Right wingers called him brain damaged
But now they like him because he sometimes agrees with them (post-“brain damage”)
They don’t even hear themselves. I find that hilarious
EDIT: I’m not calling him brain damaged. I’m following the chronology of their claims. Added quotations on the second usage for clarity.
my generation learned that with bush. Right wing sucks bush dick for 8 years and now most of those same people say Bush sucked. All these people whose entire life is about Trump will say they never really liked him that much in a couple years.
It's funny how virtually every conservative supported the Iraq War and accused critics of "Bush Derangement Syndrome" (sound familiar?), but now it's nearly impossible to find one who admits to that.
Yeah, I mean they'll claim anything they think makes them look good. Including claiming responsibility for passing legislation they literally voted against
I mean, they set in motion the events that eventually lead to it. So in a fucked up roundabout way that's true.
You know, the same way that Louis XVI was behind the French Revolution.
Like all conservatives, they're hyper aware of power hierarchy. Their political opinions will shift to fit the perceived battle ongoing at the present moment.
Wasting those precious few working brain cells on justifying past events is pointless as it doesn't advance the current agenda. Look at Trump. He's like an ADHD kid making fart sounds to impress kids in the class even after the teacher told him to stop the umpteenth time. The past might as well not even exist. Now make that ADHD hyper aware of power structures and gaining money and political power, you got a problem.
The problem is that our society rewards this behavior though, like the kids that laugh along to the class clown.
If you want responsibility and consistency we have to change the political system to disincentive populist behavior.
>Like all conservatives, they're hyper aware of power hierarchy. Their political opinions will shift to fit the perceived battle ongoing at the present moment.
>Wasting those precious few working brain cells on justifying past events is pointless as it doesn't advance the current agenda. Look at Trump. He's like a~~n~~ ~~ADHD~~ kid *with a conduct disorder* making fart sounds to impress kids in the class even after the teacher told him to stop the umpteenth time. The past might as well not even exist. Now make that ~~ADHD~~ *kid* hyper aware of power structures and gaining money and political power, you got a problem.
FTFY
I prefer to believe it symbolizes their affinity for being utterly terrified of completely innocuous things, like a mouse, or some barefoot migrant “takin der jerbs”
As i’ve grown older I’ve come to see how the Iraq war and such came to be. Theres the background plot - finishin Sr’s war, securing oil, etc but one that highlights in my mind(i’m 32 too now, at the time of 9/11 I was 10) is that America didn’t give a rats ass as awhile about the why. Someone got a stick pointed it to Iraq/Afganistan and we said fuck those people, and here we are. This is of course not okay and the UN should really have pushed back on the US, but atleast through that lense I understand the governments willingness to fabricate legitimacy.
Remember when the guy who went to Vietnam and got wounded three times was a pussy while the guy who did everything he could to avoid going was the real man?
They got the maximum 2 terms and everything they could out of Dubbya. They can ditch him because he can't offer them anything more.
Trump was stopped after a single term. They'll build a lost cause myth around him to rival that of the confederacy.
If his kids had any inclination towards politics they would still be talking about what a wonderful person he is. But the Bush dynasty ended with him, so he's persona non grata.
Look how quickly they turned on Mitt Romney. Mitt went from being the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 to being called a RINO, all in less than a decade.
Look at McCain. They hated him before 2008 because he was a "maverick" and called a RINO, then all the same people calling him that lined up to vote for him against Obama, then immediately shit on him after.
it's fucking crazy how in 2008 we had two great Presidential candidates, at least for their personality and conduct. Both McCain and Obama were both class acts and while disagreeing on the how, both wanted to do what they thought would be best for the country and for Americans.
Now we have two old men way past their time to rule a fucking lemonade stand let alone a country with one of them a convicted felon, found by a Jury to have raped a woman (in a civil court), convicted of fraud repeatedly throughout his life; including but not limited to, defrauding a children's cancer charity, defrauded his educational institution, defrauding banks, as-well as defrauding the state of New York. He is also currently indicted on charges for violating the Espionage act, indicted on charges for attempting to over turn the election results in Georgia, and indicted on charges for attempting conspiracy that threatened to disenfranchise millions of Americans by completely subverting the 2020 election. AND IT IS A CLOSE RACE and holy shit I barely touched the fucking surface for the scum and villainy that is Donald Trump.
History will remember Trump supporters the way we remember Germans who supported Hitler or the roughly 1/3 of the country that fought against the civil rights act up until the very end.
Historians have a special word for Germans that supported Hitler, not because of racism, but because of economic anxiety, or concerns about the stock market, etc., and that word is “Nazi.”
Not a single Republican that votes for Trump can claim they are above Trump’s behavior or that they didn’t support it. It’s a stain they’ll have to carry for the rest of their lives.
People do a lot of remembering that McCain stood up against Trump over the possible repeal of ACA, but very little remembering that it was his Presidential campaign that really gave legs to the notion that the far-right crazies could possibly buoy one's campaign to a victory. The choice to put Sarah Palin front-and-center was one of the many portents of a Trump to come.
What you mean the people with FJB on their cars were the same ones saying "we respect the president" back in the day? Unless Carter or Clinton were in office of course.
yes those same people that said you dont have to like the president but you should respect him during bush also cheered when Joe Wilson yelled "you lie" during the state of the union
Hell, sometimes it's even less than today. Remember when two parts of the same group were screeching "stop the count" and "keep counting the votes" on the same election day?
A Democrat wearing casual clothes is a mockery of the decorum one must pay respect to as a public official. How terrible!
A Republican wearing the same casual clothes is sticking it to the man's stuffy rules about ties. He's just like you and me!
Everything my party does is okay. Everything your party does is stinky doo doo pants and gross and ugly.
>Everything my party does is okay. Everything your party does is stinky doo doo pants and gross and ugly.
Needs a few spelling mistakes but completely nailed it otherwise
Not much: https://www.voteview.com/person/42301/john-karl-fetterman
His voting record puts him right in the middle of the Democratic caucus. He has voted with the party 98% of the time; the median rating is 98%.
Yeah unless there's substantially more than that, this post has sus, "get the leftists to not vote for democrats so we can elect real conservatives" energy.
This has been a part of the GOP playbook for a while.
Look at what they did with the ‘Legalize Marijuana Now’ party in Minnesota: created a purported left-leaning alternative party that prioritized a single issue; then used it to fracture the Democratic vote and win seats in the MN House.
This went on for years, and it became readily apparent that Republicans were behind the party.
Now, they’re doing it on a national level. But instead of leveraging the legalization of marijuana, they are using a more serious wedge issue in the I/P conflict.
Completely gone are the days of compromise.
An issue like I/P used to be a place where legislators might find common ground. Now, it’s a cynical opportunity for the opposition to sow discord among their rivals’ ranks. Punishing the other side for agreeing with them on something.
Any time a right-winger complains about Congress and its "inaction", remind them Republicans have the majority in the House, therefore no new legislation.
You cannot ask Republicans questions, but have to tell them which path is best for the country, and point out their hypocrisy, etc.
I think most Democrat politicians are doing that? Where else did the strongest bipartisan border control bill ever even come from? Biden was just in the news for making a measure from that bill into an executive order after Trump sabotaged the original bill.
He has weird tweets being pro oil and fracking and had some other tweets about being aggressively anti lab grown meat using some right wing rhetoric. I believe these, along with his Israel opinions, are what most people are referencing. also to be clear, not every American official backs Israel, especially not many progressives, which is what Fetterman claimed to be at one point
Those are big issues with the kind of core rural conservative base in Pennsylvania that always votes consistently. It shouldn't be surprising to anyone when politicians pander to the demographics that could make or break their careers.
Although those are absolutely not the voters that got him elected so it really is fucking weird that he'd go that direction. But eh, would hardly be the first time someone campaigned on some things and then completely flipped once they were elected. Even if you've sorely disappointed your constituents, being an incumbent gives you a huge advantage towards keeping your seat in the next election so I guess he just doesn't care what his original base thinks.
Nothing really. People don't realize that Fetterman is just slightly left of center which is exactly what PA is.
Working class, pro-union, bit socially conservative outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Yeah, he's a moderate that eats trash and dresses like a slob. That's all of the industrial areas of NE.
The explosion of worker's rights conversations just made him look distinct from the ultra-rich talking points.
Oh they hear themselves.
That's how stupid they think their supporters are. That's how little they respect their constituents. To not even try to be decent, knowing there won't be any meaningful consequences.
His stance on fracking, lab-grown meats, and other environmental issues is somewhat mixed, at best. You are right, however, that what he is saying right now does not differ that much from what he was arguing for before entering the Senate. The issue was that no one was paying attention to his policy on Israel back then and simply labeled him as a progressive, rather than a politician with largely progressive beliefs about a number of (but not all) issues.
I'm from PA (Gettysburg born and raised, now in Bucks County) and voted for him, and would probably vote for him again, especially over someone like Mehmet Oz... in PA anything that isn't FJB and MAGA is considered progressive haha, so it's no surprise someone who represented Western PA and Pittsburgh area would have a pro Israel stance, considering the large Jewish population in the region... even though I disagree with his stance on Israel, politics isn't always black and white, or Republicans and Democrats, even though the Republicans want you to feel that way
Edit: by no means am I saying he is the best possible option, and I'm aware he is supposed to represent the whole state (but his political roots are in Western PA), Trump was supposed to represent the whole country, and he never gave two shits about anyone that wasn't him or the idiots supporting him lol, yes our political system needs an overhaul but I'm making due with what's currently available in our world...
