Some More News - Some More News: John Fetterman And The Progressive Switcheroo

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

Hi. Today we're looking at PA Sen. John Fetterman, a man who perhaps was progressive and abandoned his ideals, or maybe was never progressive and we just really, really didn't like Dr. Oz. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xSavngbfndywVzFJm03Joh6eeQ5OXDZOqXcpQzS5Ws0/edit?usp=sharing Stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try Found for free at https://found.com/morenews (Found is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Piermont Bank, Member FDIC. Found's core features are free. They also offer an optional paid product, Found Plus.)If you want to replace your multivitamin and more, start with AG1. Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first subscription at https://drinkAG1.com/morenews.Go to https://Hungryroot.com/MORENEWS to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies.Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high-quality closet essentials. Go to

Hey, hi! Hi! Hello! You look great. How's that election stress going? You watch them DNCs? It is the big event of the summer after all. Everyone was there.

Sorry. Almost everyone was there. I mean, I get it. I don't go to extra work stuff either. Lord knows I've never been to an all-hands meeting or Katie's intern orientation slash tattoo initiation. Whomst amongst us hasn't stayed home for a company picnic? I mean, I get it.

I don't go to extra work stuff either. I mean, I get it. I don't go to extra work stuff either. I mean, I get it. I don't go to extra work stuff either. Lord knows I've never been to an all-hands meeting or Katie's intern orientation slash tattoo initiation. Whomst amongst us hasn't stayed home for a company picnic?

I mean, I get it. I don't go to extra work stuff either. I mean, I get it. I don't go to extra work stuff either. I knows I've never been to an all hands meeting or Katie's intern orientation slash tattoo initiation. Whomst amongst us hasn't stayed home for a company picnic or had our communications director publicly disapprove of our stance on genocide. That's right, America has Fetterman fever once again. Only it's like the normal kind of fever where you feel like your head is full of angry bees. And so we figured we'd use this moment to take a step back

and look at Fetterman's career so far. You know, like a performance review. Has he lived up to the expectations from that initial job interview? Hey, spoilers! No, the answer is no. ["The Last of Us Theme"] The answer is no.

The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no.

The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no.

The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no.

The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. The answer is no. is also the latest in a line of seemingly progressive or left-leaning or media darling politicians who turned out to be less than honest about their positions. Milkshake ducks. You know, like the anti-war, bisexual, and most colorful Congresswoman, Kirsten Sinema. If you recall, Federman campaigned against Dr. Oz

as kind of a democratic socialist Shrek, in that he appears to be a gruff everyman ogre type with a heart for the working class and the downtrodden, ready to fight against the stuffy rich fart quads of the GOP. He was a member of Bernie's army for gosh sake. He got the AOC AOK. But after he got an office, Fetterman became less of a Twitter savvy socialist Shrek

and more like one of those deep fried Shrek memes that make you feel pretty uncomfortable, but still a little aroused. What I mean is... I don't know what the turn of words is that of course everyone has the right to defend yourself a nation, but you also have the right, I believe, to go after and eliminate Hamas or at least to force them to surrender. And I've always confused why we're not talking about that more.

And if you are gonna protest, why aren't we protesting? I can't end that war. Joe Biden can't end that war. Netanyahu can't end that war, but Hamas could end it right now immediately. Yeesh. Yeah, John, I'm not a war expert, but I think Netanyahu could probably end that war.

And Biden, while not literally having an end war button, could certainly stop providing the weapons being used in that war. And John, when you say you have a right to go after people, or specifically Hamas, does that mean you also have the right to kill and show disregard for the tens of thousands of innocent civilians,

the women and children who've died because of that? John, what are you talking about? So John Fetterman is all in on Israel. He is in-sreal, but you know, so are a lot of, if not most of, if not almost exactly all Democrats. What's more shocking is that Fetterman is also very publicly turned against progressive politics and the folks who've endorsed him.

And a lot of his other sound bites are beginning to sound downright conservative. I honestly don't understand why it's controversial to say we need a secure border. I've been very clear, in fact that was weaponized against me as Republicans in my race, that I'm very much a strong supporter of immigration and, you know, my wife's family. That's the Oregon story about that. And I think two things can be true at the same time. You can be very supportive of immigration,

but we also need to have a secure border. That's him at the beginning of this year talking about a secure border, no differently than pick any moderate GOP dude you want. Although it might come as a surprise to learn that Federman has always been kind of like this about our border policies. And I guess that's why I want to look into this guy and ask the question, was John Fetterman always more right-leaning than we thought, or at least than he was presented?

