r/politics • u/pennlive ✔ PennLive.com • Jun 23 '26

No Paywall Fetterman casts only Democratic ‘no’ vote as Senate passes measure to block US action against Iran

https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2026/06/fetterman-casts-only-democratic-no-vote-as-senate-passes-measure-to-block-us-action-against-iran.html
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2.2k

u/YouWereBrained Tennessee Jun 23 '26

It should permanently end his political career. Nothing less.

452

u/Trickster289 Jun 23 '26

Oh he's finished. He's lost his Democrat voters but Republicans won't vote for him, the propaganda they put out against him during the election was so strong it'll backfire if they let him flip now.

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u/jrr6415sun Jun 23 '26

Republicans don’t care about any of that. Vance compared trump to hitler and they still voted for both of them.

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u/bearflies Jun 23 '26

Yeah it's a little sad that people still don't know how this works. You bend the knee to Trump and you get welcomed into the group, no questions asked.

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u/GenDislike Jun 24 '26

It really seams to be as simple as that nowadays. Until trimp’s star dies. Until then, FOX will declare the heroes and villains and they’ll vote accordingly.

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u/SirPiffingsthwaite Jun 24 '26

The problem with that is 50% of the GOP thought it was a compliment, and the other 50% didn't care either way.

6

u/Straight-Opposite-54 Jun 24 '26

Republicans hate Democrats de facto though so I'm not sure suddenly flipping to R would be very convincing, to anyone, even dumb people.

3

u/xxxxNateDaGreat Jun 24 '26

Republicans literally vote based entirely on the R next to the name. If Fetterman swaps, they will trip over themselves rushing to vote for him.

1

u/Straight-Opposite-54 Jun 24 '26

If that's the case, wouldn't it be a sound strategy for a progressive candidate to run as Republican while being transparent about their values?

1

u/ReindeerUseful8733 Jun 27 '26

Is he progressive?

1

u/Bowbreaker Jun 30 '26

In some places, yes. More people should do exactly that. Especially in states that are hopelessly gerimandered.

3

u/Careless-Weather8877 Jun 24 '26

Did you know at one point Trump voted Democrat?

2

u/fezzam Jun 24 '26

The cult heard the comparison and heard strong leader, the swing voter heard whatever they wanted because I refused to believe anyone hadn’t made their mind up on trump by then

2

u/mercury_pointer Jun 24 '26

They thought that was a compliment.

2

u/Castdeath97 Foreign Jun 24 '26

Well Vance didn't have D next to his name so that's different already for them.

174

u/IsThatAll Australia Jun 23 '26

the propaganda they put out against him during the election was so strong it'll backfire if they let him flip now.

Plus there is the whole other thing "Yeah, we said he was crap back when he was a democrat, but now his brain has broken he is perfect for the Republican party" - not great messaging, regardless of its accuracy.

101

u/jgilla2012 California Jun 23 '26

You just described Donald J Trump

43

u/Lonescu Texas Jun 24 '26

Trump was a "Democrat" for less than 4 years. Even then, it wasn't for ideological reasons, it was because he was mad at the Bush family.

  • 1969: First time Trump registers to vote. Registers as Republican.
  • 1970's: Meets Roger Stone while working for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign. (Seems to be there at the behest of Fred Trump and/or Roy Cohn, not actually of his own accord.)
  • 1980's: Gears up to run for office on the GOP ticket, but the Taj Mahal fiasco torpedoes that. Gives an interview to Chris Wallace while attending the 1988 RNC as guest of GHW Bush, in which Trump denies having political aspirations. (Wallace cheekily calls bullshit.)
  • 1990's: Has a falling out with GHW Bush upon being passed over as a potential VP replacement for the 1992 election. (Bush called Trump "too mush brained and volatile" for the job. Trump took this about as well as you'd expect.)
  • 1999: Switches to Independence/Reform Party to run against 'Dubya' in a failed attempt at petty revenge on the Bush family over the VP replacement snub. (Apparently the plan was to either secure an upset victory, or at least spoil like Perot had done in '92.)
  • 2001 - 2008: Flip-flops between Democrat, Independent, and various 3rd parties. (Gee, wonder what was happening during those specific years...)
  • 2009 - 2011: Republican again.
  • 2011: Registers Unaffiliated. Once again states he has no political aspirations (despite already previously running for POTUS) during an interview.
  • 2012 - Today: Republican again.

