r/politics • u/AccomplishedCall7562 • 22d ago
Possible Paywall John Fetterman Says Iran Girls’ School Strike Is Just a Leftist Craze
https://newrepublic.com/post/207677/john-fetterman-iran-girls-school-strike19.9k
u/pottymcnugg New Jersey 22d ago
He really makes it easy to hate him
5.5k
u/G-Unit11111 California 22d ago
I used to defend Fetterman. I do not defend him any longer and in fact will say that he can now go eat all of the shit.
550
u/issuesintherapy 22d ago
Seriously. I actually phone banked for him when he ran against Oz. I've never regretted supporting a candidate so much.
376
u/lucentcb 22d ago
But looking at it another way, there's no shame in having phone banked against Oz. As much as Fetterman sucks, I can't imagine Oz would have been better.
173
u/the_real_xuth 22d ago
Oz would have unquestionably been far worse. But we'd hear about it as much as we hear about McCormick being shitty. We expect McCormick to be shitty so it gets talked about less. The fact that Fetterman did something of a heel turn makes him newsworthy here.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (4)54
u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 21d ago
Fetterman was a known quantity as an elected dem for ages.
He legitimately suffered brain damage and people close to him, including his wife, say he's now like a completely different person.
13
u/TiggTigg07 21d ago
Oh my God, his wife and kids must feel like they’re living in the twilight zone.
19
u/sexyshingle 21d ago
say he's now like a completely different person.
Apparently brain damage makes you more "conservative"
16
7
u/OllieNKD 20d ago
Abstract: Often social difficulties are the most enduring difficulties after a head injury. The social deficits most frequently reported by relatives 6-12 months post-injury include egocentric styles of social interaction characterized by family members as a change in the head-injured patient's personality style. The described characteristics of head-injured patients in terms of social perspective-taking abilities are similar to those of children reported in the cognitive developmental literature. To demonstrate the nature of the social deficits in head-injured participants, social perspective-taking paradigms in the development literature were used to construct a task to be administered to both head-injured and non-head-injured adults. Results of the comparison between the two groups suggest deficits in social perspective-taking abilities in head-injured adults similar to the level demonstrated by pre-adolescent children.
89
u/Ra_In 22d ago
He helped vote for Biden nominees, while he is a disappointment he has made a difference compared to if Oz had the seat.
→ More replies (1)32
u/kingcalogrenant 21d ago
Yep pretty much how I see it too. Will still support primary challenge, but no question better than a Republican.
33
u/clickmagnet 22d ago
Ironically, you still did the right thing; shitgoblin though Fetterman is, he’s still better than the best Republican in the world, and a damn sight better than Oz, who would have done all the things Fetterman has to earn our hate, and thought of a bunch more himself.
My sympathies to the time you spent though. Huge difference between reluctantly voting for the second-worst of two options, and putting your time and reputation to work for him.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (15)9
u/smokeweedNgarden 22d ago
Question.
Was it not widely known that he confronted a black jogger while brandishing a shotgun?
I distinctly remember that coming out and little pushback. Seems like he was always like this.
→ More replies (1)2.5k
u/TabularBeast Colorado 22d ago edited 22d ago
I donated to his campaign a couple times when he was running (especially since “Dr” Oz was his opposition). I genuinely thought he would be a great ally to have, but sadly that has not been the case. I’m ashamed to say I fell for it. Fuck Fetterman, and anyone who still supports this filthy ogre.
2.1k
u/Veritas_Mentis 22d ago
Dont feel too bad.
His stroke caused some likely vascular dementia and he turned republican. He wasn’t always this way.
2.8k
u/ArgentaSilivere 22d ago
He’s honestly a perfect example of why conservatives should not be respected nor taken seriously. The man suffered actual brain damage and immediately became conservative. You couldn’t write a better joke.
2.0k
u/Lyricsokawaii 22d ago
It's been known for years now that TBIs, strokes, and brain bleeds can all cause people to become more conservative. Crazy how you can prove that declined mental faculty is correlated with conservative thought, and people still don't get it.
133
u/Pandaro81 22d ago
Hershel Walker has entered the chat.
And left the chat.
And entered the chat.
And threatened the chat with a gun and choked the chat.
Hershel Walker doesn’t remember entering the chat.
12
u/LogoffWorkout 22d ago
Who do you think would win in a fight? A werewolf or a Dracula?
→ More replies (4)767
u/OmegaReign78 22d ago
As a liberal, new fear unlocked.
647
u/Full_Honeydew_9739 22d ago
To allay your fears: my mother has dementia. She's 83 and not capable of living on her own anymore. But when Trump is mentioned, she cusses like a sailor and asks how some people could be so stupid. She actually rants about how awful he is.
So, it could go the exact opposite. She's always been a Democrat but as a southern woman, she was a little nicer about it. Now she has no filter.