Did we just get wrapped up in hype? Much like an old hoodie, the hype is very cozy. Or did he actually pull a fast one on us? Because to hear a lot of people tell it, Federman is one of the greatest heel turns of modern politics. And it's not hard to see why. He's vocally antagonistic about the left, and he's boasted some downright conservative beliefs that seem quite far from his progressive beginnings. For example, he's like super into fracking now. This is despite once calling fracking a stain on his state. And while Federman's newfound support of fracking is tied to the idea that it promotes and protects union jobs,

a 2022 Food and Water Watch report showed that while oil and gas production were hitting a record highs in Pennsylvania, jobs in that industry actually plummeted. Out of the 5 million workers in the state, the oil and gas industry accounted for only 25,000 people. On top of that, as we also had to mention in our recent teaching Jordan Peterson

about climate change episodes, citizens that live close to these drill sites have significantly higher risks of developing asthma and lymphoma, especially children. Boy, that's bleak. Maybe we should spin it and we'll call them younglings to soften the harsh consequence a bit. My Lord, the younglings have been stricken

with cases of deep shallow breath after exposure to the dark liquid bones of our beastly ancestors. Perfect, that sounds awesome now. Anyway, this still hasn't stopped Fetterman from fighting against Joe Biden's moratorium on natural gas exports earlier this year. Federman also supported Ron DeSantis and his weird stance against lab-grown meat.

I mean, John is from Pennsylvania, so it's sort of expected for him to simp for big agriculture, but it's still jarring to see Fedman post a picture of a food processing machine like it's an alien torture device. And even the community notes on X the Everything app point out that most commercial food, including organic meat, goes through processors like this one. It's a bioreactor. You know what else is made using bioreactors, John?

Vaccines. Are you anti-vaccine now too, John? Because they're made in a spooky device? Does the sight of a brewery make you go cry to puss in boots, John? And of course, it still looks much tamer than the factory farming process meat typically comes from.

You know those devices we use on other living beings? Also, hey John, do you know what fracking looks like? This, are you hiding in your swamp, pissing yourself right now, John? So all in all, this post just makes him look like a weird right-wing freak. Like you could take this post and put it on Matt Gates or Ben Shapiro's account and no one would bat an eye, right?

Then of course there's immigration. While Federman's 2022 campaign featured an ad showcasing his immigrated wife in support of the contributions of migrants in this country, he still supported Title 42, which notoriously turned away people seeking asylum. Later, after Federman was elected Senator, he attempted to strike a deal with Republicans

over foreign aid packages for Ukraine and Israel. Republicans argued that this funding for foreign aid should also be paired with funding for the US-Mexico border security. And while the Democratic Party balked at this addition, Federman was all for it. I haven't really thought anything that I've said is really controversial.

Standing and leaning in with our critical ally in Israel and being very pro immigration, but also realizing that we have to have a secured border. Ah, yes, nothing controversial about being all in on Israel and siding with the GOP about the border. It must be all of us! Although actually these days, being pro-Israel and pro-cracking down on the border is a pretty bipartisan stance. But maybe it's also about your approach to that stance. Republicans are now pleasantly surprised with Federman and seem to consider him an ally.

While the leader of the Republican Party has now taken to calling his colleagues like Senate Majority Leader and Democrat Chuck Schumer a Palestinian as a pejorative. And while in a vacuum, the idea of a politician having a lot of bipartisan goodwill isn't bad, we're not in a vacuum. the idea of a politician having a lot of bipartisan goodwill isn't bad, we're not in a vacuum, although everything does suck.

In any case, the bill did eventually pass, but didn't include funding for the border. And chances are, Federman mostly cared more about the Israel aid than all the border stuff. After all, Federman has shown unfettered Zing support for Israel, waving a normal-sized Israeli flag during protests that were against the US supplying weapons for Israel's offensive in Gaza. And he's shot down efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in the area, as if we need any more help stalling efforts

to negotiate a ceasefire. He also donned Israel's flag, wearing it as a cape at pro-Israel protests, trying to look like Superman, but actually endorsing punisher behavior. So yeah, what's the deal, man? What happened to John Fetterman? How did he go from this progressive social media star to a dude posting scary pictures of a meat processor like some kind of Rube?