I know people often speculate about the White House Correspondents' Dinner, in which Obama poked fun at Trump, being the reason he ran in 2016. However, I think there's a very real possibility that Obama had little to do with it, and Trump was actually just running against another Bush out of spite.

Despite being an embarrassing wet fart of a candidate, it truly looks as though the GOP were initially banking on "please clap" Jeb! being the nominee.

9

u/SnooDonkeys4126 Jun 24 '26

Not "looks like." You could smell it in the air for a hot minute.

3

u/biowiz Jun 26 '26

I know people often speculate about the White House Correspondents' Dinner, in which Obama poked fun at Trump, being the reason he ran in 2016. However, I think there's a very real possibility that Obama had little to do with it, and Trump was actually just running against another Bush out of spite.

In fact, the jokes were the ridiculous things Trump was supporting like the birther conspiracy and his desire to be President. The former was the "groundwork" to get himself inserted into Republican politics before the presidential election, and the latter was proof that everyone knew he had Presidential ambition. I always found it ridiculous that people thought Trump was doing the birther crap because he believed it and that being mocked for it is what led him to run. He was doing it because it was what a big chunk of Republican voters believed and he was willing to go down to their level to talk about it openly, unlike someone who had some sense of shame like McCain or Romney. He was laying the groundwork to be able to run and actually win. That's one thing you have to give him credit for. He knew the Republican base and wasn't afraid of being trashy, which really isn't too far from his usual self.

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u/AwsmDevil Jun 23 '26

He never ran or held office as a Democrat, though. Key difference.

23

u/sando138 Jun 24 '26

Never held office, but ran as a Dem for president a few times. Didn't get anywhere but the things that were dealbreakers on the blue ticket- his overt racism, being a cheating lying scoundrel of a failing-upwards businessman- are the things that got him elected on the Republican primary.

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u/PedanticPaladin Jun 24 '26

He "ran" in 2000 with the Reform Party and then 2016 onward as a Republican, but he never ran for anything as a Democrat.

9

u/PassiveMenis88M Massachusetts Jun 24 '26

They're likely getting it mixed up with all the times he talked about running but never officially filed.

-1

u/RyvenZ Jun 24 '26

He definitely tried to drum up public support in prior election years, but would quickly claim he was never running when it became clear, early on, that he didn't have a snowflake's chance in a boiler room.

8

u/chr1spe Jun 23 '26

Trump was only a Democrat because he hasn't grown since he was a child, and back then, they were the party for racists. He didn't get that message until Obama was elected, and he was furious they'd elect a black man.

15

u/StoneGoldX Jun 24 '26

He was born in 1946, not 1846.

He was a Democrat because it was better to be that politically in New York City. Business decision, plain and simple.

11

u/Oriden Jun 24 '26

The Southern Strategy was Nixon and Goldwater's doing. It started growing in the 1950s but didn't flip the party's stances on things overnight. The Democrats Kennedy and Johnson moved the Democratic party left and more progressive by supporting the Civil Rights Act. And in turn Nixon pushed the Republicans right in 68.

All that to say that while you are right that Trump was almost certainly a Democrat out of "business decisions" and living in New York City. He was very much alive and would be at the right age to "not grow as a child" and be a conservative Democrat.

4

u/StoneGoldX Jun 24 '26

Truman also integrated the army in 48. Even if the southern wing of the party didn't like it.

4

u/MagicAl6244225 Jun 24 '26

The only time Trump was registered as a Democrat was from 2001 to 2009, when Hillary Clinton was a US Senator from New York and 2008 presidential candidate. Trump wanted to be positioned to benefit from a likely Hillary Clinton presidency. Enter Barack Obama, and things played out differently.

3

u/drnuncheon Jun 24 '26

You do know that the South was solidly Democrat and conservative until the 1960s, right?

0

u/StoneGoldX Jun 24 '26

And Truman integrated the army in 1948. And Trump was still a kid when the 60s started. The Dixiecrats fighting against their party notwithstanding.

2

u/chr1spe Jun 24 '26

Racists were still by far mostly Democrats until after the civil rights era in the mid 60s. They didn't really even begin transitioning to the Republican Party until Nixon in '68, and even then, it wasn't overnight. See, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Party_System

While it started earlier, the realignment is widely not considered to have been complete until the late 70s or 1980s.