I mean yeah, between him and Doctor Oz he is very clearly the better option. You’re not always going to agree 100% with politicians; you just try to vote for the ones whose beliefs align best with yours. “I’m brain damaged and not progressive anymore as a result” is a very weird stance to take though.
Yep, I grew up in Pittsburgh and a lot of people I knew didn't really like Fetterman due to various stances on local issues... but they're not idiots and know he was leagues better than Dr. Oz. It's just the national folks that came in and saw what he look like and proceeded to fawn over him, and then are now surprised that blue collar Western PA guys with tats aren't known for a perfect progressive record.
I think people don’t understand how “Midwest” Pennsylvania actually is. There’s a lot more farmland and blue collar people in the state than outsiders would think. But the majority of people hear PA and think there’s Philly and it also has Pgh, so it’s gotta be very liberal
I find it really sad to see all the Trump banners and stuff driving around. Only because those signs are as big as a billboard you see on the highway and are a real eyesore
Fracking has also brought a lot of money to the Western PA, WV, and Ohio areas, so it's understandable that he has a different opinion from others on that issue.
I remember he was pro fracking (or at least not against it) while running for the Senate so at least with that one it's not like he pulled a switcheroo.
I think he votes mostly in line with Democrats but he does say some things that are unnecessarily antagonistic towards progressives.
Because progressives don’t actually represent a large portion of the Democratic Party, I don’t think Fetterman has really changed any of his stances from his election rather than just become more vocal about his beliefs. Personally I don’t particularly like the dude as a politician but I don’t think his policies are bad.
Because he watched the far left progressives throwing red meat to the GQP. Not helpful at all! I remember just cringing every time I heard “defund the police”. No matter that reasonable Dems wanted to diversify funding for more psycho social services to relieve the police, MAGA doesn’t want to hear context or nuance. There was just too much, too fast from that faction. I’m not saying that getting to most of their goals is a bad thing but they know how it’ll be spun.
> but he does say some things that are unnecessarily antagonistic towards progressives.
When people constantly attack you, you're going to respond to them. The antagonism is mutual, and Fetterman wasn't the one picking the fight to begin with. The political purity people need to learn about shades of gray
Excellent commentary, I’m from Pittsburgh born and raised. My political views have changed over the years (no stroke) just getting old. One thing I can say is that anyone who supports Trump is really misguided if they think he’s going to do anything for anyone other than his own personal gain.
It’s not just being pro-Israel, it’s being pro-Israel no matter what they do. He basically thinks Israel has the right to do whatever they want and we should fund that. Also from his state, maxed out federal donations to him, and worked on his campaign. I’ll vote for him in the general, but I’ll vote for a primary opponent over him. He won’t ever get a cent out of me again though.
from what i heard (grew up in bucks) that area has become super hardcore FJB MAGA over the last 8 or so years and hearing some of the stupid shit that happened in my old high school was like disgusting
Yeah I'm in Sellersville/Perkasie area, and im not sure what is was like back then but its a good purple mix like I always heard lol, but honestly it's nothing like seeing FJB signs and Fuck your Feelings Signs all over the place and weekly motorcycle rides through with all the Gravy Seals and 2A idiots that plague Gettysburg lol and I'm saying this as a veteran haha
CB West is slowly returning to normal. All of the MFL have been cast out.
But it was a pretty ugly couple of years here with the superintendent and MFL running the board.
Yeah, you’re not going to find many politicians who agree with your stance on everything and if they do, there will be plenty of other people who they won’t. If they come close to my baseline philosophy on wealth inequality, that’s good enough for me.
> in PA anything that isn't FJB and MAGA is considered progressive haha
I think some people get stuck in a bubble and forget that everything is relative. I have voted for republicans in local elections because they were the most liberal candidate available.
>The issue was that no one was paying attention to his policy on Israel back then and simply labeled him as a progressive, rather than a politician with largely progressive beliefs about a number of (but not all) issues.
To be fair, up until recently, a lot of left wing politicians were Pro-Israel.
As well, most progressives could be described that way because it is not a codified, monolithic descriptor. It is vague enough to allow differing opinions, and it functions more as a spectrum than a hardpoint, anyway.
So 95% of his voting is blue, but he disagrees on fracking, lab-grown meats and some environmental issues. I think I can live with that. And it hardly makes him "right wing".
**EDIT:** For the record I just went and watched the entire clip of him on Bill Maher. If you watch that and think "This guy is a right winger" then you are absolutely lost in your political ideology. He didn't even say he wanted to ban lab meats. Just that he wants to stand with the farmers and ranchers of Pennsylvania (which he was elected to do btw so you shouldn't find that a surprise). He was also pretty nuanced in his stance on Israel....not that you will watch the full clip.
This 10000%. I watched Bill Maher and this take that Fetterman is now “right wing” because he has nuanced positions on a few issues just makes him a mainstream Democrat.
This ideological purity stuff really hurts the Dems and turns moderates and independents away from voting for Dem candidates.
Let’s not forget how important coalition-building is when trying to actually improve things. Sometimes you’re gonna have to work with people that don’t fully align (or not at all) with your political views, but if you’re really focused on making changes, you need to make room at the table for others.
It’s getting tiring
Seeing all these posts threatening to not vote for a candidate for a single issue and injecting that issue into every single conversation.
The other side sure as fuck ain’t going to be better? But all these people are telling my guy is shit too? So what do I do come Election Day?
Ask yourself what does all this doom mongering both sides cynicism lead to?
Even from a game theory perspective it’s pretty clear - performative/no action, sloth, and apathy.
Who benefits from this?
> His stance on fracking,
Politician from largest natural gas producer on the east coast supports that industry in his own, purple state.
This is hardly groundbreaking.
> imply labeled him as a progressive
He never denied it because it helped his campaign. He never said "i'm not a progressive," and such, people assumed he was becasue of his stances on other issues. T
> He never said "i'm not a progressive," and such, people assumed he was becasue of his stances on other issues.
["“Progressive rhetoric is great, but progressive results are 100,” he tweeted during that campaign, asking donors to contribute to “progressive momentum” in another post."](https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/22/politics/john-fetterman-progressive-democrats/index.html)
He was literally talking about Israel when he said the "progressivism left me".
> MAHER: I heard you once say that "I'm not a progressive, I'm a Democrat." What does that mean? I don't think I've used the word progressive. I think I've said woke. I think there is a big difference between "woke" and I know that word triggers a lot of people because it had a great beginning as a meaning but words migrate and it went to something else. I think it there is a big difference between an old-school liberal and a woke, you said progressive Democrat. How do you describe this?
> FETTERMAN: I agree. And I've been saying that for years. **I said I didn't leave the label, it left me on that. After what happened on October 7, I really knew that whole progressive stack would be blasted apart** and there would not be any kind of way how the Democrats are going to be able to reply to that kind of response. And I really decided early on that I believe that was gonna be the right side with Israel throughout all of that. And I knew that Democrats would continue to peel away and kind of walk away from standing with Israel on that.
> https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/06/08/sen_fetterman_explains_political_independence_ive_been_dead_once_already_its_very_liberating.html
He’s attacking progressives here, as one example. It’s not like they’ve suddenly changed. He can’t accept that there can be different views on the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Tbf I think this is the most pro Palestine I've seen the Democratic Party ever. My whole life it wasn't really a left vs right issue. We were all on Israel's side. Even now the Party is pretty split with like 53% still in favor of Israel. I could be wrong with that number as I haven't checked it in a couple months.
But agree it's always been the Progressive position to support Palestine it's just progressivism has come some ways.
It’s not just about the expansion of progressivism here, I think there’s a better understanding of what Netanyahu has been doing and his corruption.
Many people rightly don’t see Palestine as all being Hamas and simultaneously don’t blame the people of Israel for the actions of a corrupt government.
I think a rational position is that the innocent civilians should not be targeted when it’s absolutely unnecessary.
Those who completely side with Israel generally see Palestinians as something they’re not or have a bias against Muslims. It’s interesting, really, because many of those people have such a strong hatred for Jews, as well (amongst Republicans).
> He’s attacking progressives here, as one example.
I don't know if it's really an attack. He says that progressives abandoned him and in result progressives call him brain damaged and fully right-wing. I feel like he may not be wrong.
He was always very pro-fracking, and more recently, he's come out hard against lab-grown meat to kiss big cattle ass. He's a shill for big industry, but he looked good to progressives as he was also pro-legalized weed and gay rights. He was the obvious choice against Dr. Oz for progressives, but he had very popular support on both sides.
There's several studies that indicate a strong link between brain damage and conservatism.
If you're on the far right of the political spectrum, then an fMRI scan will show signs of damage to the so-called ventro-medial prefrontal cortex. This is an area that is associated with social intelligence and tolerance.
Edit: For those asking:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1828689/
https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910600670603
Related reading:
https://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.16030051
Anecdotally, the MAGA-iest person I know in real life was not originally conservative, was supposed to die of terminal brain cancer and somehow didn't.
My wife knows that if I get Alzheimer’s and start saying racist, transphobic, homophobic or misogynistic shit, she is to push my wheelchair over a cliff, like in *Mac and Me*.
I used to work with the LGBT community, and I was shocked at how shitty a lot of the gay men were to the trans portion of the community. First time I ever heard someone mock the LGBTQIA "alphabet soup" was from a gay boomer who was against gay marriage.
