It is by now blindingly obvious to any rational observer of American politics that the Democratic Party is circling the drain. Depending on which poll you believe, its favorability rating among U.S. adults is somewhere between 23 percent (CNBC) and 34 percent (CBS). Nor is it difficult to divine what has led to this dismal state of affairs — the party has lurched so far to the left that most of its iconic leaders would be regarded as too conservative to win the Democratic presidential nomination. President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address would sound so nationalistic to those who now run the party that it would instantly disqualify him as a contender for the 2028 presidential nomination.
He almost certainly has his eye on the White House, and even people like Bill Maher realize that he is the kind of person who has the potential to fix much of what ails most Democrats.
That has created a second and even worse problem for the party — its leftist base is determined to banish any and all centrist Democrats to outer darkness and this has created a leadership vacuum. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is a case in point. Decidedly to the displeasure of his Senate colleagues, Fetterman frequently disagrees with the party’s far left positions. Even worse, he goes on Fox News to discuss his adamant refusal to robotically toe the party line.
He recently committed that heresy by appearing on “Saturday in America” to discuss his opposition to the government shutdown engineered by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other cynical Democrats. He then compounded his apostacy by telling Kayleigh McEnany what she already knew:
I do believe that there’s a critical mass of my fellow Democrats that are dug in until there’s an absolute ironclad kind of deal. And I do fundamentally believe that Leader Thune is an honorable guy and I do believe we can have a sincere conversation after we can open it up … Let’s just open it up and then we have our SNAP, we have everyone paid and then we can have that conversation to see if we can extend those tax credit deals because I believe there are enough Republicans that would like to see that too.
The current Democrat “leadership” obviously doesn’t recognize it, but Fetterman isn’t saying such things merely to be an iconoclast. It’s pretty obvious that he sees a real need within his party for genuine leaders who can discern the difference between smart politics and dumb politics. He knows the Democrats have a serious brand problem and that the Schumer shutdown is making it worse. Fetterman is no conservative, but he seems to be developing his own “reasonable Democrat” brand and is marketing it to audiences that most of his colleagues ignore. Specifically, he’s talking to all the working class voters who have abandoned the Democrats. That’s clearly why he wears those trademark hoodies and speaks in the proletarian vernacular.
He also understands that it is dumb and dangerous to slander his Republican opponents and, by extension, millions of Independent voters who could potentially return to the Democrat fold if his colleagues would stop insulting anyone and everyone with whom they disagree. Consequently, he rejects the extremist rhetoric that polarizes the electorate and has the very real potential to trigger the emotionally unbalanced and getting people hurt or killed. This is why he committed the unforgivable sin of appearing on the Sean Hannity Show and criticized the manner in which former Vice President Kamala Harris conducted her mercifully short presidential campaign — particularly the slanderous accusations she leveled against President Trump.
When Vice President Harris referred to President Trump as a fascist, I knew we had absolutely lost the plot. I happen to know and love a lot of people who voted for the President, and they are not fascists, they’re not Nazis, and they’re not trying to destroy the Constitution or any of those things. They just happen to have different priorities, and they love our country the same way Democrats do. That kind of rhetoric makes it easier for those kinds of extreme actions … like what happened to Charlie Kirk.
He isn’t doing these things because he wants to spend the rest of his life in the Senate. His term ends in early 2029, when he will be about 60 years old, and it’s unlikely that he plans to run for reelection to “the world’s greatest deliberative body.” He almost certainly has his eye on the White House, and even people like Bill Maher realize that he is the kind of person who has the potential to fix much of what ails most Democrats — charisma and authenticity. As Maher put it, “Trump has that package and so does Fetterman. He’s only been a senator two years, and he is already more famous than most of his colleagues … Fetterman is that rare Democrat who is not afraid to put the woke nonsense peddlers in his own party in their own place.”
All of which brings us back to JFK and his inaugural address. What would happen to a Democrat in 2025 who said something like this to an international audience:
I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago … And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe — the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.
Today’s Democrats now sneer at people who say such things and call them “Christian Nationalists.” John Fetterman is no JFK, but he knows that the majority of Americans think like JFK and will vote for people who share this vision.
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