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Oh man, those ads were erotic. Welcome back. Try yourselves off. We were talking about Jonathan Fetteman and his seemingly odd apparent turn from progressive working class hero to weird centrist progenocide dude who whines about liberal meat.

So where and when did this disconnect happen? Let's entertain the first theory that Fetterman was always more centrist than we hoped. And we all simply turned a blind eye to it during his campaign. After all, he was running against Dr. Oz, who was a lot like the Wizard of Oz if he killed over 300 puppies,

which maybe the wizard did that too. We don't know where he got his powers, but with Fetterman, there were some early warning signs that he was a tad bit inconsistent with his messaging. Mr. Fetterman, I do have a specific question, which you can continue on this topic, but you have made two conflicting statements regarding fracking.

In a 2018 interview, you said, quote, I don't support fracking at all. I never have. But earlier this month, you told an interviewer, quote, I support fracking. I support the energy independence that we should have here in the United States. So, Mr. Federman, please explain your changing position. 60 seconds.

I've always supported fracking and I always believe that independence with our energy is critical. We can't be held, you know, ransom to somebody like Russia. Hold on! Give him a moment to explain. You're saying tonight that you support fracking, that you've always supported fracking, but there is that 2018 interview that you said, quote, I don't support fracking at all. So how do you square the two? Oh, I do support fracking and I don't, I don't, I support fracking and I stand and I do support fracking. Oh, okay. Thanks.

Look, to be fair and balanced and empathetic, Fetterman was still recovering from a stroke and he would have a pacemaker procedure on election day. So one can understand if his mindset wasn't 100% on his campaign. And as he said in between those clips, he hasn't taken money from the fracking industry, which appears to be true. But even with that stroke, he kind of flip-flopped.

You might even find it a bit uncouth that we're even bringing up the stroke. But he himself has said that the stroke specifically changed him and made him move away from progressives only a few months after saying that he never changed and progressives are mistaken to ever think he was one of them. I mean, what could have given them that silly idea? This tweet where he specifically said that he's a progressive Democrat? Also, if he didn't change, does that mean a lot of his staff did change since a lot of him quit specifically because he changed?

Feels very gaslighty. I also don't feel like I'm much closer to an answer. After all, politicians say a lot of stuff. They're all, like all of them, liars and wieners. So let's look at Fetterman's actual record and by extension his past. Let's find the frack out. Will all of this have happened before and will it happen again? He started in AmeriCorps, helping low income students in Pittsburgh, then to Harvard to get a master's degree in public policy, and then the small town of Braddock, Pennsylvania,

where he started a GED program. So far, those are all pretty good things. I can just see him at Harvard being all will hunting, eating apples, being ghostwritten by William Goldman. Although you may be surprised to learn that John Fetterman actually came from money thanks to his parents' insurance business. So he's not so much wheel hunting

as he is the other guy in that apple scene. Anyway, Braddock was a steel mill town that peaked in the 1920s, but had since degraded and as a result lost 90% of its population. Basically picture every old steel town in America. Or the film The Road, which was specifically filmed in Braddock to recreate the look of a hopeless wasteland. In fact, most of that movie about the end of the world was shot in Pennsylvania and also Mount St. Helens. So a blown out volcano

and also Mount St. Helens. So a blown out volcano in Pennsylvania, you get it. Federman would eventually run and serve as mayor of Braddock from 2006 until 2019. During this Federman would use his nonprofit organization that his family bankrolled, Braddock Redux, to circumvent a corrupt borough council to get some of his initiatives done without requiring their full approval.