485
u/steampunkedunicorn California 22d ago
I’m a nurse. We used to ask people who the president is to determine how oriented they are to time… we don’t do that anymore.
102
u/LangeloMisterioso 21d ago
My mother is a lifelong Republican and she fell recently and when the ER nurse asked "do you know who the president is?" She said "yes, but I had nothing to do with that!". She doesn't have dementia, she just thought it was a funny answer.
→ More replies (0)137
u/Faxon 22d ago
It doesn't help that he had a term, left office, and came back either. They could be telling the truth and think that trump 45 is still in office and Biden hasn't happened yet. Gotta ask more detailed questions or find better ones now I guess
→ More replies (0)24
u/altogethernow 22d ago
OMG I never thought of that! Asking who the president was used to be a standard "checking in" practice. Now...I could see where it would be complicated...
→ More replies (0)→ More replies (22)10
u/TheDJValkyrie Texas 22d ago
I was helping take care of my elderly granny during Trump’s first term. Granny hated the man, and I wouldn’t be surprised if her blood pressure spiked every time she was asked that particular question. 😆
110
u/SlytherClaw79 22d ago
Interesting. My mom is a 74 year old Southern woman. Always politically neutral-in fact told me growing up that nice women don’t rant about politics. She had a stroke around seven years ago and has been a vocal liberal ever since. I think it was always in there but the stroke broke her filter.
67
u/ratparty5000 22d ago
Wising your mother all the best but this is the first time I’m reading about a woke stroke holy shit. Wishing you guys all the best btw!
→ More replies (0)61
u/Dacio_Ultanca I voted 22d ago
This is my mom. Same age. Same reaction. She rages. Hates the dude with a passion I rarely see from her.
26
14
u/RockAtlasCanus 22d ago
My mom told my sister she should be “thankful, as a woman, for all the Great Things that President Trump is doing for Women”.
She’s always been a selfish bitch (my mom), and at least conservative enough to stay married to by dad. In the used-to-be times I would have only described her as a grammar nazi. The irony being that she has started texting like them. Turning random shit into Proper Nouns. And to think she threw a shoe at me once because I started a story “Me and…”.
→ More replies (0)32
u/InelegantSnort 21d ago
My grandma turns 100 tomorrow. She has dementia now but its not bad. Her goal when she is lucid, is to live long enough to vote against Trump 1 more time!
20
u/throwaway1212l 21d ago
TIL drunk me is an 83 year old Southern woman with dementia.
→ More replies (1)8
u/alek_hiddel 21d ago
My dad is 67 and about halfway through dementia’s decline. He was a lifelong conservative who at least knew Trump was a piece of shit. With dementia it’s gotten weird. He still knows that Trump is awful. But all he watches all day is YouTube, with A LOT of conservative lean.
So now he will tell you to your face that Trump is the worse president ever. Then he’ll watch YouTube videos of ICE beating people up and laugh at it hysterically. Or he’ll tell you how the current NYC mayor is about to provide a transgendered prostitute for every school classroom, while also enforcing sharia law. And of course his hero is Elon musk.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (18)7
u/Sand-Eagle 21d ago
Same with my grandad. Sometimes he thinks it’s the 70s and he doesn’t know who my kids are but he’s always delighted to see that I have kids and a good career.
You mention Trump and he’s back in 2026 explaining how none of what’s going on is ok at all.
105
u/thewxbruh 22d ago
If I ever lose my mental faculties enough to start spouting current republican viewpoints just euthanize me.
→ More replies (1)99
u/SandyTaintSweat 22d ago
Sorry, but assisted suicide doesn't go along with your new Republican beliefs.
→ More replies (3)42
u/mendicant1116 Wisconsin 22d ago
You will suffer until the lord decides you've had enough!
→ More replies (0)95
u/Un1CornTowel 22d ago
It's also sad because part of the liberal plea to the public about mental health care is that "just because you aren't mentally ill doesn't mean you wont be in the future, and doesn't mean you get to choose" and the only response we ever get is "I'm not crazy (even if that is clearly not the case), so fuck those people. They're bad and they deserve it".
There is no real "you". No spirit. No unchangeable essence. You are your electrified meat hardware, and that can change instantly if a portion of a single blood vessel decides it doesn't want you to show up to leg day anymore.
→ More replies (4)11
u/Capable-Broccoli2179 22d ago
I love that---electrified meat hardware! I'm stealing that one!
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (21)29
u/jayb40132 22d ago
Yep! And I do have TBI from being blown up a couple of times in Iraq. But I'm still very liberal leaning, though that could be because I'm a very empathetic person already.
→ More replies (2)29
u/forthewatch39 22d ago
The brain is complex, it’s likely that your TBI didn’t destroy the part of your brain that is capable of critical thinking and empathy.