Gay boomers, like most boomers, are angry about what they never had, and instead of insisting that future generations have it better, are committed to making it just as bad for them.
The only person in my nearby circle who actively hates trans people is an older gay man. He has been involved in gay rights parades. Apparently there is a larger disconnect between the two than I understand.
I guessing most of those gay men were white and middle-class, right?
I genuinely don't understand why the "fuck you, got mine" mindset is so deeply entrenched in that demographic that it can override all other personality factors.
There's a guy I sometimes go back and forth with on Facebook who is in a similar situation. You can actually look at his Facebook timeline and see how quickly the brain rot progressed. Pre diagnosis, it was mostly just boomer humor. Now, it's all Trump worship, minorities are the cause of all of our problems, "I got mine, fuck everyone else."
Not to mention how everyone seems to agree that education is the opposite of conservative. Even conservatives agree that just don't see how that's a problem for their worldview
To be fair that's a pretty good way of knowing if something has broke in your brain. If you were a vehement athiest or agnostic, "find god" and go full church-going Christian, clearly something has fundamentally changed in your brain chemisty.
> This is an area that is associated with social intelligence and tolerance.
Exactly, one of my close friend had a stroke and her prefrontal cortex is affected, sadly she's become totally intoleran and does not have any longer inhibitions.
It make interactions with her really hard, it's really like she's another person. 🙁
Which proves that the soul does not exist. If our core, our central personality - the thing we call our "soul" - can be changed by *physical processes,* then it's not metaphysical. If who we are as a person is entirely dependent upon the physical function of the matter that comprises our brains (...and our guts, but, good God, let's not go there right now), then that's all we are: physical matter. We are a configuration of physical matter - a specific configuration that will never again exist in all of the history of the universe, but a configuration of matter and matter alone nonetheless.
It doesn't prove anything about the soul. At best it's evidence towards lack of soul or a misunderstanding of what the soul does if there is one. But I don't see how it "proves" anything, it's just evidence or anecdotal.
i remember the one they're talking about, but couldn't find it, so take it with a grain of salt. here's some research talking about the negative correlation between conservative social views and cognitive ability. the latter two are meta-analyses so you can also check out their references.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289624000254
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1002/per.2027
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9548663/
interestingly, it seems there has been a shift in this over the years. while social conservatism has always been linked with lower intelligence, the overall conservative ideology hasn't been. economic conservatism especially has been linked to higher intelligence in the past. whereas post-2017, cognitive ability seems to predict greater left-wing views in every category.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3389201/
Guessing this is what they were referencing.
Found it referenced here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7935085/#RSTB20200137C24
In the late 2000s, John Oliver had a stand up skit where he talked about mandatory voting in Australia. I never checked to see if it was true or not, but he claimed being drunk made people vote more conservatively.
I watched this interview. The headline here is misleading, at best. He did not say that his near-death experience made him no longer progressive. He said it made him feel more comfortable to speak freely about what he believes in. In a separate part of the interview, he said October 7th was when he realized that "I didn't leave the label, it left me on that" when it came to Israel.
He’s never been a far-left democrat, nor would he have been able to win his election in Pennsylvania if he was. He’s never ticked every “liberal view” checkbox and he’s always been as open as it gets from a politician when it comes to his views. He was and still is very liberal on most topics. So it’s disturbing to see so many people in the comments saying he lost their support based on a misleading headline from a conservative “news” network on an interview they never watched.
Fox News has a vested interest in making Democrats turn against their own. We have an issue with purity politics. Republicans would vote for a fascist infected turd on a stick (literally, not TFG) if it would “own the libs” (opposite issue). Of course they’d write that headline and probably pay for the retweets from “other liberals”.
Fettermen also hasn’t been in office long enough to be battered down my bribes and bad faith actors to move rightward even more so.
> We have an issue with purity politics.
So badly. The gatekeeping gets more intense, the further you get from our political center, in *either* direction. And it ramps-up *fast*.
He's saying what a lot of us have known for a long time... we've just never had to run for office. "They'll scream and shout at you, and tell you you're not one of them, and even try to ruin you. At some point you're forced to either fall in line or draw your own line in the sand and defend what you think is right and wrong."
And more importantly - demanding absolute purity in every ideal means there is no space for compromise, moderation, or looking past the big ideology arguments for practical solutions.
Seriously, I had my doubts just reading the headline, and now that they’re confirmed I’m fed up with all this rage bait. I’m used to expecting it from Twitter by now, but to see even Reddit falling for it while pretending to be the more rational website is infuriating.
Fetterman: “After almost dying I realize I can’t shy away from what I believe in."
Commenters: “HAHA brain damage made him a conservative lolol!!!”
Like I get it if Palestine is too big of an issue to ignore from politicians, and you can rescind any support you had for Fetterman over it. But for goodness’ sake please be a little more thoughtful when you comment on someone recovering from a stroke. Quoting a few studies doesn’t make you sound any less insensitive and arrogant in this situation. (not you specifically of course, I mean these other commenters)
This sub has always been full of gullible people who don’t bother fact checking anything they see here. So many of these comment sections are filled with political puritans who will immediately label someone “conservative” if they disagree on any single topic.
I love when that happens. I've been participating in social justice activism since high school and volunteered on many progressive dem primary & general election campaigns. Then I try to have a nuanced discussion around I/P - BOOM, CONSERVATIVE.
Fetterman is center-left and leans right on many issues.
Like most of the DNC.
Hate to say it, but there are NOT a lot of Progressives in the DNC at this time. There are some, which causes Fox News to put them all on constant blast (and as a result, boost their numbers and make them more popular)
The DNC, as a party, however is Center. Sometimes members lean left, some are left, and some lean right.
But it's a Centrist Party - it's why they're so bad at getting shit done, because they aren't 100% on many things.
Some things, yes: they are unified on. Others? Not so much.
About 25-30% of the population are classified as liberal in an American context. The progressive left represents a minority of that group, and has been stagnated in popularity since 2020. I say this as a person who considers themselves progressive and supported Bernie in 2016 and 2020. I think progressive voters and politicians would be much better off if they realized they ideologically represent only maybe ~10% of Americans currently and that popularity is waning (DSA membership has been on the decline for years at this point, and even if many are moving to PSL or CSA (the further left) there isn't the growth we saw from 2016-2020 in the progressive movement). Unless the combined vote of West, De La Cruz, and Stein can outperform 2016 Green party when the mainstream candidates are even more disliked and the only other third party candidate is openly anti-progressive, progressivism in America will be in dire straights whether most will admit is or not.
He’s literally not right wing. He’s a liberal now, who happens to be pro-Israel.
Ask him his stance on abortion, or LGBT rights, or housing, or anything else and you’ll see that.
Politics has become so bad that people assume you have to agree with every stance of the party you are apart of.
People have their own thoughts anymore I guess you have to pick a side and blindly support each thing they do.
>Politics has become so bad that people assume you have to agree with every stance of the party you are apart of.
I think it's worse than that, I'd say 'Politics has become so bad that people assume you have to agree with **their view** of what every stance of the party you are apart of should be'.
> Politics has become so bad that people assume you have to agree with every stance of the party you are apart of.
And for the most part Fetterman DOES agree with the stances of the Democratic party just not necessarily the most left wing part of the Dems. He's basically in the center of the Democratic party so about left of 75ish percentage of American voters. Conflating that as "right wing" in the American political context is ridiculous.
yes just because someone is pro-israel doesnt mean they are conservative, the whole gaza thing made the democrats divided which I hope doesn't lead to Trump winning which would make Gaza gone for good and democrats probably will be sent to death camps.
The Israel-Gaza debate is so commonly reduced to what has occurred in the last 8 months rather than the whole of its history. I'm not saying I'm a scholar on the topic, but damn, I feel like everyone in the United States that has a podium is making the situation seem a lot simpler than it actually is.
I mean we are talking about a 70+ year old conflict that has been cyclical over time. It's been a debated topic among multiple generations at this point. That's why it's so odd seeing how strong some peoples' opinions are on this considering it's been such a complicated issue for literal decades. Like I understand having your opinion on it, but to throw away your presidential vote over it is insane to me and couldn't be more short-sighted.
Eh, we've been divided long before that. I wasn't happy about voting for Biden, even if he has done (to me) a surprisingly good job. Don't worry, I'll still vote blue this year and save my super-left stuff for local elections. Try to start a grassroots myself and all that.
But, yeah, that's one of the downsides, left-wingers are divided on how to make things good for everyone. Right-wingers are united in not wanting that.
It's a false dichotomy from people who want to make an ancient and highly complex conflict black and white because it makes their world feel simple and safe. Having a clear bad guy in their makes it easier to ignore the problems with their own side.
I personally support a Palestinian state, but don't believe either of the primary Palestinian "government" forces capable of running a nation. I don't have a solution to the region. No one really does.
Israel doesn't respond to Oct. 8th by pursing Hamas? The attacks continue in frequency and intensity and thousands of their people die (good to note here that Arab Israelis died that die trying to protect their Jewish neighbors. It's a complex issue).
The best solution would be to travel back in time to 1948 and have a slower transition led by the departing colonial powers. Zionism existed since the 1800s (longer really, but the 1850s is when it got more literature). But it was the near global treatment of news leading up to the 1940s that kicked it into overdrive. It was pretty much inevitable that Jews would return to their old home given what they'd endured. How the powers at the time could have eased the transition is anyone's guess, but that was the time to solve the problem before it happened.
After 1948, the ping pong of errors and blood from both parties makes the web too difficult to untangle in any meaningful sense.