And corrupt they were, or rather more specifically, the borough manager absolutely pleaded guilty for stealing $170,000 from the town. So Fetterman would use his family's nonprofit to fund community programs that he proposed, renovate dilapidated buildings in Braddock, and get a lot of national media attention for doing it. He was awesomely dubbed the Mayor of Hell by Rolling Stone,

and even got a jeans commercial out of the fame. People think there aren't frontiers anymore. They can't see how frontiers are all around us. That's from when Levi's shot an ad in Braddock for their Ready to Work ad campaign, incidentally directed by the director of The Road. And in exchange, Levi's donated nearly $950,000 to Braddock Redux to support the renovation of a community center

and start a community vegetable farm. Again, seems like good stuff. I mean, sure, critics and members of the community believe that the small town couldn't handle such a large expansion and renovation, but that farm still exists. And so, Federman pushed on. In 2013, he lured celebrity chef, Kevin Sousa,

to open a restaurant in Braddock, which sounds great. This all, in theory, sounds great. Sousa choose a former car dealership as the restaurant's location, with the mutual hope that this would boost the economy and give residents a nice place to eat. There was only one problem. Residents couldn't afford to eat there.

Also, a single restaurant isn't exactly a huge job creator or draw. Also, it turns out that this celebrity chef has a habit of opening restaurants and dwindling neighborhoods and then abandoning the project. So fucking oopsa, Susa ended up ditching the whole thing

after it closed down during the pandemic, leaving several Braddock residents jobless. Again, not a huge job creator. Now to be clear, I don't want to yuckers all over the yummies that Federman did for this town. Even if it didn't all work out, he was still doing some good there. For example, Federman's nonprofit also created the Free Store

that helped residents get needed sundries at no cost to them, along with creating affordable housing for artists and local businesses. But you may have noticed that all of this is being funneled through that Braddock Redux nonprofit and not through the town itself. Fetterman sort of just declared

the town's government corrupt, which might've been true for at least a guy, and then just went rogue in a way that just happened to funnel money through his family. Like, mayors don't actually get to do the stuff he did here, and Fetterman didn't use that mayoral position to make these changes, but rather he used his other position

as the head of a nonprofit. And while you could argue that he cut around the bureaucracy to do good for his town, it all kind of has that icky Mr. Beast vibe when you look more into it. Not in the alleged faking of videos and torturous abuse and allegedly rampant sexual harassment, but like, Fetterman didn't go to any meetings

or do much official mayor stuff, so much as he used the town to seemingly boost his own fame. Also, since Braddock Redux is a nonprofit, Federman doesn't have to disclose who donates to it and made most of these decisions with a small group of board members instead of consulting the public,

which is worth noting, considering that the public in this predominantly black town didn't always agree with what he did. For example, Federman wanted to get rid of a local nightclub that he claimed was a nuisance. You know, like a weird busybody Republican might claim, while simultaneously pushing the opening of a hip new brewery.

You know, like a weird hypocrite Republican might push. Except many black residents liked the club and pointed out that, much like that Sousa restaurant, they probably couldn't afford to drink at some fancy new place. Also, breweries are annoying. and pointed out that much like that Sousa restaurant, they probably couldn't afford to drink at some fancy new place. Also, breweries are annoying. The food sucks except for the pretzel bites

if they're warm and buttery and salty and crispy and soft and let's actually go get some right now. And all their beers are named shit like dastardly Dan's beard flavored bacon IPA slut machine. Stop trying to impress me with your soy edginess, you fucking brewery. Just give me the booze liquid. Anyway, again, just a little icky.

This white mayor of a predominantly black neighborhood just deciding what's best for everyone through his own family's nonprofit while getting glowing national praise from people who don't actually live in the town. And of course, the racial tension didn't end there. Mayor John Fetterman says he rushed his son inside, called 911 and took off in his truck

after a masked man in black he saw running. But Chris Mayeres, the man Fetterman confronted, turns out to be an innocent jogger who police say had no weapon. Oof, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Maybe it's not so bad. Mayor Federman did have a weapon. A 20 gauge shotgun under the back seat of my truck,

which I pulled out and I showed to just say, look, we're gonna wait here and we're gonna get this all sorted out when the police arrive. I believe I did the right thing, but I may have broken the law during the course of it. And I'm certainly not above the law if I did, but what I did, I did the right thing, but I may have broken the law during the course of it. And, you know, I'm certainly not above the law if I did, but what I did, I did in a split second

out of concern as the father and the mayor. Oof! Okay. Ah, oof. Oh, okay, okay. Oof. Okay. The jogger, Christopher Mayares,

claimed that Fetterman knew his race and pointed his shotgun at his chest, which Federman denies on both counts. This incident rightfully concerned black Democrats in Pennsylvania during Federman's campaign for the Senate years later. Federman never apologized for the incident and even referenced it in a campaign ad.