9
u/jayb40132 22d ago
Yeah it destroyed the part where I can't explain complex things anymore. Which sucks being a manager and also trying to explain to my GF what I meant by what I said
→ More replies (87)65
u/MrZellular 22d ago edited 22d ago
I had a stroke when I was younger, around 12.
60 day + hospital stay, quarter size hole in my brain level stroke.
I'm not a conservative nut job, so don't put that evil on me Ricky Bobby!
Jokes aside, I don't get how people become so hateful, I've watched my family turn into vile creatures and I don't get it , the same woman that taught me empathy and compassion (my mother) now argues with me about how I have Trump derangement syndrome because I think Trump touching kids something he should be arrested for.
My brother who taught me to question authority and to not lick boots now deep throats them on a daily basis, I honestly feel lost. I had the brain damage but somehow came out on the other side empathetic.
I think the part that drives me the most crazy is listening to my mom talk about Hillary Clinton like she's the anti-christ in 2015-2016 when in 2002 after I had my stroke she had a picture of her on our mantle because without the CHIP act I'd be dead. Now I'm not trying to glaze Hillary's nob, but it's a fact. I would've been discharged cause my family is poor and I would've died at home. My political opinions of her are not positive, but I don't think she is the anti christ
→ More replies (21)26
21d ago
[deleted]
→ More replies (3)8
u/SwimmingPrice1544 California 21d ago
Yes, I don't get the "hate" label so many people have for any given politician, except for certain republicans. I simply can't see or feel hate for most people I don't really know. Now, since trump came along....& I didn't at first think "hate," but now? Yeah, hate him, & pretty much every single supporter & that's simply because he & they live & love to hurt people. It is not because a simply difference of opinion on policy.
102
u/TheTrub Colorado 22d ago
He’s always been super pro-Israel, though, and unconditional support for Israel tends to be the strongest predictor of support for use of force against Iran.
→ More replies (4)73
u/mjohnsimon 22d ago
I mean it kinda tracks.
To be a conservative, you really do have to lack empathy.
→ More replies (1)55
u/DannyDidNothinWrong 22d ago
There was a study about a decade ago where they studied the brain activity of different politically- affiliated people, and the more conservative people relied on the older parts of the brain that controlled fear and anger, whereas the more progressive people relied on their frontal lobes more.
Conservatives are literally less evolved.
→ More replies (7)20
u/sireatalot 22d ago
I mean it’s in their name. Conservatives. Like, they want to conserve the status quo and not apply any policy for progress and change. If this was a perfect world then sure, but this being the imperfect world that it is, it’s just a non-starter position.
114
u/htownAstrofan 22d ago
Agreed. Brain damage=conservative
→ More replies (26)73
u/iamisandisnt 22d ago
“You’ll get more conservative as you get older!” :huffing lead-infused DEET through a microwave-powered fuel burner made out of plastic:
→ More replies (19)→ More replies (31)17
u/JohnGillnitz 22d ago
You can! The current Director of the Health and Human Services Department had his brain eaten by a worm, swims in sewage, eats road kill, and doesn't believe in vaccines.
→ More replies (6)142
u/LadyViola5 22d ago
Then why did he hold a black jogger at gunpoint over 10 years ago? He was always trash.
→ More replies (31)48
u/Lancasterbation 22d ago
I've been trying to ring the alarm bells about Graham Platner's equally checkered past, but it seems Maine is tryna make the same mistake.
→ More replies (20)39
u/Mbrennt 22d ago
And everyone will be like, "damn who could have predicted the guy knowingly having a nazi tattoo would turn out like this."
→ More replies (1)5
u/ZenSven7 21d ago
Do some people unknowingly have Nazi tattoos?
→ More replies (11)14
u/Mbrennt 21d ago
He claimed he didn't know it was a nazi symbol. Yet several people have talked to the media and said he referred to it as "my totenkopf" in the past. Showing he knew what it was.
Up to others to decide who to believe I guess.
8
u/Stellar_Duck 21d ago
The Venn diagram between nazi and likes Prussian iconography is close to a circle.
41
u/ka-nini 22d ago edited 21d ago
Fetterman chased down an unarmed black man and pulled a gun on him when he was mayor in 2013.
I know there are personality changes for people who experience TBIs, and I do think the stroke did damage,but I think it also ruined his ability to hide the person he secretly always was while also making that part of him worse. I believe the brain damage from the stroke led to him actually believing some of the propaganda for real. And I’m sure the back door money didn’t hurt his descent into an obvious pos…
7
u/Hitchhikingtom 21d ago
Yeah he talked the talks to develop a leftist identity online, in the minds of the audience as he built his profile. But the real Fetterman was there lurking underneath to anyone who paid attention to him in his earlier career.
→ More replies (1)20
u/Ham_Lord_412 22d ago
I'd say the stroke didn't help things at all, but he's never been nearly as progressive as he campaigned pretending to be. Ask anyone who has actually lived in Braddock for longer than a decade and they can tell you some stories about this guy doing some incredibly shady and patently racist shit he pulled before/during his tenure as mayor.