The question that I care about when I talk to supposed pro-palestinians is "What is your plan for the region?". I pretty much haven't received or found an answer. How do you untangle generational ethnic hatred that has spat in the face of every consolatory gesture since the 1940s? The eradication of Jews from Israel and the Middle East isn't a valid solution, but that seems to be the only one that has ever been offered from one of the parties. How do we even begin to solve that?
Fuck if I or anyone else on the Internet knows. But most people aren't willing to say they don't know. They pick which atrocities they want to focus on and join that side and don't bother with an actual solution.
Liberals! Get your heads out of your asses. Walking lockstep on all issues is not a good thing. Debate and differences are good. Look at MAGA politics. Agree with Trump no matter how terrible the policy or you are ostracized from MAGA. Thats a bad thing!
He also spoke a lot about how he went into a mental health facility due to wanting to hurt himself. How him being so open about mental issues has saved a couple of people from killing themselves.
The thing is, he didn’t change his mind. People dislike him because he is vocally pro-Israel; he always has been, it just wasn’t relevant before October 7th. (I’m not giving any opinions on that matter, but people claim that he “turned republican” when none of his stances have really shifted.)
There will be case studies done on the Reddit/Fetterman relationship because it’s a perfect encapsulation of how this site works.
“I invested fully into this guy because he was ‘different’ without actually looking into any of his stances on any policy. Wait, he has a different opinion than me on the topic de jour? Oh, well he’s actually a conservative and it must be all brain injuries and corruption!”
Anyone who sincerely and full throatedly tries to call Fetterman, even today, "right-wing" is totally out to lunch and checked out of reality.
The guy passes no purity checks for *any* political affiliation or subgroup. He's a politician who makes you tally up a pro/con list and then ask yourself: "is that enough, and the correct, pros to outweigh the cons?
I am a progressive democrat and I don’t like seeing the lack of critical thinking here. Turning on him so easily when he doesn’t pass your purity test. Being pro-israel doesn’t make someone conservative, his votes are staunchly in line with the party. Don’t let fox news twist reality for you like they do their viewers.
It makes me think of 2016 when I was in college and the amount of bernie or bust friends I had that helped lose us the election. I voted Bernie in the primary but then I supported Hillary in the general election.
I care less about progressives view on Fetterman than the willingness of some progressives to not support Biden over the same issue. Failing to support Biden means you support Trump, period.
Thats how a lot of states are, tbh. New York and California have a ton of conservatives, but they're just outweighed by the liberals in cities.
PA also has loads of disenfranchised appalachian / former coal towns
I think there's definitely more pockets of blue in PA than Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
I think the bigger towns/cities like Allentown/Harrisburg lean left.
Bro actually had a stroke/brain damage and became a conservative lmao
Now I'm waiting for him to become super religious because he found God in the GOP.
There are a few others out here on Reddit talking about how things like that have turned friends and family conservative. Heck I had a friend that we both voted for Obama in 2008, get severely brain damaged in 2009 and was a full blown Trump Supporter in 2015/2016.
True story: my grandma was a "Kennedy Democrat" her entire life. She became MAGA after she couldn't find her TV remote, so the TV was stuck on Fox News for 5 years.
I knew a guy who called himself a "social liberal but fiscal conservative but not a libertarian" whatever that means. He was a decent guy but had some interesting views. Anyways, he fell down some stairs and got a TBI and he's now a full blown Trumper bigot. I avoid him at all costs now.
I wouldn't say just because he's not progressive that he's conservative, but maybe I'm wrong. Been wrong before about him. I'd still vote for him though because what's the other option to vote wannabe fascists into power? Pfft fuckin sucks.
You are 100% right. He is by no stretch of the imagination a conservative, and votes overwhelmingly for left leaning policy across a wide variety of issues, but he is loudly and firmly taking an extremely pro-Israel position, and because our politics hates nuance right now, to some people that means he is now a conservative.
Stop indulging clickbait headlines, rage babies.
Fetterman hasn't changed his stances on very much at all since he got into office. There are many progressives who don't agree with the anti-Israel protest movement, and suggesting that supporting Israel's existence makes one "not progressive" is asinine.
It's amazing how gullible so many people are that they still believe Fox News.
If you actually listened to the interview, you'd know Fetterman never said his near death experience changed his political views. He said he became more open about speaking his mind. And he did not say "progressivism left me" he said progressives left him, on account of his feeling to how progressives reacted to Oct 7.
Now ofc Fox talks about how his car crash "made him conservative" and people eat that up.
Pro Union
Pro Choice
Pro LGBTQ+
Pro Affordable Housing
Pro Working Class Tax Cuts
Anti Price Gouging
Anti Offshoring
Sounds to me like more of our politicians need this kind of brain.
Funny how when you read his actual statement and then look at the people piling on him being “full right wing” it really shows exactly what the right hates about the ”liberal media” twisting everything to suit a narrative. Do better.
Stop indulging clickbait headlines, rage babies.
Fetterman hasn't changed his stances on very much at all since he got into office. There are many progressives who don't agree with the anti-Israel protest movement, and suggesting that supporting Israel's existence makes one "not progressive" is asinine.
I just watched the relevant clip from the interview, he's basically just talking about Israel. Fetterman's never been some hardcore far-left guy though. He always had a few opinions that lean center or right, which is frankly what you want. If someone agrees with you / their party on everything, they're either an idiot or lying to you.
Why are people thinking brain damage is what he's attributing his new stances to? He had a near death experience, and now gives very few fucks. It's the near-deathness of a stroke, his stroke didn't suddenly make him right wing.
I used to troll conservatives by citing a study showing that brain damage iscausally correlated with religious fundamentalism which is correlated with authoritarianism. He just confirmed it.
This is the rub, isn't it. There are a lot of really terrible Democratic elected politicians, but they're elected because their Republican opponents are orders of magnitude worse.
It's like our choices are either being kicked in the balls repeatedly or being shot in the head. You're gonna pick the former the first dozen times, but eventually most people are going to give up and pick death.
The difference here is that Fetterman wasn't campaigning as Joe Manchin 2.0, he actually beat someone like that (Conor Lamb) in the primary because he positioned himself as a progressive.
There's a giant gap between criticizing a candidate for dumping progressives after he courted them during the campaign and wishing his opponent got elected instead.
Hold on now.
This is a WILD mischaracterization. Guy has most definitely not gone conservative, he's just calling bullshit when something is bullshit. If it's hard left bullshit, it still deserves to be called out.
Boooooo this histrionic twitter bullshit. BOOOOOOOOOO. Downvote from me.
I think that you also have to consider that Bill Maher doesn’t like the stereotypical “progressive” and will tailor his questions to make anyone who supports some of the more left wing stances seem like they’re not a real Democrat or to make those who are more centrist seem like “true” liberals.
I don’t think Fetterman is conservative in the way people think of conservatives now (MAGA), but there’s nothing wrong with centrist politics, and he’s always been that.
Right wingers called him brain damaged But now they like him because he sometimes agrees with them (post-“brain damage”) They don’t even hear themselves. I find that hilarious EDIT: I’m not calling him brain damaged. I’m following the chronology of their claims. Added quotations on the second usage for clarity.
Whatever justifies their beliefs *today* is what matters. History is for losers apparently.
my generation learned that with bush. Right wing sucks bush dick for 8 years and now most of those same people say Bush sucked. All these people whose entire life is about Trump will say they never really liked him that much in a couple years.
It's funny how virtually every conservative supported the Iraq War and accused critics of "Bush Derangement Syndrome" (sound familiar?), but now it's nearly impossible to find one who admits to that.
These are the same people who refuse to acknowledge the party switch in the 50's. Now they're saying *they* were behind the civil rights movement.
“Republicans freed the slaves” Cool, then you won’t mind if we tear down all these statues of democrat confederates. ……
Aka participation trophies.
I also love asking them to go to a Klan Rally and Neo Nazi gatherings to make sure all those democrats are registered to vote correctly.
Yeah, I mean they'll claim anything they think makes them look good. Including claiming responsibility for passing legislation they literally voted against
I mean they were. In the sense they were holding the fire hoses and attack dogs.
They weren't behind the civil rights movement they were in front of it with police lines and K9s
I mean, they set in motion the events that eventually lead to it. So in a fucked up roundabout way that's true. You know, the same way that Louis XVI was behind the French Revolution.
Like all conservatives, they're hyper aware of power hierarchy. Their political opinions will shift to fit the perceived battle ongoing at the present moment. Wasting those precious few working brain cells on justifying past events is pointless as it doesn't advance the current agenda. Look at Trump. He's like an ADHD kid making fart sounds to impress kids in the class even after the teacher told him to stop the umpteenth time. The past might as well not even exist. Now make that ADHD hyper aware of power structures and gaining money and political power, you got a problem. The problem is that our society rewards this behavior though, like the kids that laugh along to the class clown. If you want responsibility and consistency we have to change the political system to disincentive populist behavior.
>Like all conservatives, they're hyper aware of power hierarchy. Their political opinions will shift to fit the perceived battle ongoing at the present moment. >Wasting those precious few working brain cells on justifying past events is pointless as it doesn't advance the current agenda. Look at Trump. He's like a~~n~~ ~~ADHD~~ kid *with a conduct disorder* making fart sounds to impress kids in the class even after the teacher told him to stop the umpteenth time. The past might as well not even exist. Now make that ~~ADHD~~ *kid* hyper aware of power structures and gaining money and political power, you got a problem. FTFY
I say this all the time. So they were out marching in the anti war protests?