I realized that I could never forgive myself if I didn't do anything and something terrible would have happened. So I made that decision at that point to intervene to stop him from going any further until the first responders could arrive. What are you doing, man? You pulled a shotgun on a jogger and are now replaying the

account over heroic music. Like you stopped a 9-11. See how this is all getting more and more icky, especially since, and this is key, when Fetterman was elected Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania in 2019, he didn't leave Braddock much better than when he arrived. Population still went down,

and like many underserved communities, the town still struggled with drug addiction and crime as Fetterman shifted his focus towards higher offices. And even as lieutenant governor, Fetterman often no-showed when he should have been collaborating with his fellow elected officials and constituents. It really seems like Fetterman honed in on a struggling town, did a bunch of photo ops, and then bounced with this new image as a miracle worker, while having no actual connection to the town, and in fact was sometimes more antagonistic than helpful.

Like remember that nightclub he hated? Fetterman actually showed his displeasure by vandalizing their sign in plain view of their security cameras. He is a local mayor and believe it or not what he's headed to do, he's about to vandalize the sign at a local business in his town. I know that they have cameras out front and it was my way of putting them on notice. So it was a very public way that I chose to, you know, put them on notice that, hey, you know, we're, we're, we're going to shut you down.

Boy, he sure loves doing very public things that make the news for himself. Vetterman never got rid of that nightclub. And ironically, when he became a rising star, the press actually interviewed a local praising him while in that nightclub to show like his hometown charm. The nightclub he hated and wanted to destroy and vandalized. And that kind of sums up his rise. A media novelty that had someone looked a little closer

would immediately have lost a lot of that charm. So why did so many people see him as this progressive superstar when he ran for Senator? Well, that sounds like a question for the Cody after the second ad break. Not this Cody. This Cody is gonna chill and let future Cody do all the work.

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Ahoy, that's sailor speak for ah, hi, look it up. So we were talking about John Fetterman, the latest cautionary tale about how even the most progressive seeming and hip politician is still, it turns out, a politician. It seems like he was always kind of an opportunist, but many people were still pretty surprised at the turn his public image has taken with progressives.

Why is that? Well, during both of his 2016 and 2022 Senate campaigns, Fetterman ran with policies that were quite popular with progressives, such as legalizing marijuana, eliminating the filibuster, lowering taxes of low-income families, and while clearly being pro-gun, advocating for additional gun laws.

But there were still some differences between his 2016 and 2022 runs for Senate. For starters, he fucking lost the 2016 primary. Incidentally, he was more vocally progressive during that 2016 run, full-throatedly boasting that he started a progressive movement in his state and going all in on Bernie. It should be noted that he never really had a shot

in this first election, since his primary opponent was being backed by both Obama and Biden. But in a long standing Democrat tradition, I guess Fetterman saw this loss as a reason to soften his far left views. For example, in 2016, he supported a moratorium on fracking until more regulations and protections

for the environment were in place. And as I said earlier, he'd go on to flip on that issue in 2022. But the effectiveness of all of this got more confusing because in the general election, his opponent was this, this. Thought I'd do some grocery shopping. I'm at Wagner's and my wife wants some vegetables

for crudite, right? So here's a broccoli. That's two bucks, about a ton of broccoli there. There's some asparagus, that's $4. That's Dr. Oz at Wegmans, or I guess Wegners, as he calls it, man of the people, standing on the, is he on the left or is he all that stuff on the right?

I don't know, he's somewhere in that picture. He really blends in with the vegetables. And this villain-browed celebrity doctor actually played a big part in why the public saw Fetterman as more of a progressive figure than he was. Because in his defense, Fetterman wasn't exactly hiding it. Are you a progressive? No, I'm just a Democrat that has always run

on what I believe and know to be true. That was for May 11, 2022, six months before he would be elected senator. Up until that point, Fetterman had often aligned with more progressive policies, such as showing clemency towards prisoners serving life sentences. But he was very vocal in distancing himself from the so-called squad of progressives that often endorsed him. And in his own words, he would lean in to using his Senate seat to benefit Israel.