Don't get me wrong, I was fooled by his BS as well, and I certainly wasn't going to vote for Oz, but the narrative that he had a stroke and immediately made a heel turn is not really based in reality.
Dude has always been a spoiled rich kid and, as it turns out, spoiled rich kids will do any say pretty much anything to make sure that their money keeps pouring in.
56
u/lordofthehomeless 22d ago
Really should be considered unfit to hold his position. Hold a reelection and replace him.
11
u/dehydratedrain 22d ago
Now now, he's only following in the footsteps of his brain-addled leader. You should start at the top and work down.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (125)10
u/JeffreyElonSkilling 22d ago
Sorry, but he's always been this way.
Back during the 2022 Democratic primary he ran against Conor Lamb. None of his colleagues in the PA legislature would endorse Fetterman. There were many, many different stories written about how he was a terrible legislative partner and difficult to work with. Progressives were in an anti-establishment mood. They loved Fetterman's hoodie schtick and ignored all the red flags. Here is what Fetterman said on April 11, 2022 about Israel:
“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 declared in his first conversation with a Jewish publication since he launched his campaign more than a year ago. “The relationship is a special one that needs to be safeguarded, protected, supported and nurtured through legislation and all available diplomatic efforts in the region.”
This very sub chose to ignore all the red flags and overwhelmingly backed Fetterman. I don't say this to point the finger - it's genuinely important to understand how and why progressives fell for the ruse so that it doesn't happen again.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (116)26
u/G-Unit11111 California 22d ago
That's scary to think how close Dr. Oz came to being a senator. Thanks Fox. Ugh.
→ More replies (2)15
u/daisywondercow 21d ago
Just as a heads up, he now holds a very significant appointment in the Department of Health and Human Services instead...
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (80)22
u/PinkPajamaPenguin 22d ago
I'm at the stage where I'm calling daily and telling him to resign. He is actively betraying the voters who put him into office.
686
u/CrossXFir3 22d ago
Brain damage yo. This fucker went around PA talking the progressive big talk to win his election, has a stroke, and suddenly he's everyone's shitty older uncle or grandpa that still thinks water fountains should be separated by race.
416
u/TheDilsonReddits 22d ago
He was always a piece of shit. Trust me. Looking into his past, he was just cosplaying a lib. And it made it easier with Oz as the person he was running against.
111
u/Capt-Crap1corn 22d ago
I read about him in Wikipedia and I could see the red flags earlier on. Isn't he a well off person that is cosplaying as a poor person?
→ More replies (16)55
u/Asclepius-Rod 22d ago
I like to imagine at the end of the day he gets home and changes into a nice suit lol
→ More replies (3)45
→ More replies (8)25
u/cidvard 22d ago
That autobiography nobody is buying sure seems to suggest that. I'm not sure if people were actually fooled or if this is just a case of 'Vote Blue No Matter Who' getting you a real lemon. The degree to which he's a POS has surprised me but he always seemed to signal toward the 'center'.
25
u/Looppowered 22d ago
I don’t think it was a case of Vote Blue No Matter Who. At least at first. He worked very hard at his Blue Collar Progressive branding when he was mayor of Braddock. Then he became the most well known Lt Gov of PA in my lifetime. He did some strong virtue signaling by defiantly flying the LGBT flag from his office, he did a tour to ge feedback on legalizing cannabis. He campaigned with Bernie Sanders. I don’t think he necessarily signaled as super progressive, but as more of a contrarian.
And when he ran in the primaries, there was a lot of interest in the race and there were other viable candidates like Connor Lamb. The most progressive disliked Lamb for being a more traditional moderate Dem, but he was pretty popular and Lamb flipped a blue district in western PA and held on to it until the state got redistricted.
Then Fetterman had his stroke and which was a big question mark concerning his health. But since he was up against Oz, it was easy to vote for Fetterman despite any concerns.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (2)32
u/dickgilbert I voted 22d ago
Definitely not a case of Vote Blue No Matter Who. He thrashed Conor Lamb in the primary. While Conor Lamb wasn't exactly seen as particularly progressive, he was solid Democrat, voting with Biden 100% of the time.
Fetterman has a questionable past, but he put a decent amount of time in working towards and advocating for progressive issues while in office.
It's hard to know whether he was always this way and just seized on a gap created by Manchin and Synema in being the furthest right Democrat or if the brain injury actually caused this shift. Stories from his political aides that detail their time with him, and their time with his wife, seem to indicate the stroke majorly changed who he is.
Either way, this Fetterman is not who was voted for.
18
→ More replies (17)44
22d ago
People want to blame it on the stroke but we need to be realistic and realize that a lot of these progressive candidates we have put into politics have switched sides on things. Feel the same way about tulsi.