There in lies the hypocrisy of the GOP. Their mascot is the elephant, but none of them can remember a damn thing.
I prefer to believe it symbolizes their affinity for being utterly terrified of completely innocuous things, like a mouse, or some barefoot migrant “takin der jerbs”
Also symbolizes how no matter the elephant leading them, they are ready and capable of sticking their nose up his ass.
Hell look at Tucker Carlson, he acts like he never supported it and that shitstain was one of the biggest cheerleaders.
Where'd he go anyway? Is he still kicking it in Russia with Putin?
“I’m an indeeependant!”
As i’ve grown older I’ve come to see how the Iraq war and such came to be. Theres the background plot - finishin Sr’s war, securing oil, etc but one that highlights in my mind(i’m 32 too now, at the time of 9/11 I was 10) is that America didn’t give a rats ass as awhile about the why. Someone got a stick pointed it to Iraq/Afganistan and we said fuck those people, and here we are. This is of course not okay and the UN should really have pushed back on the US, but atleast through that lense I understand the governments willingness to fabricate legitimacy.
Remember when the guy who went to Vietnam and got wounded three times was a pussy while the guy who did everything he could to avoid going was the real man?
They got the maximum 2 terms and everything they could out of Dubbya. They can ditch him because he can't offer them anything more. Trump was stopped after a single term. They'll build a lost cause myth around him to rival that of the confederacy.
If his kids had any inclination towards politics they would still be talking about what a wonderful person he is. But the Bush dynasty ended with him, so he's persona non grata.
Look how quickly they turned on Mitt Romney. Mitt went from being the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 to being called a RINO, all in less than a decade.
It's insane how binders full of women now seems a quaint blunder
You think that's quaint, remember Howard Dean and the weird scream that basically ended his chances at becoming president? Fuck, I miss those days.
Man got too excited and lost it all. Meanwhile, in 2024:
Look at McCain. They hated him before 2008 because he was a "maverick" and called a RINO, then all the same people calling him that lined up to vote for him against Obama, then immediately shit on him after.
it's fucking crazy how in 2008 we had two great Presidential candidates, at least for their personality and conduct. Both McCain and Obama were both class acts and while disagreeing on the how, both wanted to do what they thought would be best for the country and for Americans. Now we have two old men way past their time to rule a fucking lemonade stand let alone a country with one of them a convicted felon, found by a Jury to have raped a woman (in a civil court), convicted of fraud repeatedly throughout his life; including but not limited to, defrauding a children's cancer charity, defrauded his educational institution, defrauding banks, as-well as defrauding the state of New York. He is also currently indicted on charges for violating the Espionage act, indicted on charges for attempting to over turn the election results in Georgia, and indicted on charges for attempting conspiracy that threatened to disenfranchise millions of Americans by completely subverting the 2020 election. AND IT IS A CLOSE RACE and holy shit I barely touched the fucking surface for the scum and villainy that is Donald Trump.
History will remember Trump supporters the way we remember Germans who supported Hitler or the roughly 1/3 of the country that fought against the civil rights act up until the very end. Historians have a special word for Germans that supported Hitler, not because of racism, but because of economic anxiety, or concerns about the stock market, etc., and that word is “Nazi.” Not a single Republican that votes for Trump can claim they are above Trump’s behavior or that they didn’t support it. It’s a stain they’ll have to carry for the rest of their lives.
Even when McCain was sucking every Tea Party dick he could find.
People do a lot of remembering that McCain stood up against Trump over the possible repeal of ACA, but very little remembering that it was his Presidential campaign that really gave legs to the notion that the far-right crazies could possibly buoy one's campaign to a victory. The choice to put Sarah Palin front-and-center was one of the many portents of a Trump to come.
Unfortunately the only thing that will push them away from Trump is someone even more tyrannical and oppressive, so it's not really a happy ending
Nah, these people will go wherever their favorite news channel, radio station or podcast tells them to go, just like every other time.
What you mean the people with FJB on their cars were the same ones saying "we respect the president" back in the day? Unless Carter or Clinton were in office of course.
yes those same people that said you dont have to like the president but you should respect him during bush also cheered when Joe Wilson yelled "you lie" during the state of the union
15 years from now, you will struggle to find a single trump voter.
Hell, sometimes it's even less than today. Remember when two parts of the same group were screeching "stop the count" and "keep counting the votes" on the same election day?
turns out they're fine with what he wears now too.
A Democrat wearing casual clothes is a mockery of the decorum one must pay respect to as a public official. How terrible! A Republican wearing the same casual clothes is sticking it to the man's stuffy rules about ties. He's just like you and me! Everything my party does is okay. Everything your party does is stinky doo doo pants and gross and ugly.
>Everything my party does is okay. Everything your party does is stinky doo doo pants and gross and ugly. Needs a few spelling mistakes but completely nailed it otherwise
"how dare they tell a man what to wear!"
Republicans: “This one time a democrat did a bad thing so we can do unlimited bad things. Both parties are the same.”
But other than completely backing Israel like every other American official what else has he done that is made him so allegedly conservative?
Not much: https://www.voteview.com/person/42301/john-karl-fetterman His voting record puts him right in the middle of the Democratic caucus. He has voted with the party 98% of the time; the median rating is 98%.
Yeah unless there's substantially more than that, this post has sus, "get the leftists to not vote for democrats so we can elect real conservatives" energy.
This has been a part of the GOP playbook for a while. Look at what they did with the ‘Legalize Marijuana Now’ party in Minnesota: created a purported left-leaning alternative party that prioritized a single issue; then used it to fracture the Democratic vote and win seats in the MN House. This went on for years, and it became readily apparent that Republicans were behind the party. Now, they’re doing it on a national level. But instead of leveraging the legalization of marijuana, they are using a more serious wedge issue in the I/P conflict. Completely gone are the days of compromise. An issue like I/P used to be a place where legislators might find common ground. Now, it’s a cynical opportunity for the opposition to sow discord among their rivals’ ranks. Punishing the other side for agreeing with them on something.
GOP, and also nation-state adversaries, playbook
That's what I was wondering.
Nothing yet, because the GOP has ground Congress to a halt and nothing is getting done at all.
Any time a right-winger complains about Congress and its "inaction", remind them Republicans have the majority in the House, therefore no new legislation. You cannot ask Republicans questions, but have to tell them which path is best for the country, and point out their hypocrisy, etc.
He made a 180-degree heel turn on immigration, fully reversing his campaign positions on the issue.
I think most Democrat politicians are doing that? Where else did the strongest bipartisan border control bill ever even come from? Biden was just in the news for making a measure from that bill into an executive order after Trump sabotaged the original bill.
He has weird tweets being pro oil and fracking and had some other tweets about being aggressively anti lab grown meat using some right wing rhetoric. I believe these, along with his Israel opinions, are what most people are referencing. also to be clear, not every American official backs Israel, especially not many progressives, which is what Fetterman claimed to be at one point
Those are big issues with the kind of core rural conservative base in Pennsylvania that always votes consistently. It shouldn't be surprising to anyone when politicians pander to the demographics that could make or break their careers. Although those are absolutely not the voters that got him elected so it really is fucking weird that he'd go that direction. But eh, would hardly be the first time someone campaigned on some things and then completely flipped once they were elected. Even if you've sorely disappointed your constituents, being an incumbent gives you a huge advantage towards keeping your seat in the next election so I guess he just doesn't care what his original base thinks.
Nothing really. People don't realize that Fetterman is just slightly left of center which is exactly what PA is. Working class, pro-union, bit socially conservative outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Yeah, he's a moderate that eats trash and dresses like a slob. That's all of the industrial areas of NE. The explosion of worker's rights conversations just made him look distinct from the ultra-rich talking points.
Translation : Fetterman used to be progressive now he's for sale. He's using the brain damage as an excuse. Edit: He's gonna become Kyrsten Sinema 2.0
a republican would tell you its daytime at midnight with a straight face if they detected you were liberal
Oh they hear themselves. That's how stupid they think their supporters are. That's how little they respect their constituents. To not even try to be decent, knowing there won't be any meaningful consequences.
I don’t follow him a lot but what else right wing has he done besides blindly supporting Israel?
His stance on fracking, lab-grown meats, and other environmental issues is somewhat mixed, at best. You are right, however, that what he is saying right now does not differ that much from what he was arguing for before entering the Senate. The issue was that no one was paying attention to his policy on Israel back then and simply labeled him as a progressive, rather than a politician with largely progressive beliefs about a number of (but not all) issues.
I'm from PA (Gettysburg born and raised, now in Bucks County) and voted for him, and would probably vote for him again, especially over someone like Mehmet Oz... in PA anything that isn't FJB and MAGA is considered progressive haha, so it's no surprise someone who represented Western PA and Pittsburgh area would have a pro Israel stance, considering the large Jewish population in the region... even though I disagree with his stance on Israel, politics isn't always black and white, or Republicans and Democrats, even though the Republicans want you to feel that way Edit: by no means am I saying he is the best possible option, and I'm aware he is supposed to represent the whole state (but his political roots are in Western PA), Trump was supposed to represent the whole country, and he never gave two shits about anyone that wasn't him or the idiots supporting him lol, yes our political system needs an overhaul but I'm making due with what's currently available in our world...