That doesn't sound like he's a progressive really at all. So why was he seen as such a radical leftist socialist? Probably because that's what Dr. Oz wanted you to think. The radical left has gone crazy. They even wasted COVID relief money on golf courses, ski slopes and luxury hotels, sticking us with the bill. Crazy ideas from radical politicians and Fetterman's the craziest.

After all, for the GOP, pretty much everyone is a lefty socialist. Joe Biden is a lefty socialist. In that ad with radical lefty Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris is a communist now, you see. So looking at this retrospectively, Dr. Oz did more to help Federman's progressive image than his deceitful diet products

did to help people lose weight. By comparing Federman to socialist boogie men like Bernie Sanders, Ozzy not only tried to rile up the MAGA base, but unintentionally made Federman appear more left than even he himself advertised. And that ironically actually helped Fetterman's appeal for some.

It's a common tactic even among Democrats as Fetterman's primary opponents PAC also ran an attack ad that labeled Fetterman a democratic socialist. And of course, this is all not to mention that Dr. Oz was a weird snake oil millionaire that acted like a fancy alien and clearly knew nothing about Pennsylvania. And of course, this is all not to mention that Dr. Oz was a weird snake oil millionaire that acted like a fancy alien and clearly knew nothing about Pennsylvania,

while John Federman was not that. And P.A., we call this a veggie tray. And if this looks anything other than a veggie tray to you, then I am not your candidate. Oz got absolutely clown-dicked by Federman's social social media teams trolling, to the point that it actually affected polling. We can't harp enough on how Federman's social media presence

at this time was a major factor in his election in 2022, as it helped garner 70% of the youth vote and supplemented Federman's public presence. After all, he was never praised as an eloquent speaker during speeches and debates. So it really helped that he went so hard online. Meanwhile, Dr. Oz's attempts to troll back fell flat, given the obvious reasons.

Those reasons being that he has all the charisma of a wet sandwich and wet from like Pepsi. He's a rich freak that prior to buying a house in Pennsylvania just before the election, never lived in the state where he was running, probably because he had nine other homes. Hell, Oz even lost favor with the person who made him famous in the first place. That's gotta sting a bit. So this seemed like a swish. A bag of dead beetles could probably win against Dr. Oz.

And yet, amazingly, in spite of all these endorsements and the national attention and entertaining dunks on a daytime TV doofus, Federman only squeaked out a win with 51% of the vote, which is wild. Even with all we know now about Federman, it is still wild that Dr. Oz was that close to winning. And when you think about it,

Fetterman's trolling was only as effective as how incredibly ineffective Dr. Oz was. And you can make a case for Fetterman's success being directly tied to how distasteful his opponent was. And the Democrats desire to never hear the word Senator Oz in their life. And now that the dust has settled, the things people praised Federman for

just seem less charming. For example, his online trolling, which was never really that clever, but much like with his campaign against Dr. Oz, Federman has been using social media to troll members of his own party and dunk on any pro-Palestinian talking points from constituents.

He's still trying to be like a charming media darling, but it's in the same breath he's using to call college protesters anti-Semitic for not liking genocide. I'm not gonna give the president any advice or anyone, only on fashion. And, you know, but I will say this is that it's very clear that there is a very germ of anti-Semitism

in all of these protests. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. He does dress funny. What a cutup. Just like how Shrek dismissed that mob. Am I right? Remember, remember Shrek and how Shrek had ties with the democratic majority for Israel

and several pro-Israel PACs that financially backed his campaign. One of his top contributors is J Street, a centrist pro-Israel lobby group that endorses unconditional support from the US to Israel. Fetterman isn't the only one, as these donations from pro-Israel groups have compromised Congress on both sides of the aisle.

Per The Guardian, only 17% of the U.S. Congress supported a ceasefire within the first six weeks of the war, while 68% of voters supported a ceasefire. True representation right there. And so Fetterman parrots pro-Israel talking points, claiming that the IDF has never targeted civilians, even though there is reporting and evidence that heavily suggests otherwise. He scolds pro-Palestinian protesters further by saying they should be protesting Hamas, the thing that the US isn't funding

or supplying with weapons. 16 now former campaign staff members urged him to reconsider his stance, and many of his digital and social media staff members, the ones that helped him ratio the fuck out of Dr. Oz online, have quit because of this, as well as his abandonment of progressivism, which probably also explains

why his Twitter game has gone way down. Like, wow, man, a Jerry Springer reference for the kids? Very, very, very topical stuff. Beanie Babies are totally real. So was John Fetterman always like this and we didn't notice? Or did he lie about being a progressive in order to get elected? I guess both. But counterpoint, who gives a shit?