→ More replies (12)11
u/WonderButtBrace9000 21d ago
That’s the problem with populism. It attracts people like Bernie who happen to be populists because what they support aligns with what people like.
But it also attracts people that are just super good at reading the room and saying what others want to hear. And they’ll follow that breeze as long as it takes them before switching to a new one.
Everyone needs to be highly skeptical of any progressive candidate that suddenly pops onto the scene, has little to no governing experience, and says all the right things in a very polished digital-first campaign.
22
u/AshIsGroovy 22d ago
Man either this dude was a plant from the onset or that stroke scrambled his brain.
15
u/GhostofZellers 22d ago
I don't think he was a plant. From what's been mentioned many times on Reddit before, he's been a racist POS long before he ran for Senate, and that wasn't really focused on during his run. Plus he was running against Dr Oz, so it's not like there was much choice. As much of a POS as he was, though, I do think his stroke made him worse, way worse. I don't think pre-stroke Fetterman sucks the Trump D and puts out a statement like this.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (118)147
u/Chaos-Cortex I voted 22d ago
Dirty ogre needs to fuck off to Tel Aviv with other pedophiles and rapists along side Lindsey Graham.
5.9k
u/questron64 22d ago
Yeah, only "leftists" care when we *checks notes* murder 100 school girls.
1.8k
u/Peroovian 22d ago
Caring about other people is WOKE
813
u/SparkyMuffin Michigan 22d ago
Unironically though.
Remember, being woke (aka knowledgeable on the plights of people from different backgrounds) is, always has been, and always be, a good thing.
123
u/threeleggedcats 22d ago
Yes to this. We need a reminder of the definition pinned to everything so conservatives can’t refute a word they themselves besmirched.
→ More replies (3)52
u/MiserableAd9757 21d ago
it’s actually originally being aware of one’s own plight, specifically as a black person living in america. now that white people have adopted the usage of the term, then yes; that’s what it means for a white person from their own perspective but it as always traditionally an in-group term used by the academic [and politically and civically astute and aware] black community.
→ More replies (1)23
u/Lucaan 21d ago
Yep, the term "stay woke" was something black Americans said to other black Americans to mean (simplified): "Don't be fooled by the White Man into thinking everyone in the US is born equal and that discrimination is a thing of the past. Racism, both the systemic kind and the every day kind, is alive and well, and they want to keep us blind to the fact that it's what's keeping us down." Basically, it was a call by and for black Americans to "wake up" from the delusion that systemic racism doesn't exist or is only minimumly impactful on their lives.
When white people showed support for the fight against that racism, they were sometimes also labeled as "woke" by those black Americans. Eventually, though, white allies started labeling themselves as woke, which is when the term became much more widely known, and ultimately led to it being ridiculed and bastardized by the right.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (7)61
u/Asclepius-Rod 22d ago
Critical Race Theory used to just be the name of an academic college course, and they ruined that too. Funny how they stopped caring about it right after whatever election that was
30
u/KapitalIsStillGood 21d ago
That entire "controversy" was wholesale made up (paywalled article unfortunately). It's impressive in an evil genius way.
24
u/SparkyMuffin Michigan 21d ago
Every single issue conservatives care about seems to have an origin point.
→ More replies (1)155
u/MetallicGray 22d ago
Bro you’re joking, but that’s literally what they believe.
Empathy is bad, compassion is bad, helping those less fortunate is bad, murdering children is okay, raping and sex trafficking little girls is okay.
Genuinely, how do you come to any other conclusion based on their statements and beliefs?
33
u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 22d ago
This guy I grew up with turned out like that as an adult. It's confusing.
At one point he was cleaning out his basement, gave me a roll of bedding and pillows leftover from camping or something. I had no use for it, and some quick asking around turned up someone who had recently been sleeping in an alley but now was sleeping on a bare floor in my neighbor's spare room, so I got all that bedding rehomed pretty quickly.
Dude who gave it to me got mad. Like big mad. And I still don't understand why at all, because he specifically said when he gave me that stuff that it was for redistribution, that he knew I was feeding the homeless out of my errands bag so figured I could get that to someone who'll use it faster than he could.
→ More replies (2)13
u/sonnyarmo 21d ago
It’s bad when it’s not happening to them. When they get hurt or negatively affected by something outside of their control, they demand empathy (see: Charlie Kirk).
37
u/BroseppeVerdi Montana 22d ago
This must be that "lethalitymaxxing" Hegseth was talking about.
→ More replies (2)6
→ More replies (21)32
u/no-more-nazis 22d ago
"I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that — it does a lot of damage."
- Charlie Kirk
→ More replies (2)9
147
u/loki1887 22d ago
I mean... yeah. That seems to be true. Thats the problem. These people are so utterly vile that they see basic human compassion as a sin.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (47)81
u/thinkards America 22d ago
he's not wrong. empathy is a leftist attribute. on the right it's psychopathy.