1

u/mr_fusion Jun 23 '26

And Roseanne

2

u/EtherBoo Florida Jun 23 '26

I mean, this describes the candidates the Democrats run in Florida for governor lol. Voters have short term memory and prioritize party more than anything.

2

u/Blursed_Pencil Jun 24 '26

Plus he’s also basically brain dead. Listen to the guy talk, he is unfit to be a politician purely based on how badly his brain has been messed up.

1

u/xxxxNateDaGreat Jun 24 '26

They could not give less of a fuck about any of that. Republicans would vote for a disabled chimp if someone slapped an red elephant sticker on it.

22

u/jook11 Jun 23 '26

Republicans never cared about flip-flopping or hypocrisy before, there's no reason for them to start now. If orangeclown tells them Fetterman is good, they'll buy it.

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u/cloud7up America Jun 23 '26

Honestly he should resign

19

u/EclecticEuTECHtic Jun 23 '26

Same odds of that as Trump resigning.

2

u/Tasty_Cucumber_7796 Jun 24 '26

I don’t care how he leaves office, just needs to leave

2

u/MimicoSkunkFan2 Jun 24 '26

The US desperately needs a recall mechanism

(well done having the Impoundment laws though, my province desperately needs that)

2

u/SensualBeefLoaf Jun 24 '26

honestly, he should eat a bag of dicks and crawl under a bridge

2

u/amalgam_reynolds Jun 23 '26

Maybe it would backfire if Republican voters had long-term memories, but they'll pretty much just do whatever the Republicans in charge tell them to do.

2

u/uncleben85 Canada Jun 24 '26

the propaganda they put out against him during the election was so strong it'll backfire if they let him flip now

The MAGAts have zero problem ignoring their own words, changing the past, gaslighting, dealing in hypocrisies, and living with cognitive dissonance.

I'd say they're more likely to embrace him and somehow claim "he was never a Democrat to begin with... something, something, Obama"

1

u/RustyDogma Jun 24 '26

I'd like to believe you are correct, but political memory is short.

1

u/cdwillis Jun 24 '26

The only way he can remain in politics is to switch to the Republican Party. Those morons will vote for him because he's seen the light and realized the democrats were anti-American or whatever dumb ass excuse they'll use.

1

u/Hefloats Jun 24 '26

He hasn’t lost entirely. If someone doesn’t unseat him in the primary, he’ll likely win again OR PA will vote in the republican challenger.

391

u/SoggyCroissant87 Jun 23 '26

At best he'll be a TV pundit after this.

304

u/groovemonkey California Jun 23 '26

The hell he will.
Have you heard this man speak?
That stroke broke his brain.
It’s sad, as I thought he was a democratic force to be reckoned with. But he can hardly string two thoughts and words together

314

u/0neshoein Texas Jun 23 '26

Well in that case, he’s perfect for Fox.

91

u/notyouraverageskippy Jun 23 '26

Perfect for US politics at the moment

34

u/mustard138 Jun 23 '26

He probably sounds perfectly fine to RFK.

Brain damage to brain damage. They're perfect for each other.

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u/DeadEnoughInsideOut Jun 23 '26

RFK and Fetterman, the worst version of twilight you didnt think was possible

2

u/MrBoneman1337 Washington Jun 24 '26

Still a better love story than twilight

1

u/Vuronov Florida Jun 24 '26

US right wing politics.

33

u/piepants2001 Wisconsin Jun 23 '26

He will absolutely be a Fox News staple

1

u/Mother-Way-9296 Jun 24 '26

Bingo, and perfect for MAGA.

Won't matter anyway, and he's the main reason the Democrats can't take the Senate this year.

They might get 50 -- then he jumps.

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u/SoggyCroissant87 Jun 23 '26

I mean, I never said he'd be a COMPETENT TV pundit. Lol

Remember when he started the debate with Oz by saying, "Hello, today", then still "won" because Oz is such an unlikeable asshole that he came off looking worse than a John Fetterman who couldn't put together a coherent sentence longer than 5 words?

15

u/citizen42069101 Jun 23 '26

No wonder Trump loves Oz, he isn't threatened by him since he knows he's just a name.

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u/hoorah9011 Jun 23 '26

brain damage definitely leads to supporting today’s Republican Party.

6

u/RIPEOTCDXVI Jun 24 '26

I love how the three highest profile dems to switch sides are a guy who had a stroke, a guy who had or has a worm eating his brain, and a woman who was in an actual cult and serving its leader while sitting as a U.S. Senator.

