Fetterman loses two more staffers

Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has gone from the golden boy of the Democrat Party to the villain for being willing to work with the GOP and Donald Trump.

Fetterman, who has already lost several key staffers, has now lost two more, with the rumors being that they are leaving due to Fetterman's positions.

Meeting with Trump

I have given Fetterman considerable credit for coming out more moderate in his first term than anyone had expected. And he did this even though he had every reason to thumb his nose at the GOP and conservatives for the attacks against him during his freshman campaign.

When Fetterman stood up for Israel, it showed that he was not afraid to cross party lines, and it also marked the beginning of the end of his romance with the Democrat Party. He made matters far worse when, after Trump was elected, Fetterman announced that he would be going to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump. He stated, “President Trump invited me to meet, and I accepted. I’m the Senator for all Pennsylvanians— not just Democrats in Pennsylvania.

“I’ve been clear that no one is my gatekeeper. I will meet with and have a conversation with anyone if it helps me deliver for Pennsylvania and the nation.”

Supporting Trump Nominees

With few exceptions, Senate Democrats were expected to fight just about every nominee named by Donald Trump. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State was expected to be a slam dunk, and it was, but the rest of them were pretty much fair game.

Fetterman, however, said he would give them all an honest look, stating, “I’m open to a dialog, hear what he has to say about these things. I’m not sure why that’s controversial. I’m going to have an open conversation for anyone that I’m open to having part of that conversation."

He continued, “There’s some people that I just couldn’t be able to vote for that, and there’s some that might be able to enthusiastically vote yes. I think there’s good things there, and there’s some things that I can’t vote for, but that’s what happens when the other team wins. And I don’t understand why it’s controversial to say.”

Fetterman was also very realistic that with a 53-47 advantage, the chances of Democrats being able to block any Trump nominee were very small. In most cases, at worst, Republicans expected to pass Trump's picks using Vance as the tiebreaker.

I Quit

In January, it was reported that Fetterman had lost his communications chief in Carrie Adams, who had openly disagreed with Fetterman on his Israel stance. There was no fanfare here... she simply vanished, with the media finding out about a month after the fact that she had left his employ.

Two more staffers have announced they are leaving, and the rumors are that they are leaving for much the same reason. Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director Tré Easton and Communications Director Charlie Hills are gone.

While Hills has not made a public statement, Easton at least tried to make it look good, stating, "Working for John afforded me the opportunity to build a diligent policy team from scratch. Together we created a legislative body of work that I think is a blueprint for how Democrats should be governing when they have power. I’ll forever be grateful."

Those of you who read my reports regularly know I am not a rubber stamp for any Republican, and I have been called every name in the book for it, including some of my own friends questioning if I am a conservative, all simply because I hold people accountable. I think it is a problem that politicians are now expected to be loyal to a person and the party over their constituents, so I can respect Fetterman for not following that path. At the same time, I would also hope we can find a candidate in the GOP who can defeat him when he comes up for re-election.

People seem to forget that we elected representation, not leaders, in this country. Our Founding Fathers saw a country that would work on compromise, where neither party achieved total victory in any given situation, and everyone could walk away from the table with at least a small win to take back to their constituents. We need to get back to that, or there is simply no way this country will ever be united again. And I have a feeling that the first party that realizes this will wind up holding the majority and the White House for many years to come.