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<\/p>\nEoin Higgins is the author of \u201cOwned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Sen. John Fetterman<\/span> may switch parties, and the reason is simple: The Democrat from Pennsylvania loves nothing like he loves media coverage.<\/p>\n Adam Jentleson, Fetterman\u2019s former chief of staff who now heads the centrist Searchlight Institute think tank, said as much this week.<\/p>\n \u201cI think, if he is the majority-maker, he will flip, because it would give him a massive amount of attention,\u201d Jentleson said<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not hard to see why someone as addicted to attention as Fetterman would make a big deal out of leaving his party, nor why he has doubled and tripled down on it in the past week. After all, this is the same man who has made a spectacle of his appearance, walking around the Senate halls in a hoodie and shorts rather than conform to the business dress code of his peers.<\/p>\n Since October 2023, his\u00a0relationship with the progressive wing of his party has been strained, primarily because of a divide over support for Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fetterman is\u00a0now\u00a0willing to use his leverage as key player for control of the chamber to help\u00a0Israel \u2014 the main reason he\u2019s said he could change sides. If Democrats continue to oppose Israel, he said, specifically if they do so in their party platform, Fetterman says he\u2019s likely to split.<\/p>\n \u201cIf our party ever becomes, and just makes it official, the anti-Israel party, that\u2019s when I would leave because that\u2019s been a moral clarity for me,\u201d Fetterman said<\/a> at a convention in Washington last week.<\/p>\n A majority of Pennsylvania Democrats want him to leave the party.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Swiping at his own party aren\u2019t\u00a0out of character, and are part of what has led to a rift with the Democratic base. Fetterman\u2019s closeness to right-wing media and penchant for punching left, as well as his loyalty to Israel<\/a>, make him both a target of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and one of the least popular incumbents in the country.<\/p>\n Predictably, a bare majority of Pennsylvania Democrats want him to leave the party<\/a>, almost assuring he won\u2019t make it out of a primary. But switching to the GOP wouldn\u2019t lead to a cakewalk reelection either.<\/p>\n By his own admission, Fetterman would be dogged by his own very socially liberal voting record in a Republican primary where he\u2019s also certain to face defeat.<\/p>\n That leaves running as an independent who caucuses with Republicans, a move guaranteed to play spoiler for one party\u2019s hopes to control the Senate in 2028, though it\u2019s unclear who he\u2019d hurt more.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Antipathy to the left now defines much of his politics.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, in June and July, Fetterman was receiving lots of attention for his criticisms of former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, repeatedly claiming that there were intimate images of the upstart Democrat online and referring to him as his Reddit moniker, \u201cP-Hustle.\u201d<\/p>\n On June 10, the day after Platner won his primary, NOTUS reporter Igor Bobic posted on X that Fetterman was haranguing him<\/a> about the Maine Democrat \u2014 \u201cYou wanna talk about P-Hustle? You wanna talk about P-Hustle?\u201d \u2014 as soon as Bobic entered the Senate building. Fetterman continued with a line<\/a> that must have been rehearsed: \u201cHave we become the pro-dick party?\u201d <\/p>\n He ignored that due to pressure<\/a> from the Democratic Party that Platner dropped out of the general election race earlier this month.<\/p>\n This level of embarrassing, childish behavior calls to mind Elon Musk, whose awkward hamming it up to fulfill his need for attention culminated in a number of humiliating appearances<\/a> on the campaign trail alongside Donald Trump in 2024.<\/p>\n Fetterman doesn\u2019t appear to be quite ready to go onstage and leap around with a MAGA hat on, but testing the waters for a party switch is certainly a step forward into whatever comes next.<\/p>\n There are signs the next move could be Fetterman\u2019s own run for president.<\/p>\n According to reporting from the Philadelphia Inquirer in May, Fetterman lost interest<\/a> in the day-to-day of the Senate and has his sights set on the White House. One aide described the senator as \u201cdisengaged\u201d and said \u201che doesn\u2019t read memos, he\u2019s taking very few meetings \u2026 the job is just a platform for him to run for president, that\u2019s all he cares about.\u201d<\/p>\n A run for president would be welcome news to friend Bill Maher, the acerbic right-wing comedian, who has been pushing for a Fetterman 2028 run<\/a> since last year.<\/p>\n Maher isn\u2019t the only conservative giving Fetterman a platform. Fox News hosted him more than 50 times in 2026 alone, according to the <\/a>Washington Examiner, giving the senator the incentive to continue to make news by attacking fellow Democrats.<\/p>\n He\u2019s taken to the role with gusto, recently attacking<\/a> New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for protecting Haitian migrants from the federal courts and scolding<\/a> Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for endorsing Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Anything for attention \u2014 and Fox is smart enough to take advantage of that.<\/p>\n\n
Presidential Run?<\/strong><\/h2>\n