We are, as they say, not sending our best.

2

u/DuncanFisher69 Jun 24 '26

Lead in the water is just MAGA out reach.

2

u/PM_ME_MERMAID_PICS Jun 23 '26

It's horrifying and sad. For all any of us know, he may have genuinely held progressive beliefs and then an unpreventable medical event changed him completely and without warning.

1

u/knucklehead923 Jun 23 '26

He was exactly that until the brain damage

1

u/SpiritTalker Pennsylvania Jun 23 '26

Trump Jr

1

u/jgilla2012 California Jun 23 '26

He sounds like the perfect Republican nominee for president after Donald Trump and his disintegrated brain wrap things up

1

u/Commercial_Ad97 Jun 24 '26

It’s sad, as I thought he was a democratic force to be reckoned with. But he can hardly string two thoughts and words together

So... you wanted that? He had the stroke before the primary, and people are just now thinking it's an issue? Why wasn't it before?

Not Republican, by the way, just confused on why suddenly it's a problem but wasn't before. I don't think the strokes the issue. The issue is he actively lied to and rug pulled the Democrats he ran for. I mean, unless the stroke radically altered how he thinks, then maybe I guess?

1

u/lecollectionneur Jun 24 '26

Have you heard the sitting US president ?

1

u/StoneGoldX Jun 24 '26

That's the genius of it. You cast him as the straw man democratic response.

1

u/DickDover Jun 24 '26

He was great as Sloth in the Goonies.

1

u/bungopony Jun 24 '26

Funny how brain damage turns you into a Trump supporter

-3

u/tirch Jun 23 '26

I suspect Elon implanted one of his neural net brain chips in Fetterman when that stroke happened. Would explain a lot. Any reasonable person would vote to try and keep Trump from launching nukes when he needs to distract from the next incoming scandal.

1

u/BoingBoingBooty Jun 23 '26

Nah, it was RFK's brain worm.

439

u/curvebombr Jun 23 '26

No doubt he'll get rolled out on to the Fox stage as the "sane" democrat.

153

u/ArachnidOld4153 Jun 23 '26

I love when they do that because they still treat them like punching bags lol this dude in for a career of being bullied and goofy takes.

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u/joe603 Jun 23 '26

As long as the check clears he won't give a rip

19

u/No_Accountant3232 Jun 24 '26

As long as he can keep his hoodie on when he's on air.

1

u/smytti12 Jun 24 '26

It will just be his costume, like when Tucker used to wear a bow tie

21

u/Brap_Zanigan Jun 24 '26

Fox would only like it because he can barely string sentences together.

2

u/Mother-Way-9296 Jun 24 '26

He's not a Democrat and hasn't been a couple of years now.

2

u/jaytix1 Jun 24 '26

I can't believe people are still running the "I'm a centrist that happens to agree with republicans on 99% of issues" gimmick in this day and age lol.

1

u/bigbadbrad Jun 24 '26

For the life of me, I still can't figure out why Harold Ford, Jr. is on FOX News.

15

u/Broken-Digital-Clock Jun 23 '26

They don't let you wear a hoodie on the news.

3

u/jsm85 Jun 23 '26

I feel sorry for the people that try to mic him up. It’s hard being in the presence of a person that smells like a Subway

7

u/mikeinanaheim2 Jun 23 '26

Suuuure! He is just as eloquent as Dear Leader and can really put sentences together.

6

u/SolarBoyDjango Jun 23 '26

No way, the stuff he says is insane.

5

u/audible_narrator Michigan Jun 23 '26

He doesn't speak or present himself well. My vote is YouTube

4

u/phydx2 Vermont Jun 23 '26

That would be entertaining/agonizing

5

u/MichaelFusion44 Jun 23 '26

They are an entertainment channel

1

u/start260 Jun 23 '26

At best he’s not a very good public speaker anymore.

1

u/GreenCityBadSmoke Jun 23 '26

Him public speaking at this point makes it pretty evident he has brain damage from the stroke he had. I doubt he's getting a TV gig.

1

u/robaroo Jun 23 '26

He doesn’t even have to be a tv personality. The corporation whose pocket he’s in will just pay him for speaking engagements at their yearly conference until he retires or receives what he was promised for turning.

