On the first night of Republicans’ midterm convention, an unexpected guest appeared by video: Sen. John Fetterman. The Democrat introduced Pennsylvania’s other senator, David McCormick, saying that the two would “work with President Trump and defend the steel way of life.”
The message provoked outrage from Fetterman’s fellow Democrats. Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman Malcolm Kenyatta, another Pennsylvanian (and an opponent of Fetterman’s in the state’s 2022 Democratic primary for Senate), labeled the senator the “laziest benedict Arnold America has ever seen.” But reacting Fetterman with outrage only helps him and Republicans. Instead, Democrats should take on Fetterman’s central claim. The senator adopted the mantle of bipartisanship — but the premise of the event betrayed his framing.
Fetterman is not the first senator to draw the ire of his party amid a tightly divided Senate, sometimes for what feels like nothing more than attention grabbing disguised as moderation. During the Biden administration, former Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema drove Democrats mad. However, whether one agreed with them or not, Manchin and Sinema did use their leverage to accomplish actual policy outcomes. That is the spirit and meaning of bipartisanship — working across the aisle to get something done. Sinema reportedly was a key negotiator on the bipartisan infrastructure deal. Manchin worked across the aisle to pass the Electoral Count Reform Act following the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“By contrast,” Reuters noted, “Fetterman has not used his position to leverage concessions from party leaders or to shape legislation.
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