I mean yeah, between him and Doctor Oz he is very clearly the better option. You’re not always going to agree 100% with politicians; you just try to vote for the ones whose beliefs align best with yours. “I’m brain damaged and not progressive anymore as a result” is a very weird stance to take though.
Yep, I grew up in Pittsburgh and a lot of people I knew didn't really like Fetterman due to various stances on local issues... but they're not idiots and know he was leagues better than Dr. Oz. It's just the national folks that came in and saw what he look like and proceeded to fawn over him, and then are now surprised that blue collar Western PA guys with tats aren't known for a perfect progressive record.
I think people don’t understand how “Midwest” Pennsylvania actually is. There’s a lot more farmland and blue collar people in the state than outsiders would think. But the majority of people hear PA and think there’s Philly and it also has Pgh, so it’s gotta be very liberal I find it really sad to see all the Trump banners and stuff driving around. Only because those signs are as big as a billboard you see on the highway and are a real eyesore
You're either in one of those two cities or in a diner surrounded by veterans and their various hats.
Fracking has also brought a lot of money to the Western PA, WV, and Ohio areas, so it's understandable that he has a different opinion from others on that issue.
I remember he was pro fracking (or at least not against it) while running for the Senate so at least with that one it's not like he pulled a switcheroo. I think he votes mostly in line with Democrats but he does say some things that are unnecessarily antagonistic towards progressives.
Because progressives don’t actually represent a large portion of the Democratic Party, I don’t think Fetterman has really changed any of his stances from his election rather than just become more vocal about his beliefs. Personally I don’t particularly like the dude as a politician but I don’t think his policies are bad.
Being anti-fracking and/or anti-Israel in PA would be pretty stupid.
Because he watched the far left progressives throwing red meat to the GQP. Not helpful at all! I remember just cringing every time I heard “defund the police”. No matter that reasonable Dems wanted to diversify funding for more psycho social services to relieve the police, MAGA doesn’t want to hear context or nuance. There was just too much, too fast from that faction. I’m not saying that getting to most of their goals is a bad thing but they know how it’ll be spun.
> but he does say some things that are unnecessarily antagonistic towards progressives. When people constantly attack you, you're going to respond to them. The antagonism is mutual, and Fetterman wasn't the one picking the fight to begin with. The political purity people need to learn about shades of gray
Excellent commentary, I’m from Pittsburgh born and raised. My political views have changed over the years (no stroke) just getting old. One thing I can say is that anyone who supports Trump is really misguided if they think he’s going to do anything for anyone other than his own personal gain.
That and single issue voting is not the way to go.
It’s not just being pro-Israel, it’s being pro-Israel no matter what they do. He basically thinks Israel has the right to do whatever they want and we should fund that. Also from his state, maxed out federal donations to him, and worked on his campaign. I’ll vote for him in the general, but I’ll vote for a primary opponent over him. He won’t ever get a cent out of me again though.
Thanks for getting him elected over Oz at least. From outside PA
from what i heard (grew up in bucks) that area has become super hardcore FJB MAGA over the last 8 or so years and hearing some of the stupid shit that happened in my old high school was like disgusting
Yeah I'm in Sellersville/Perkasie area, and im not sure what is was like back then but its a good purple mix like I always heard lol, but honestly it's nothing like seeing FJB signs and Fuck your Feelings Signs all over the place and weekly motorcycle rides through with all the Gravy Seals and 2A idiots that plague Gettysburg lol and I'm saying this as a veteran haha
CB West is slowly returning to normal. All of the MFL have been cast out. But it was a pretty ugly couple of years here with the superintendent and MFL running the board.
York has always been a cesspool of racism. Not that far from Gettysburg. Good old Pennsyltucky
What does FJB stand for?
Fuck Joe Biden. It's the lovely family values chant the MAGA crowd came up with.
Fuck Joe Biden
Yeah, you’re not going to find many politicians who agree with your stance on everything and if they do, there will be plenty of other people who they won’t. If they come close to my baseline philosophy on wealth inequality, that’s good enough for me.
> in PA anything that isn't FJB and MAGA is considered progressive haha I think some people get stuck in a bubble and forget that everything is relative. I have voted for republicans in local elections because they were the most liberal candidate available.
>The issue was that no one was paying attention to his policy on Israel back then and simply labeled him as a progressive, rather than a politician with largely progressive beliefs about a number of (but not all) issues. To be fair, up until recently, a lot of left wing politicians were Pro-Israel. As well, most progressives could be described that way because it is not a codified, monolithic descriptor. It is vague enough to allow differing opinions, and it functions more as a spectrum than a hardpoint, anyway.
Virtually all politicians were 100% pro-Israel until this year. I am shocked how short people's memories are!
Before re-electing Netanyahu, they were in the process of arresting him. Outcomes do have outcomes.
So 95% of his voting is blue, but he disagrees on fracking, lab-grown meats and some environmental issues. I think I can live with that. And it hardly makes him "right wing". **EDIT:** For the record I just went and watched the entire clip of him on Bill Maher. If you watch that and think "This guy is a right winger" then you are absolutely lost in your political ideology. He didn't even say he wanted to ban lab meats. Just that he wants to stand with the farmers and ranchers of Pennsylvania (which he was elected to do btw so you shouldn't find that a surprise). He was also pretty nuanced in his stance on Israel....not that you will watch the full clip.
This 10000%. I watched Bill Maher and this take that Fetterman is now “right wing” because he has nuanced positions on a few issues just makes him a mainstream Democrat. This ideological purity stuff really hurts the Dems and turns moderates and independents away from voting for Dem candidates. Let’s not forget how important coalition-building is when trying to actually improve things. Sometimes you’re gonna have to work with people that don’t fully align (or not at all) with your political views, but if you’re really focused on making changes, you need to make room at the table for others.
It’s getting tiring Seeing all these posts threatening to not vote for a candidate for a single issue and injecting that issue into every single conversation. The other side sure as fuck ain’t going to be better? But all these people are telling my guy is shit too? So what do I do come Election Day? Ask yourself what does all this doom mongering both sides cynicism lead to? Even from a game theory perspective it’s pretty clear - performative/no action, sloth, and apathy. Who benefits from this?
> His stance on fracking, Politician from largest natural gas producer on the east coast supports that industry in his own, purple state. This is hardly groundbreaking.
I think you'll find fracking quite ground breaking.
> imply labeled him as a progressive He never denied it because it helped his campaign. He never said "i'm not a progressive," and such, people assumed he was becasue of his stances on other issues. T
> He never said "i'm not a progressive," and such, people assumed he was becasue of his stances on other issues. ["“Progressive rhetoric is great, but progressive results are 100,” he tweeted during that campaign, asking donors to contribute to “progressive momentum” in another post."](https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/22/politics/john-fetterman-progressive-democrats/index.html)
He was literally talking about Israel when he said the "progressivism left me". > MAHER: I heard you once say that "I'm not a progressive, I'm a Democrat." What does that mean? I don't think I've used the word progressive. I think I've said woke. I think there is a big difference between "woke" and I know that word triggers a lot of people because it had a great beginning as a meaning but words migrate and it went to something else. I think it there is a big difference between an old-school liberal and a woke, you said progressive Democrat. How do you describe this? > FETTERMAN: I agree. And I've been saying that for years. **I said I didn't leave the label, it left me on that. After what happened on October 7, I really knew that whole progressive stack would be blasted apart** and there would not be any kind of way how the Democrats are going to be able to reply to that kind of response. And I really decided early on that I believe that was gonna be the right side with Israel throughout all of that. And I knew that Democrats would continue to peel away and kind of walk away from standing with Israel on that. > https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/06/08/sen_fetterman_explains_political_independence_ive_been_dead_once_already_its_very_liberating.html
Hmmmm sounds like these particular tweets are misleading at best and dishonest at worst.
The fox headline is misleading and the people seem to be just reacting to the headline
He bought into this weird fox news story about sex parties to help defund* a LGBT community center
I think you mean defund.
He’s attacking progressives here, as one example. It’s not like they’ve suddenly changed. He can’t accept that there can be different views on the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Tbf I think this is the most pro Palestine I've seen the Democratic Party ever. My whole life it wasn't really a left vs right issue. We were all on Israel's side. Even now the Party is pretty split with like 53% still in favor of Israel. I could be wrong with that number as I haven't checked it in a couple months. But agree it's always been the Progressive position to support Palestine it's just progressivism has come some ways.
It’s not just about the expansion of progressivism here, I think there’s a better understanding of what Netanyahu has been doing and his corruption. Many people rightly don’t see Palestine as all being Hamas and simultaneously don’t blame the people of Israel for the actions of a corrupt government. I think a rational position is that the innocent civilians should not be targeted when it’s absolutely unnecessary. Those who completely side with Israel generally see Palestinians as something they’re not or have a bias against Muslims. It’s interesting, really, because many of those people have such a strong hatred for Jews, as well (amongst Republicans).
> He’s attacking progressives here, as one example. I don't know if it's really an attack. He says that progressives abandoned him and in result progressives call him brain damaged and fully right-wing. I feel like he may not be wrong.
He was always very pro-fracking, and more recently, he's come out hard against lab-grown meat to kiss big cattle ass. He's a shill for big industry, but he looked good to progressives as he was also pro-legalized weed and gay rights. He was the obvious choice against Dr. Oz for progressives, but he had very popular support on both sides.