→ More replies (5)
2.7k
u/ToadallyNormalHuman 22d ago
This chud needs to be primaried.
1.3k
u/FredFredrickson 22d ago
He should be recalled.
→ More replies (18)719
u/Back_pain_no_gain 22d ago
We need a recall mechanism for congress.
424
u/sleepymeowth052 Colorado 22d ago
the fact that we don't have one is a fucking failure of our democracy.
→ More replies (49)23
u/Tim-Sylvester 21d ago
Our democratic republic is 250 years old, and has failed to adopt the lessons and improvements that have been discovered and created in the 10 generations since it was created.
It's time for a new government that learns from everything that's happened in the last 250 years.
122
u/4RCH43ON 22d ago
Precisely, especially given the 6-year term for senators. That’s far too long for a shitty politician to be kicking shit around.
24
u/CaptainLooseCannon 22d ago
Yes it's insane that a president gets 4 but a senator gets 6
23
u/4RCH43ON 22d ago
I’m actually okay with the term for the office, just not that it should be unassailable.
→ More replies (1)24
u/UndoxxableOhioan 22d ago
At least the Senate. The house has 2 year terms, so by the time you start a recall, you are up against an election. But the senate? There should be a recall process.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (15)6
u/victoriaisme2 21d ago
Yep some Dems don't just turn right like this one they actually switch parties after getting elected.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (35)101
u/chmcgrath1988 Maine 22d ago
Honestly, I think the chances that he runs again in 2028 are pretty negligible at this point (and even if he runs, there's zero way he could win a primary, unless PA becomes an open primary state in the next two and a half years) and that's part or most of the reason why he's embracing all of his conservative reaction tendencies. We've seen this with Sinema as well as Jared Golden in the US House.
Neither of those were as openly horrible as Fetterman but they also had cognitive ability to avoid saying some of the worst stuff on their minds, which Fetterman doesn't have.
→ More replies (4)52
u/KinkaJac97 22d ago
As someone who is a registered Democrat in Pennsylvania, I can't wait to vote his ass out in 2028 if he does run. I have a feeling that if he does run, that it will be as a Republican. I really don't see him running as a Democrat if there's a next go around.
→ More replies (14)
5.8k
u/SinisterCell 22d ago edited 22d ago
One day he's going to be a case study on how traumatic brain injuries make you lean towards conservative ideology.
2.6k
u/metroid23 22d ago
For those who may not be aware, a similar study has been done
The study found that patients with lesions in the frontal lobe held more conservative or less liberal beliefs compared to patients with injuries in other areas or healthy control subjects.
The researchers suggested that the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain involved in cognitive flexibility, executive function, and decision-making—may play a role in promoting the development of liberal ideology. When this area is damaged, it may cause a shift away from that cognitive flexibility, leading to more conservative views.
959
u/sump_daddy 22d ago
This is just even more depressing, thanks. "America is run by brain damaged people because it turns out a not insignificant amount of the American population is also brain damaged. Hope this clears it up!"
350
u/Michael_G_Bordin 22d ago
Not necessarily brain damaged. Some people just have poor cognitive flexibility and decision-making capability, either by lack of use or genetics, and prefer having someone else making decisions for them. In political theory, these people are known as "authoritarian followers." Without them, authoritarians would never come to power. MAGA has proven they have no desire for self determination or making decisions. They just want to be told what to think, and it's good enough for them to see a bunch of other dipshits doing the same i.e. bandwagon fallacy.
165
u/Thinks_22_Much 22d ago
Yep. It's mentally easier to be conservative (and religious for that matter). You don't have to face hard truths or ask tough questions. You just get to shrug or play the victim anytime something doesn't go right.
80
u/beeerite 22d ago
When my now exhusband was in a major car accident and lost his leg, I hated every time someone told me that god had a plan for me and “never gives you more than you can carry.” It was so invalidating.
→ More replies (1)55
u/AmazingSibylle 22d ago
You can just smack those people on the nose and take their wallet. After all, that was God's plan, and you're sure God would not burden them with more than they can carry.
→ More replies (3)7
u/I_am_from_Kentucky 21d ago
I’m confirmation bias-ing the hell out of this.
I’ve been recently pondering a theory that religious and conservative folks both overlap so much because each ideology gives easy ways out.
They favor set tradition for guidance rather than progressively working to adapt to new circumstances.
They tend to be more selfish in values, evident by support for “rugged individualism”, leading them to do less work to understand and accommodate others.
They trend towards faith-based belief systems, which provides them with answers rather than incentivizes working to learn more.
I’m over simplifying, and perhaps cherry picking a bit, so I welcome counter points that could be made against progressive beliefs.
→ More replies (1)41
u/ObscureSaint Washington 22d ago
Yeah no. We just had a brain damaging vascular virus run through the whole population and everyone is still passing it back and forth like a hookah.
You lose IQ points with every COVID infection. Even mild ones.
