Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and a man who’s no stranger to political theatrics, just went on Fox News and delivered a lesson in basic civics to his own party. In an era where bipartisanship is about as rare as a unicorn sighting, Fetterman made one thing crystal clear: Trump won, and he gets to pick his team.
Let’s not gloss over the weight of what he said. Fetterman openly stated he plans to vote for several of Trump’s nominees, including Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation, Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, Elise Stefanik for U.N. Ambassador, and Brooke Rollins for Secretary of Agriculture. That’s not just crossing the aisle—that’s building a bridge, paving it, and inviting everyone over for a barbecue.
Co-sponsored by Joe Manchin I mean John Fetterman, whose wife was an undocumented immigrant prior to their marriage.
— Emma Vigeland (@emmavigeland.bsky.social) January 7, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Fetterman didn’t just stop there. When asked about Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, he spoke candidly about meeting with her and other nominees, including RFK Jr. and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. And here’s where it gets interesting—he expressed genuine confusion about why simply meeting with these people stirred controversy among his fellow Democrats.
And he’s not wrong. Since when did sitting down for a conversation become some sort of political heresy? Fetterman said, “I’m going to have a conversation with anyone that would like to have a conversation with me.” Imagine that—talking to people with different views instead of hiding behind Twitter threads and press releases.
john fetterman thinks we should just go see what the growling noise is and stop prejudging the chanting as if it were the ancient moaning of long dead souls.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis.bsky.social) January 6, 2025 at 9:00 AM
But the real mic drop came when Fetterman reminded his party of a little thing called democracy. Trump won. That means Trump gets to pick his cabinet, and the Senate’s job is to vet those nominees—not to obstruct them simply out of spite. Fetterman put it bluntly: “That’s the way democracy works.”
Of course, this kind of pragmatism isn’t going to sit well with the far-left wing of his party. There will be fiery op-eds, indignant tweets, and probably some protest signs with clever slogans. But Fetterman seems unfazed. In fact, he appears to wear his willingness to cross party lines as a badge of honor.
The Pope’s doing more to oppose Trump than folks like Bernie Sanders & John Fetterman are.
— David Darmofal (@daviddarmofal.bsky.social) January 6, 2025 at 8:12 AM
And let’s be honest—Fetterman’s approach makes sense. If the goal is to actually govern rather than just score points on social media, you have to be willing to engage with the other side. Trump’s nominees, like them or not, are going to have a huge hand in shaping policy for the next four years. Refusing to even meet with them is not a strategy—it’s political pouting.
Really disappointed on the way Fetterman tracking now
I’m not sure he’s fully ok, seems to have a different temperament in public than before, disappointing regardless
— Derek Byrne (@radr4lyfe.bsky.social) January 4, 2025 at 11:02 PM
