Pennsylvania Deserves Better — And It’s Not Too Late to Demand It

How John Fetterman went from working-class hero to absentee senator — and why voters shouldn’t settle for excuses.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) joins striking UAW workers outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich. on Sept. 16, 2023. | Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance

I’ll be honest — I didn’t know a whole lot about John Fetterman before he started running for Senate in Pennsylvania. I’d see him pop up on MSNBC now and then, this towering guy in a hoodie talking about working-class grit and sticking it to corporate elites. He looked like a political anomaly: blunt, scruffy, authentic in a world of prepackaged talking points. For a minute, I thought maybe we were seeing a new kind of Democrat — someone who’d actually fight for the people who fix things instead of the people who fund things.

When the Senate briefly relaxed its dress code for him in 2023, I didn’t think much of it. The man wanted to wear shorts — fine. Washington could use less starch and more self-awareness. But looking back, that moment might have been an early warning sign. The issue was never the hoodie. It was the attitude under it. Because what first looked like authenticity now reads like apathy — and the man who couldn’t be bothered to put on a tie has since shown he can’t be bothered to show up for half his job.

Who could forget his race against Dr. Oz — good Lord, that was something to behold. Listening to Mehmet Oz try to explain policy felt like being trapped in a late-night infomercial for democracy’s decline. It was bad enough watching him on TV hawking raspberry ketones and miracle detox teas like a sentient shopping channel, but hearing him talk about governance was next-level absurdity. The highlight — or lowlight — came when he tried to prove he was just a regular guy buying a veggie tray, only to call it “crudité.” Watching that clip was like watching a Wall Street banker pretend to be a Wawa cashier.

So, yes, I donated to Fetterman. Because compared to Dr. Crudité, almost anyone would’ve looked like the people’s champion. But let’s be real — voting for Fetterman over Oz wasn’t exactly a high bar to clear. If you lived in Pennsylvania in 2022, that was the easiest moral decision of your year.

At the time, Fetterman was still recovering from a stroke, and voters were remarkably compassionate about it. His health issues were well documented — auditory-processing problems, captioning assistance during debates, accommodations that let him participate while he healed. Forbes outlined the full scope of what he was dealing with, and people largely rallied around him. They gave him the benefit of the doubt because he said he could still do the job. And honestly, given the alternative, who could blame them?

But three years later, it’s clear that sympathy vote aged like milk. Because Fetterman has spent his time in Washington showing us that he doesn’t actually want to do the job — he just wanted to win it.

His latest stunt proves it. When news broke of Trump’s so-called “historic Gaza peace deal,” Fetterman decided the moment called for bipartisan congratulations. So he jumped online and cheered Trump for what he called a “shared ironclad commitment to Israel.” And where did he deliver this political Hallmark card? On Fox News, naturally — the place where truth goes to get embalmed.

When a politician says something stupid, it’s not just what they say that matters — it’s where they say it. Saying something this tone-deaf on Fox is like doing CPR on a corpse and calling it bipartisanship.

Let’s back up, though, because before we even get to Fetterman’s bad judgment, we need to talk about the man he decided to praise. Donald Trump’s latest humiliation came when he lost his shameless bid for the Nobel Peace Prize. Seriously, who in the century-plus history of that award has ever demanded it like a child begging for a participation trophy? Trump spent weeks fishing for validation, acting like the Nobel Committee was one Mar-a-Lago fundraiser away from giving him the same prize they gave Nelson Mandela. The only thing Trump has ever made peace with is the sound of his own voice.

Watching him pine for the Nobel was like watching a reality-show villain audition for sainthood. The man pardoned January 6 rioters — including some convicted of assault and sexual violence — and still thinks he qualifies as a humanitarian. He deployed troops into American cities to crush protests and is now openly floating the Insurrection Act to turn those same cities into police states. His “brand of evil” isn’t theoretical; it’s documented.