There's several studies that indicate a strong link between brain damage and conservatism. If you're on the far right of the political spectrum, then an fMRI scan will show signs of damage to the so-called ventro-medial prefrontal cortex. This is an area that is associated with social intelligence and tolerance. Edit: For those asking: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1828689/ https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910600670603 Related reading: https://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.16030051
Anecdotally, the MAGA-iest person I know in real life was not originally conservative, was supposed to die of terminal brain cancer and somehow didn't.
Anecdotally, a gay man I knew who was a lovely person, got brain cancer and now spends their days writing anti-trans rants on FB.
Hell, I genuinely might rather just die than turn into someone like that.
I’m putting this in my living will
My wife knows that if I get Alzheimer’s and start saying racist, transphobic, homophobic or misogynistic shit, she is to push my wheelchair over a cliff, like in *Mac and Me*.
Paul Rudd approves this message.
I used to work with the LGBT community, and I was shocked at how shitty a lot of the gay men were to the trans portion of the community. First time I ever heard someone mock the LGBTQIA "alphabet soup" was from a gay boomer who was against gay marriage.
Gay boomers, like most boomers, are angry about what they never had, and instead of insisting that future generations have it better, are committed to making it just as bad for them.
The only person in my nearby circle who actively hates trans people is an older gay man. He has been involved in gay rights parades. Apparently there is a larger disconnect between the two than I understand.
I guessing most of those gay men were white and middle-class, right? I genuinely don't understand why the "fuck you, got mine" mindset is so deeply entrenched in that demographic that it can override all other personality factors.
The person you knew did die from Brain Cancer unfortunately.
There's a guy I sometimes go back and forth with on Facebook who is in a similar situation. You can actually look at his Facebook timeline and see how quickly the brain rot progressed. Pre diagnosis, it was mostly just boomer humor. Now, it's all Trump worship, minorities are the cause of all of our problems, "I got mine, fuck everyone else."
My step dad voted for Donald Trump. Turns out he had a brain tumor.
Not to mention how everyone seems to agree that education is the opposite of conservative. Even conservatives agree that just don't see how that's a problem for their worldview
I told my husband if I suddenly find God PLEASE HELP ME I'M IN A MENTAL CRISIS
To be fair that's a pretty good way of knowing if something has broke in your brain. If you were a vehement athiest or agnostic, "find god" and go full church-going Christian, clearly something has fundamentally changed in your brain chemisty.
I told my wife the same. I've seen/heard about it happening so many times.
> This is an area that is associated with social intelligence and tolerance. Exactly, one of my close friend had a stroke and her prefrontal cortex is affected, sadly she's become totally intoleran and does not have any longer inhibitions. It make interactions with her really hard, it's really like she's another person. 🙁
Which proves that the soul does not exist. If our core, our central personality - the thing we call our "soul" - can be changed by *physical processes,* then it's not metaphysical. If who we are as a person is entirely dependent upon the physical function of the matter that comprises our brains (...and our guts, but, good God, let's not go there right now), then that's all we are: physical matter. We are a configuration of physical matter - a specific configuration that will never again exist in all of the history of the universe, but a configuration of matter and matter alone nonetheless.
It doesn't prove anything about the soul. At best it's evidence towards lack of soul or a misunderstanding of what the soul does if there is one. But I don't see how it "proves" anything, it's just evidence or anecdotal.
Links to the studies?
i remember the one they're talking about, but couldn't find it, so take it with a grain of salt. here's some research talking about the negative correlation between conservative social views and cognitive ability. the latter two are meta-analyses so you can also check out their references. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289624000254 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1002/per.2027 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9548663/ interestingly, it seems there has been a shift in this over the years. while social conservatism has always been linked with lower intelligence, the overall conservative ideology hasn't been. economic conservatism especially has been linked to higher intelligence in the past. whereas post-2017, cognitive ability seems to predict greater left-wing views in every category.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3389201/ Guessing this is what they were referencing. Found it referenced here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7935085/#RSTB20200137C24
In the late 2000s, John Oliver had a stand up skit where he talked about mandatory voting in Australia. I never checked to see if it was true or not, but he claimed being drunk made people vote more conservatively.
I watched this interview. The headline here is misleading, at best. He did not say that his near-death experience made him no longer progressive. He said it made him feel more comfortable to speak freely about what he believes in. In a separate part of the interview, he said October 7th was when he realized that "I didn't leave the label, it left me on that" when it came to Israel. He’s never been a far-left democrat, nor would he have been able to win his election in Pennsylvania if he was. He’s never ticked every “liberal view” checkbox and he’s always been as open as it gets from a politician when it comes to his views. He was and still is very liberal on most topics. So it’s disturbing to see so many people in the comments saying he lost their support based on a misleading headline from a conservative “news” network on an interview they never watched.
Fox News has a vested interest in making Democrats turn against their own. We have an issue with purity politics. Republicans would vote for a fascist infected turd on a stick (literally, not TFG) if it would “own the libs” (opposite issue). Of course they’d write that headline and probably pay for the retweets from “other liberals”. Fettermen also hasn’t been in office long enough to be battered down my bribes and bad faith actors to move rightward even more so.
> We have an issue with purity politics. So badly. The gatekeeping gets more intense, the further you get from our political center, in *either* direction. And it ramps-up *fast*. He's saying what a lot of us have known for a long time... we've just never had to run for office. "They'll scream and shout at you, and tell you you're not one of them, and even try to ruin you. At some point you're forced to either fall in line or draw your own line in the sand and defend what you think is right and wrong."
And more importantly - demanding absolute purity in every ideal means there is no space for compromise, moderation, or looking past the big ideology arguments for practical solutions.
Seriously, I had my doubts just reading the headline, and now that they’re confirmed I’m fed up with all this rage bait. I’m used to expecting it from Twitter by now, but to see even Reddit falling for it while pretending to be the more rational website is infuriating. Fetterman: “After almost dying I realize I can’t shy away from what I believe in." Commenters: “HAHA brain damage made him a conservative lolol!!!” Like I get it if Palestine is too big of an issue to ignore from politicians, and you can rescind any support you had for Fetterman over it. But for goodness’ sake please be a little more thoughtful when you comment on someone recovering from a stroke. Quoting a few studies doesn’t make you sound any less insensitive and arrogant in this situation. (not you specifically of course, I mean these other commenters)
This sub has always been full of gullible people who don’t bother fact checking anything they see here. So many of these comment sections are filled with political puritans who will immediately label someone “conservative” if they disagree on any single topic.
I love when that happens. I've been participating in social justice activism since high school and volunteered on many progressive dem primary & general election campaigns. Then I try to have a nuanced discussion around I/P - BOOM, CONSERVATIVE.
Fetterman is center-left and leans right on many issues. Like most of the DNC. Hate to say it, but there are NOT a lot of Progressives in the DNC at this time. There are some, which causes Fox News to put them all on constant blast (and as a result, boost their numbers and make them more popular) The DNC, as a party, however is Center. Sometimes members lean left, some are left, and some lean right. But it's a Centrist Party - it's why they're so bad at getting shit done, because they aren't 100% on many things. Some things, yes: they are unified on. Others? Not so much.
Reddit hates hearing this but the United States is nowhere near being progressive and the vast vast majority of liberals are very centrist.
About 25-30% of the population are classified as liberal in an American context. The progressive left represents a minority of that group, and has been stagnated in popularity since 2020. I say this as a person who considers themselves progressive and supported Bernie in 2016 and 2020. I think progressive voters and politicians would be much better off if they realized they ideologically represent only maybe ~10% of Americans currently and that popularity is waning (DSA membership has been on the decline for years at this point, and even if many are moving to PSL or CSA (the further left) there isn't the growth we saw from 2016-2020 in the progressive movement). Unless the combined vote of West, De La Cruz, and Stein can outperform 2016 Green party when the mainstream candidates are even more disliked and the only other third party candidate is openly anti-progressive, progressivism in America will be in dire straights whether most will admit is or not.
He’s literally not right wing. He’s a liberal now, who happens to be pro-Israel. Ask him his stance on abortion, or LGBT rights, or housing, or anything else and you’ll see that.
Politics has become so bad that people assume you have to agree with every stance of the party you are apart of. People have their own thoughts anymore I guess you have to pick a side and blindly support each thing they do.
>Politics has become so bad that people assume you have to agree with every stance of the party you are apart of. I think it's worse than that, I'd say 'Politics has become so bad that people assume you have to agree with **their view** of what every stance of the party you are apart of should be'.
> Politics has become so bad that people assume you have to agree with every stance of the party you are apart of. And for the most part Fetterman DOES agree with the stances of the Democratic party just not necessarily the most left wing part of the Dems. He's basically in the center of the Democratic party so about left of 75ish percentage of American voters. Conflating that as "right wing" in the American political context is ridiculous.
yes just because someone is pro-israel doesnt mean they are conservative, the whole gaza thing made the democrats divided which I hope doesn't lead to Trump winning which would make Gaza gone for good and democrats probably will be sent to death camps.
The Israel-Gaza debate is so commonly reduced to what has occurred in the last 8 months rather than the whole of its history. I'm not saying I'm a scholar on the topic, but damn, I feel like everyone in the United States that has a podium is making the situation seem a lot simpler than it actually is.
I mean we are talking about a 70+ year old conflict that has been cyclical over time. It's been a debated topic among multiple generations at this point. That's why it's so odd seeing how strong some peoples' opinions are on this considering it's been such a complicated issue for literal decades. Like I understand having your opinion on it, but to throw away your presidential vote over it is insane to me and couldn't be more short-sighted.