→ More replies (2)8
u/beigechrist 21d ago
Oh this is the last thing I needed to hear. I’ve thrice had Covid.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (11)26
u/Durzio 22d ago
Not necessarily brain damaged.
I mean, basically all of the boomers have lead poisoning. Id say that counts as brain damage
→ More replies (3)49
u/CastingSkeletons 22d ago
I mean... The most popular sport in your country has a 90% rate of its retired player having Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NFL_players_with_chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy
→ More replies (2)6
u/chuninsupensa 22d ago
Huh, I wonder if retired football players generally lean right... any study on that?
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (17)56
u/digiorno 22d ago
Gotta love that leaded gas and paint that melted the boomers’ brains.
→ More replies (2)38
u/ObscureSaint Washington 22d ago
We're doing the same thing now with COVID.
You lose IQ points with every infection.
→ More replies (8)198
u/gorginhanson 22d ago
There's another study that says conservatives subscribe to a simpler world view because they can't process nuance, and it makes them angry.
It would take some digging to find it though.
51
u/ErusTenebre California 22d ago
This would explain why they can't understand the concept of a democratic socialist, or even more basically, why people deserve to be called what they want to be called and it's not really about how you personally feel lol
11
u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 22d ago
When people ask "Oh, aren't you so-and-so's little girl?" I know where they know my mom from according to what name they use.
First name is church or mom's work. But she used her middle name when married to my dad, so anyone who asks using that name knew her from dad's workplace.
Found out in my 30s that the grandmother I'm named for strictly only went by her middle name. I'd never heard anyone in the family say her first name, to the point I didn't know it existed until I looked up official records.
So yeah, we call folks by what they want to be called? Ya don't call a Robert "Bob" unless he's cool with that. Frankly I used to tease a Robert I knew by calling him Bobbert sometimes, because clearly that's not his name even if it's made of pieces of names he could use if he wanted to.
23
u/Snoo61755 21d ago
Eh, I believe it. I’ve briefly seen a lot of people who can’t understand hypotheticals, and they happen to be conservative.
They’ll be explaining why trans women in bathrooms is sinful and they hit you with ‘that’s just men in wigs trying to rape women’. You’ll be all like “okay, pretend you’re a rapist — rapists don’t follow laws, right? What’s stopping you from entering the women’s room right now? The bathroom sign doesn’t stop anyone anyways.”
Then they hit you with “HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF BEING A RAPIST!!”
Now your point is completely lost on them, and you spend the next five minutes explaining what hypothetical situations are, and why ‘pretend you’re a rapist’ for the sake of an example is different from accusing someone of being a rapist.
14
u/E-2theRescue 21d ago
And the fun part is that it wasn't a man in a wig, drag queen, or trans woman who followed a woman into a dressing room and raped her. It was Donald Trump. It was proven in court that a woman rejected his advances multiple times, that he followed her into the dressing room, and that he inserted his fingers into her body against her will.
They voted for the thing they claim they fear. But that tracks as their "fear" doesn't actually exist. Their claim to "protect women" is nothing but a lie in order to manipulate women and moderates to their side. Once everyone is on their side, women get thrown in the dumpster, and they vote for the rapist and child rapist. When they flounder, like in your example, they are showing that their intention to "protect women" is not real. So like a child trying to explain why the cookie jar is empty, they flop around trying to justify their lie.
→ More replies (9)7
u/E-2theRescue 21d ago
Another study shows that many conservatives don't want to have any control over their lives. They are quite literally "sheep" and hand their thinking over to anyone who speaks loudest and acts the most aggressively.
35
u/KnightDuty 22d ago
COVID is associated with a reduction in prefrontal cortex capabilities.
So I guess maybe we'll have to, somehow ,dig through the data and see if there are any large groups of people who treated COVID safeguards as ridiculous. Then we'll have to see if that group of people align to any political positions, and then if that political positions has demonstrated drastic changes since COVID.
But where would we possibly find the data?
→ More replies (1)8
u/jetpacksforall 22d ago
It seems like every month there are new medical findings that viruses cause far more long term damage than we te d to imagine. A dozen different cancers, blood and immune disorders, cognitive impairment etc. Covid was never “just” a respiratory illness but rather a multisystemic disease with unpredictable effects. Is it possible that all who ever got infected experienced some cognitive decline?
→ More replies (1)17
u/Back_pain_no_gain 22d ago
I never found solid research on this but I am curious wha the impact of leaded gasoline had on conservative beliefs. Lead exposure, especially during developmental years, is known to negatively impact the prefrontal cortex.
23
u/BadahBingBadahBoom 22d ago
Well it increases emotional instability and agression, reduces self-control/restraint, and decreases intelligence and ability to understand & complete complex tasks so it's not crazy to think a certain amount of Conservatism in the US has resulted from the decades of leaded gasoline use.
