President Trump when it comes to border security and managing illegal immigration. He has succeeded in that. That's not a good thing.
Fetterman has voiced his confusion about why anyone would want to keep the southern border open. That is a reasonable question. We have to keep in mind that everything Joe Biden does is through a political lens. Throughout his term in office, his decisions have smacked of political opportunism. It is as though he is running for re-election to the Senate, not as our country's president. He doesn't think long-term or in the big picture. The closer the election in November gets, the more strident he and his fellow travelers on the left will become.
Progressives criticize Biden for his executive action on border security, though it is feckless and won't be enforced any time soon because of legal challenges. Rep. Jayapal (D-WA) said Biden is doing as Trump did on the border. That is just silly but that is the criticism.
"She's entitled to her own opinion, but it does also seem like some of the harshest words for the president in this situation seems to be more coming from very safe, and blue, very kinds of places. Now in Pennsylvania, border security is an important issue and we do all believe that we should have a secure border, and I never thought it was unreasonable for any Democrat to want to make our border more secure," he said.
One reason that the open border is important to Biden and the Democrats is because it is changing the demographics of our country. Democrats have visions of future voters dancing in their heads. That isn't hyperbole. Illegal aliens have been transferred away from the southern border to communities across the country. DHS secretly flew illegal aliens around the country to relocate them under the cover of darkness. They arrive in the middle of the night, often without local authorities knowing they are coming. It is reported that there are illegal aliens in all of the congressional districts across America now. Why would that be important? Illegal aliens are counted in the U.S. Census. The census is used to create or eliminate congressional districts. Democrat candidates openly admit they want illegals in their district so that their otherwise shrinking district will not be reorganized. This is how Democrats plan to keep power.
President Biden has begun mass amnesty for illegal aliens. DHS has dropped 350,000 asylum cases. That means the asylum seekers will be allowed to stay and go about their lives in America. You can bet they will end up registered voters at some point.
Senator Fetterman has been a loyal supporter of Israel since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. He is driving progressives nuts because he refuses to be cowed by them. He walks right past the pro-Hamas protesters while waving an Israeli flag. When protesters showed up at his home in Pennsylvania, he went on his roof and waved a full-sized Israeli flag for hours. A wall in his senate office is filled with flyers of the hostages Hamas took on October 7, 2023. He has the spine of steel that Joe Biden lacks.
Biden is too worried about a loss of votes from Muslim Arab Americans in places like Dearborn, Michigan, where there is a large community of Muslim voters. Michigan is a battleground state. Muslim voters threaten to not vote for Biden in November because they say his support of Israel is too strong. That is why Biden has gone wobbly in sending a strong message about America's support of Israel against Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization. Americans are overwhelmingly in support of Israel waging the war as it sees fit to destroy Hamas. Israelis, too. Yet Biden appeases the pro-Hamas American voters at every opportunity.
Fetterman has made me like him. He stands up when it is most needed and he isn't hesitant to go his own way on issues. That's refreshing.
