John Fetterman, the hoodie-wearing senator from Pennsylvania, has spent his entire grown-up life as a Democrat. But apparently, every relationship has its limits, and Fetterman just told everyone exactly where his is. As Conservative Brief reported, the senator laid out his ultimate red line in a hallway chat with CNN this week: if Democrats officially become hostile toward Israel, he is out the door.
"I've always expressed my dismay at the way the Democratic Party continues to turn its back on Israel," Fetterman told CNN, essentially reading his breakup letter out loud in a hallway like a college sophomore who just discovered boundaries. He confirmed that becoming officially anti-Israel would be the thing that makes him grab his coat and leave the party for good.
Naturally, a CNN panel had thoughts. Podcast host Luke Thomas was so threatened by Fetterman's ultimatum that he offered to help the senator with his luggage. "Good riddance," Thomas said, calling it the "biggest non-threat" he has ever witnessed. Thomas then dropped a truly savage stat from a Quinnipiac University poll showing Fetterman currently enjoys a 77 percent approval rating among Republicans in Pennsylvania. Among Democrats? A cool 19 percent. Thomas compared those numbers to what a Latin American president gets when his term is basically over. Ouch.
But wait, it gets even juicier. Fetterman recently launched a joint fundraising operation with Republican Senator Dave McCormick, because nothing says "I'm totally still a Democrat" like splitting the check with the other team. The committee is called Common Ground PA and has been registered with the Federal Election Commission. It lists four joint fundraising PACs connected to both senators. A McCormick campaign spokesperson called it a "donor-driven effort," explaining that certain contributors appreciate the collaboration between the two Pennsylvania senators.
The progressive left is not amused. Fox News analyst Jessica Tarlov called the fundraising partnership "so so bad" on X. Meanwhile, Rick Wilson, who famously bolted from Republicans after Trump won in 2016, speculated that Fetterman is "gonna flip" parties entirely. The irony of Wilson, a party switcher himself, predicting someone else will switch is almost too delicious.
Fetterman has also been lobbing verbal grenades at the progressive flank of his own party. At the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize event, he referred to the growing influence of Democratic Socialists of America candidates as a big win for what he lovingly called the "dirtbag left." He argued that this particular political movement is fundamentally different from mainstream Democratic values and that those folks no longer belong under the same tent.
So to recap: Fetterman votes with Democrats most of the time, fundraises with a Republican, has a 19 percent approval rating among his own party's voters, and calls fellow progressives "dirtbags." At this point, the only thing keeping him in the Democratic Party might be the fact that nobody has officially crossed his Israel red line yet. Stay tuned, because this slow motion political divorce is getting extremely entertaining.
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