If there's a lesson from this, it's that progressive ideas are actually popular to run on, probably because people like them, but suddenly become less popular once you get elected. There's a reason why nobody runs as a moderate and then becomes a secret progressive once in office, right? That's not a phenomenon, though maybe it should be. Whereas lefty politician, go centrist, absolutely is.

And that says something pretty bleak and not at all surprising about how the government works. That once you get into office, it is far easier and much more rewarding to simply follow the status quo in exchange for support from your peers and richest donors. Create your little inner circle the way Fetterman did through his nonprofit and ignore everyone else.

And even the most progressive seemseeming candidates are only as progressive as their environment allows, and often they're a part of that environment too. Obama ran on change, but didn't go nearly hard enough when he had the first Democratic trifecta since 1993. Then eventually, he had to contend with the GOP majority. Ah, shucks. Was that his fault? Not exactly. But kinda. And regardless, it still sucks. You will be disappointed by politicians no matter how much hope they seem to offer you. They'll still do some good things, but fully trusting them or fully buying into their pitch will only lead you to feeling betrayed. There's also the fact that compared to every freak right-wing candidate,

most Democrats just feel like far left progressives, not only because the GOP labels them like that. It's just something to think about going into the next election. Like, not gonna yuck the yum that is Tim Walz, so yum. But in the event that he and Harris actually win, chances are they won't be nearly as progressive as a lot of people assume.

Despite of course being better than the freak party of freaks, Harris has good union support, wants to raise the minimum wage, but she too has Shrek flipped around on fracking and on Medicare for all. And like the general democratic party, the border. Other than a shift in tone, she seems to be confirming the party line

on Israel-Palestine. And everyone is just sort of saying that she and whoever is the current president, some guy I guess, are fighting day and night for a ceasefire, as if we're supposed to believe that they think that's even on the table, as if we're supposed to believe that while we keep providing them with the weapons, the weapons we want them to cease firing, all politicians will disappoint you. It's just a matter of how much you let them, how much you let yourself trust them.

Future president of the United States, whether you like it or not, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has occasionally disappointed the left while frustrating her centrist colleagues. She's a wacky socialist who spars with Marjorie Taylor Greene. She was all in on sticking with Biden. She doesn't seem to have a critical word for the party.

She also made the crowd go wild at the recent DNC. Despite whatever criticism one can have of her, she appears to be playing the game in a way that won't have her pushed out and defeated like Cori Bush or Jamal Bowman. Billionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections, including primary elections. (*crowd cheering*)

Including primary elections, damn right Bernie got them. The hope of course is that somebody like AOC being continually embraced by the party can lead to her changing that environment and making it a safer space for politicians to say that they're progressive and mean it more than others have meant it. Heck, maybe she'll pull a reverse Federman

and present herself as a recovering progressive who, after a stroke, now sees the beautiful, moderate light of centrist truth. And then, when she gets into office, she'll force everyone to see a doctor for free. Or, you know, or she'll disappoint you. Like all politicians, even if they aren't purposefully misleading people

like what Fetterman clearly did. They are after all, squares and freaks and rich freaks. Like what Fetterman pretended not to be with those hoodies. Even old white guy taco there. God, he's just so lovable. I wanna take him to Sears and go pants shopping. Maybe do some cocaine afterwards. White guy spice.

You think he likes cocaine? You think he'd ask Kamala for some for me? Kamala extract? Another Battlestar Galactica reference for you. Though you're welcome. Roll the credits. Voting for bad legislation. Fit, fit, fit a man. Bye. Oh, if you want to like and subscribe, it's just another band.

I just picked a random other band. Hi, welcome to this part. Thanks for watching. Make sure to like and subscribe. We've got a podcast called Even More News. You can check this show out as a podcast if you want. It's called Some More News. We've got a patreon.com slash some more news. We've got merch with stuff on it that you can get at our merch store. We've got a little bit of Fetterman. Vote for him. A little bit of Bernie, also vote.

A little bit of other guys in the race. What's another band?