- Sen. John Fetterman is increasingly drawing comparisons to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
- Sure, they're both eccentric personalities who push boundaries with their fashion choices.
In recent weeks, Sen. John Fetterman has increasingly been compared to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema by both progressive activists and conservative news outlets alike.
It's obviously a tempting comparison.
Both senators have eccentric personal brands, represent swing states, push the limits of what's acceptable to wear in the halls of Congress, and seem to harbor something of a contrarian streak.
https://t.co/dMZeOeIPI6 pic.twitter.com/pS8aVgP8b4
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) December 28, 2023
But in reality, the Pennsylvania Democrat couldn't be more different than the Arizona Independent — and it's worth taking a closer look at both politicians to understand why.
Plenty of Democrats feel the same way about Israel as Fetterman — he's just more blunt about it
Fetterman's original sin with progressives has been the staunch pro-Israel line he's taken since the October 7 Hamas attack.
Not only has he declined to issue significant criticisms of Israel — despite the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza — but he's pushed back ferociously on criticism, arguing that progressives should be protesting Hamas instead.
In November, he even appeared to troll a group of pro-ceasefire protestors as they were being arrested on Capitol Hill.
Jackass @JohnFetterman saw veterans getting arrested and laughed.
— About Face: Veterans Against the War (@VetsAboutFace) November 10, 2023
We asked to see @SenGillibrand. We were put in cuffs.
We need leaders who listen to veterans demanding a #CeaseFireNow pic.twitter.com/M7tHJ9RUS5
But while Fetterman's attitude about the conflict has been grating and discouraging for progressives, it's worth noting that on paper, there's little difference between his stance and that of most other Democrats — what's different is how Fetterman's channeled that stance via his blunt, often trollish personal style.
Indeed, most Democrats and essentially all Republicans, like Fetterman, are opposed to placing conditions on US aid to Israel and support sending the country an additional $14 billion in military aid.
Fetterman has hardly broken with the party in general
Beyond Israel, Fetterman has angered progressives by supporting ongoing talks in the Senate about making significant changes to the country's immigration laws, which Republicans have insisted in exchange for continuing aid to Ukraine.
But even then, he's not calling for anything especially draconian, but rather expressing the mainstream view that the ongoing illegal immigration to the United States must be somehow addressed.
"I hope Democrats can understand that it isn't xenophobic to be concerned about the border," Fetterman told POLITICO earlier this month. "It's a reasonable conversation, and Democrats should engage."
He also told the outlet that he is against any deal that harms Dreamers, such as his wife, Gisele. Beyond that, he has discussed little details of a potential package, beyond expressing broad support for taking the issue seriously.
By contrast, Sinema has broken with her party on numerous core issues, whether it's government spending, changing the Senate filibuster, or her choice to abandon the party altogether last year.
One key difference in their evolutions, however, is that Sinema hasn't positioned herself a progressive since her time as a Green Party activist in Arizona.
Fetterman, until recently, embraced the label.
Neither senator has changed that much over time
It's also worth acknowledging that neither politician has completely reinvented themselves, even as they've evolved over time.
While nowhere close to the registered independent and potential 2024 Senate spoiler that she is now, Sinema was a very moderate Democrat in the House for several terms before her 2018 election to the Senate.
And Fetterman made his staunch pro-Israel positions abundantly clear in a 2022 interview with Jewish Insider, long before he was actually elected.
"Whenever I'm in a situation to be called on to take up the cause of strengthening and enhancing the security of Israel or deepening our relationship between the United States and Israel, I'm going to lean in," Fetterman told the outlet.
In short, whatever you think of their politics, they shouldn't exactly come as a surprise.
Just wait until Democrats have a trifecta again
Perhaps the most crucial difference between the two senators — even if it's a difference that remains to be fully tested — is their willingness to actually thwart their party's agenda.
Sinema first drew the ire of not just progressives, but essentially the entire Democratic party, because she and Manchin held up significant aspects of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda in 2021 and 2022.
Not only did she oppose the original "Build Back Better" social spending and climate bill, but she opposed weakening the filibuster to pass voting and abortion rights legislation.
Fetterman, by contrast, has not sought to thwart his party on anything. And he ran as an unabashed proponent of eliminating the filibuster.
True, the US is now in a period of divided government, and there's not much Biden can do to advance a positive legislative agenda anyway.
But it's worth noting that as he ran for Senate, Fetterman was criticizing Sinema for not voting like a Democrat.
In unprecedented times like these, Democrats need to vote like Democrats.
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) July 28, 2021
You looking for that 51st vote?
It me. https://t.co/nvHjW9zOvw
Ultimately, the real test of the comparisons will come once Democrats have a trifecta again.
If Fetterman, at that point, emerged as a significant obstacle to the aspirations of his party, then the comparisons to Sinema will be appropriate.
But until then, it's a pretty lazy analogy.