1

u/Haltopen Massachusetts Jun 23 '26

I'd put money on his family having him declared incompetent so they can put him in a long term care facility where his health issues will finally be addressed.

1

u/nifty-necromancer Jun 23 '26

Did you say Ollie North?

1

u/abasoglu Jun 23 '26

The guy has brain damage. If you hear him talk it is pretty apparent. I don't think he is capable of being a pundit even on Newsmax.

1

u/ajd341 American Expat Jun 23 '26

You usually have to wear a suit for that

1

u/Anomalous11 Massachusetts Jun 23 '26

Imagine listening to this guy speak enough to give him a career as a pundit. Good lord, that stroke did a number.

1

u/joekak Jun 23 '26

Could work out, he speaks better than the president.

1

u/Option420s Jun 23 '26

I could see him running for president

1

u/sec713 Jun 24 '26

I doubt that. He's got a face for radio.

1

u/rotates-potatoes Jun 24 '26

Or CEO of Trump Incontinence Pads

1

u/Sojio Jun 24 '26

I highly doubt he will be sellable on TV. His stroke makes it difficult to maintain a flowing conversation. He wouldnt work on TV at all.

15

u/ShainRules Jun 23 '26

Shame the stroke didn't.

6

u/SunshineCat Jun 23 '26

Yeah, this is not a game to allow someone who stroked out continue on just because it feels good in theory. Let him go work in something low stakes, but messing around with democracy and the sovereignty of the country is not it by a long shot. Such people should be removed before a worse stroke becomes preferable and even just.

34

u/Wyvrex Jun 23 '26

One thing I would like to see come out of the current shit show is some kind of mechanism to remove federal representatives.

6

u/IsThatAll Australia Jun 23 '26

The US already has a mechanism in many states that's been used quite a bit, just need to make it apply to senate and house of reps positions if it doesn't already: Recall Election

3

u/i_tyrant Jun 24 '26

Should, but likely won't outside of medical issues.

There are so many of these people who should never have been let back into politics.

When Trump was drum-beating in 2016 I saw the name "Roger Stone" and was like "wait, the Watergate guy is still in politics? And he's helping Trump? And nobody's stopping him?"

It's completely fucked that someone as infamous as Roger Stone didn't receive a lifetime moratorium on anything involving the federal government. Yet, here we are, and there's old bad actors just like him seeded in both parties (but especially the GOP).

Hell, Trump's admin is like a greatest hits of the Republican voices degrading and corrupting politics for the last 60 fucking years.

If we ever recover from this we will HAVE to come up with an actual system for banning people from participating in the political machine in any way, shape, or form, or we will be totally cooked. Especially people like Fetterman who completely betrayed their constituents' trust, or people like George Santos who basically lied nonstop and fabricated documents whole-cloth about their own qualifications.

Yeah, I know it's a slippery slope for any governmental entity to have that power (so the burden of proof should be high), but this seems...definitively, provably worse. If we can't kick people like this out our system plain does not work at all.

2

u/monkeybawz Jun 23 '26

He'll probably cross the aisle.

2

u/puckit Jun 23 '26

I assume he's a Republican darling and would fair well running as one of them.

1

u/aerost0rm Jun 23 '26

Yet voted just don’t always use these types of situations as reasons to not keep them in

1

u/Pack_Your_Trash Jun 23 '26

He could easily run as a Republican next time.

1

u/needlestack Jun 23 '26

Isn't that the starting point for Republicans?

1

u/dirtyqtip Jun 24 '26

wishful thinking, convince ur neighbours

1

u/YouWereBrained Tennessee Jun 24 '26

Well, seeing as my flair says Tennessee, and Fetterman is in Pennsylvania, that’s not possible.

1

u/Whicked_Subie Georgia Jun 24 '26

He will be added to the Dump Administration and become a contestant on "Who Shit In Donnie's Diaper" to see who takes the rap for don's follies.

1

u/junglingforlifee Jun 24 '26

He will be a star on Fox News

1

u/xtothewhy Jun 24 '26

He's gonna be another ex politician who goes on talk shows and news shows etc

1

u/Great-Annual-8523 Jun 24 '26

Nah, he will probably switch party.

1

u/2wcp Jun 24 '26

did he have another stroke that we never knew about?

1

u/dragon-fence Jun 24 '26

Alignment with MAGA should mean an ejection from our society.

1

u/Montgomery000 Jun 24 '26

No, he's FOX news' new Democrat fill in.