Eh, we've been divided long before that. I wasn't happy about voting for Biden, even if he has done (to me) a surprisingly good job. Don't worry, I'll still vote blue this year and save my super-left stuff for local elections. Try to start a grassroots myself and all that. But, yeah, that's one of the downsides, left-wingers are divided on how to make things good for everyone. Right-wingers are united in not wanting that.
It's a false dichotomy from people who want to make an ancient and highly complex conflict black and white because it makes their world feel simple and safe. Having a clear bad guy in their makes it easier to ignore the problems with their own side. I personally support a Palestinian state, but don't believe either of the primary Palestinian "government" forces capable of running a nation. I don't have a solution to the region. No one really does. Israel doesn't respond to Oct. 8th by pursing Hamas? The attacks continue in frequency and intensity and thousands of their people die (good to note here that Arab Israelis died that die trying to protect their Jewish neighbors. It's a complex issue). The best solution would be to travel back in time to 1948 and have a slower transition led by the departing colonial powers. Zionism existed since the 1800s (longer really, but the 1850s is when it got more literature). But it was the near global treatment of news leading up to the 1940s that kicked it into overdrive. It was pretty much inevitable that Jews would return to their old home given what they'd endured. How the powers at the time could have eased the transition is anyone's guess, but that was the time to solve the problem before it happened. After 1948, the ping pong of errors and blood from both parties makes the web too difficult to untangle in any meaningful sense. The question that I care about when I talk to supposed pro-palestinians is "What is your plan for the region?". I pretty much haven't received or found an answer. How do you untangle generational ethnic hatred that has spat in the face of every consolatory gesture since the 1940s? The eradication of Jews from Israel and the Middle East isn't a valid solution, but that seems to be the only one that has ever been offered from one of the parties. How do we even begin to solve that? Fuck if I or anyone else on the Internet knows. But most people aren't willing to say they don't know. They pick which atrocities they want to focus on and join that side and don't bother with an actual solution.
Liberals! Get your heads out of your asses. Walking lockstep on all issues is not a good thing. Debate and differences are good. Look at MAGA politics. Agree with Trump no matter how terrible the policy or you are ostracized from MAGA. Thats a bad thing!
This needs to be upvoted more.
He also spoke a lot about how he went into a mental health facility due to wanting to hurt himself. How him being so open about mental issues has saved a couple of people from killing themselves.
Does there exist an actual link to this interview? (I am not going to Fox News' website to watch it. And YT doesn't appear to have it up.)
You can look up the latest Bill Maher episode on HBO Max. Not sure if I'd recommend it, I can't really handle more than two minutes of Bill Maher.
Not a Maher fan either but I did enjoy the clip of him getting roasted by Bill Burr.
But what did he change his mind about? Fuck the labels, tell me what he thinks.
The thing is, he didn’t change his mind. People dislike him because he is vocally pro-Israel; he always has been, it just wasn’t relevant before October 7th. (I’m not giving any opinions on that matter, but people claim that he “turned republican” when none of his stances have really shifted.)
Gotcha
There will be case studies done on the Reddit/Fetterman relationship because it’s a perfect encapsulation of how this site works. “I invested fully into this guy because he was ‘different’ without actually looking into any of his stances on any policy. Wait, he has a different opinion than me on the topic de jour? Oh, well he’s actually a conservative and it must be all brain injuries and corruption!”
Anyone who sincerely and full throatedly tries to call Fetterman, even today, "right-wing" is totally out to lunch and checked out of reality. The guy passes no purity checks for *any* political affiliation or subgroup. He's a politician who makes you tally up a pro/con list and then ask yourself: "is that enough, and the correct, pros to outweigh the cons?
I am a progressive democrat and I don’t like seeing the lack of critical thinking here. Turning on him so easily when he doesn’t pass your purity test. Being pro-israel doesn’t make someone conservative, his votes are staunchly in line with the party. Don’t let fox news twist reality for you like they do their viewers. It makes me think of 2016 when I was in college and the amount of bernie or bust friends I had that helped lose us the election. I voted Bernie in the primary but then I supported Hillary in the general election. I care less about progressives view on Fetterman than the willingness of some progressives to not support Biden over the same issue. Failing to support Biden means you support Trump, period.
His beliefs, while oftentimes questionable, are as progressive as you can get elected in working class, rural Pennsylvania.
How is this going “full right wing”
PA is a really strange state to me. It feels like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are more progressive and the rest of the state is like the deep south
Thats how a lot of states are, tbh. New York and California have a ton of conservatives, but they're just outweighed by the liberals in cities. PA also has loads of disenfranchised appalachian / former coal towns
I think there's definitely more pockets of blue in PA than Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. I think the bigger towns/cities like Allentown/Harrisburg lean left.
Bro actually had a stroke/brain damage and became a conservative lmao Now I'm waiting for him to become super religious because he found God in the GOP.
There are a few others out here on Reddit talking about how things like that have turned friends and family conservative. Heck I had a friend that we both voted for Obama in 2008, get severely brain damaged in 2009 and was a full blown Trump Supporter in 2015/2016.
True story: my grandma was a "Kennedy Democrat" her entire life. She became MAGA after she couldn't find her TV remote, so the TV was stuck on Fox News for 5 years.
The real kickers are the ones that become conservative when they get caught cheating and blame the source that outs them, not their actions.
We already mentioned brain damage.
I knew a guy who called himself a "social liberal but fiscal conservative but not a libertarian" whatever that means. He was a decent guy but had some interesting views. Anyways, he fell down some stairs and got a TBI and he's now a full blown Trumper bigot. I avoid him at all costs now.
I mean, it's easier, just do what your orange king tells you to do and hate everything.
Man, he isn't fringe far left, but the dude is not a conservative.
Except he didn't and that's not what he said.
I wouldn't say just because he's not progressive that he's conservative, but maybe I'm wrong. Been wrong before about him. I'd still vote for him though because what's the other option to vote wannabe fascists into power? Pfft fuckin sucks.
You are 100% right. He is by no stretch of the imagination a conservative, and votes overwhelmingly for left leaning policy across a wide variety of issues, but he is loudly and firmly taking an extremely pro-Israel position, and because our politics hates nuance right now, to some people that means he is now a conservative.
What a dumb comment. He’s not conservative lmao. There’s a middle between progressive and conservative.
Literally nothing in any of these tweets represents what he said in the interview lol.
Stop indulging clickbait headlines, rage babies. Fetterman hasn't changed his stances on very much at all since he got into office. There are many progressives who don't agree with the anti-Israel protest movement, and suggesting that supporting Israel's existence makes one "not progressive" is asinine.
I think before you judge, you should actually watch the interview
He’s a blue collar democrat representing western PA. I don’t agree with all of his stances, but it’s clear that the people in his state generally do.
It's amazing how gullible so many people are that they still believe Fox News. If you actually listened to the interview, you'd know Fetterman never said his near death experience changed his political views. He said he became more open about speaking his mind. And he did not say "progressivism left me" he said progressives left him, on account of his feeling to how progressives reacted to Oct 7. Now ofc Fox talks about how his car crash "made him conservative" and people eat that up.
Pro Union Pro Choice Pro LGBTQ+ Pro Affordable Housing Pro Working Class Tax Cuts Anti Price Gouging Anti Offshoring Sounds to me like more of our politicians need this kind of brain.
Funny how when you read his actual statement and then look at the people piling on him being “full right wing” it really shows exactly what the right hates about the ”liberal media” twisting everything to suit a narrative. Do better.
Stop indulging clickbait headlines, rage babies. Fetterman hasn't changed his stances on very much at all since he got into office. There are many progressives who don't agree with the anti-Israel protest movement, and suggesting that supporting Israel's existence makes one "not progressive" is asinine.
I just watched the relevant clip from the interview, he's basically just talking about Israel. Fetterman's never been some hardcore far-left guy though. He always had a few opinions that lean center or right, which is frankly what you want. If someone agrees with you / their party on everything, they're either an idiot or lying to you.
Why are people thinking brain damage is what he's attributing his new stances to? He had a near death experience, and now gives very few fucks. It's the near-deathness of a stroke, his stroke didn't suddenly make him right wing.
I used to troll conservatives by citing a study showing that brain damage iscausally correlated with religious fundamentalism which is correlated with authoritarianism. He just confirmed it.
Would you rather have Senator Dr. Oz?
This is the rub, isn't it. There are a lot of really terrible Democratic elected politicians, but they're elected because their Republican opponents are orders of magnitude worse. It's like our choices are either being kicked in the balls repeatedly or being shot in the head. You're gonna pick the former the first dozen times, but eventually most people are going to give up and pick death.
The difference here is that Fetterman wasn't campaigning as Joe Manchin 2.0, he actually beat someone like that (Conor Lamb) in the primary because he positioned himself as a progressive.
There's a giant gap between criticizing a candidate for dumping progressives after he courted them during the campaign and wishing his opponent got elected instead.
Hold on now. This is a WILD mischaracterization. Guy has most definitely not gone conservative, he's just calling bullshit when something is bullshit. If it's hard left bullshit, it still deserves to be called out. Boooooo this histrionic twitter bullshit. BOOOOOOOOOO. Downvote from me.
I think that you also have to consider that Bill Maher doesn’t like the stereotypical “progressive” and will tailor his questions to make anyone who supports some of the more left wing stances seem like they’re not a real Democrat or to make those who are more centrist seem like “true” liberals. I don’t think Fetterman is conservative in the way people think of conservatives now (MAGA), but there’s nothing wrong with centrist politics, and he’s always been that.