So when John Fetterman went on national TV and suggested Trump might actually deserve a Nobel Peace Prize, I thought it was a parody. I was waiting for the Energizer Bunny to march across the screen beating his drum, because the level of stupidity was that cartoonish. Any Democrat who even flirts with the idea of Trump as a man of peace should be automatically disqualified from holding public office. That’s not bipartisanship — that’s moral bankruptcy in a hoodie.

The irony is that while Fetterman was busy trying to score points on Fox, back home the walls were closing in on his credibility. His time in the Senate has been one long montage of skipped votes, missed hearings, and public tantrums that make middle-school drama look statesmanlike. He’s clashed with colleagues, skipped committee work, and alienated his own staff to the point where some refuse to meet with him privately. One insider said he’s “checked out.” Another said he “treats the Senate like jury duty.”

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He’s skipped roughly twenty-five of twenty-six Commerce Committee hearings — an attendance record so bad you’d think he was allergic to quorum calls. His staff turnover has become the political equivalent of a revolving door at a Wawa restroom. He’s even admitted in interviews that he doesn’t like showing up for what he considers “performative” votes, which, given the current state of Congress, is almost all of them. He just doesn’t want to do the job.

Add to that his frequent clashes with Democrats over Israel and Iran protests — where he reportedly called student demonstrators “useful idiots” — and the picture comes into focus. This isn’t a populist; it’s a contrarian who discovered that rebellion plays better on TV than responsibility does in the Senate.

The more we learn, the clearer it gets: Fetterman’s biggest political asset — that tough-guy authenticity — was also his biggest lie. The shtick wore thin the second it had to coexist with accountability. You can wear Carhartt all you want, but at some point, you’ve got to pick up the hammer.

And while he’s been out here making cable-news rounds congratulating a wannabe dictator, the country is grinding through another crisis. We’re now well over ten days into a government shutdown. Federal workers are missing paychecks, small businesses are freezing contracts, and ordinary Americans are left to wonder how long the lights stay on. The last thing they need is their senator auditioning for a Fox News soundbite while the state he represents waits for leadership.

It’s the height of tone-deafness. At a moment when Pennsylvanians need someone to fight for paychecks and programs, Fetterman decided to hand Donald Trump a participation trophy for “peace.” That’s like complimenting a pyromaniac for keeping the ashes tidy.

This isn’t the first time Fetterman has mistaken provocation for principle. Whether it was showing up to work in gym shorts, skipping committee meetings, or publicly mocking his own party for sport, he’s turned political theater into an art form. What he hasn’t done is the job voters sent him to do.

Pennsylvania didn’t elect him to cosplay as a centrist rebel. You sent him to fight for your wages, your healthcare, your infrastructure — the things that actually make a difference in people’s lives. And in 2022, you were right to make that call. Dr. Oz would’ve been a national embarrassment, a self-help salesman in a Senate seat. But now, after three years of absentee governance, it’s time to admit that Fetterman has worn out his usefulness.

This isn’t about partisanship; it’s about standards. The people of Pennsylvania deserve better than a man who treats public service like a side hustle. They deserve a senator who doesn’t confuse stubbornness with strength or performance with principle. They deserve someone who understands that populism without purpose is just ego in flannel.

When you voted for Fetterman, you made the best choice available. But 2028 brings another one — and this time, the bar should be higher. Because if you wouldn’t hire someone who skips half their shifts, antagonizes their coworkers, and publicly admits they don’t like working, you shouldn’t reelect one either.

As this shutdown drags on, thousands of Pennsylvanians are wondering if their government will ever start working again. They shouldn’t have to wonder the same about their senator.

John Fetterman’s story was supposed to be one of grit, resilience, and comeback. Instead, it’s become a cautionary tale about what happens when authenticity turns into arrogance — when the man of the people forgets that the people are watching.

Pennsylvania, in 2028, it’s your move. Don’t let another term go to waste. The hoodie was never the problem — the emptiness beneath it was.

Kristoffer Ealy is a political science professor who teaches at California State University Fullerton, Ventura College, Los Angeles Harbor College, and Oxnard College. He is the author of the upcoming book, Political Illiteracy: Learning the Wrong Lessons.