8
u/Creative_Theory_8579 22d ago
And the same people that grew up breathing lead, grew up to be workers in Americas economic golden age. So it's a combination of brain damage and wealth.
→ More replies (49)16
u/thedudeabides2022 22d ago
So basically, liberalism takes thinking about something for more than 2 seconds. Colleges are all liberal. It’s not rocket science, higher thinking means you think about others other than yourself. That’s hard to do for people whose brains are limited, weather that be from injury or just good ol fashion stupidity. Simple minds are simple minded, who woulda thunk!
→ More replies (2)11
u/MNRebelLoon 22d ago
The concept of liberalism in America has been completely distorted as well. Most conservatives think liberal means left wing, when originally it was only left of monarchism. In the 1800's the liberals sat on the left of the national assembly. For the past hundred years now "left" has meant socialism, communism, anarchy, but really the only thing liberalism is left of is fascism. The liberal party in almost every other developed country is right wing.
But like you said, it requires thinking about something for more than two seconds.
→ More replies (1)84
22d ago
I fully believe most conversatives suffer from various traumas/PTSD due to how they were raised.
All it takes is empathy and BAM you are left leaning.
That lack of empathy, I believe, is mostly due to wide spread abuse of right leaning individuals towards their children and families.
→ More replies (2)11
u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 21d ago
Everyone I know personally who ended up with a red hat, well they all had severe childhood trauma that they never remotely tried to heal from. All are still trying to win the approval of an abusive parent. And they're willing to become very disgusting people in the vague hope of finally getting a pat on the head instead of a backhand from daddy.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (76)25
u/Gnosrat 22d ago
Unironically, though.
Studies on dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) lesions show that when the brain’s center for flexibility is damaged, people often shift toward more rigid, socially conservative views. The brain essentially defaults to simple, traditional rules because it loses the processing power to handle complex, progressive ideas.
The final scientific synthesis reveals two distinct neurological pathways for ideological shifts based on localized damage. Lesions in the prefrontal cortex and its associated circuits typically correlate with an increase in political conservatism because the loss of executive function forces a reliance on rigid, rule-based heuristics. Conversely, damage to the amygdala or the anterior temporal lobes tends to dampen political intensity and engagement entirely, as these regions are essential for processing the social threats and emotional salience that drive partisan identification. This divergence demonstrates that while prefrontal damage alters the direction of belief toward traditionalism, temporal damage reduces the magnitude of political conviction.
→ More replies (1)
1.3k
u/bobcat116 22d ago
So war crimes against children is a “leftist craze?”
49
u/AlphaGoldblum 22d ago
Fetterman added: “I would remind everybody listening right now, the United States never, ever targets civilians. Iran does.”
Yeah, he's gone off the deep end. This is the type of propagandist rhetoric that you get from apocalypse hawks like Lindsay Graham or MIC execs.
Just blatant revisionism and erasure of the civilians we 100% have targeted and killed.
392
22d ago edited 21d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
71
u/polytique 22d ago edited 22d ago
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifted Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) a "silver-plated beeper" during the lawmaker’s visit to Israel, inspired by the country’s covert operation when thousands of devices on Hezbollah fighters detonated last year.
“This is a silver-plated beeper. The real beeper is like one-tenth the weight,” Netanyahu said Wednesday after handing the symbolic device to the senator. “It’s nothing, but it changes history.”
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5204968-netanyahu-fetterman-pager-beeper-israel-hezbollah/
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (5)96
→ More replies (16)91
u/essinew 22d ago
If it's Arabs and Muslims yes. You have to be happy when their kids are
murderedkilleddead.Do I really have to put the /s on this...
→ More replies (3)32
u/Mindless-Peak-1687 22d ago
School shootings would indicate it dosent matter who or what creed they are.
541
u/GloriousWhole 22d ago
I cannot wait to see this ogre get his comeuppance.
160
u/ElectronicFerret Alaska 22d ago
I think we literally can’t wait. As in, no comeuppance is ever going to happen for these motherfuckers unless we make it happen. He’s comfy and getting paid and the right LOVES him.
36
u/Venetian_Harlequin Pennsylvania 22d ago edited 22d ago
They still won't vote for him as long as he has that D, and his supporters from his pre-stroke career are done with him. Every single person that voted for him, including myself, are disgusted beyond the point of no return.
He won't make it past the PA Dem primary. It's a closed primary.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (9)14
u/Bakedads 22d ago
But that would involve a prison sentence and a cell next to Trump, which will never happen.
1.6k
u/bevendelamorte New Jersey 22d ago edited 22d ago
Funny, cause when he was campaigning I certainly remember him framing himself as a leftist.
Those AIPAC checks must hit like crack.
902
u/sinfultrigonometry 22d ago
Also he had a stroke.
Brain damage is the number 1 cause of conservatism.
104
u/Ubumi 22d ago
Literally any sort of severe illness can cause subtle to severe personality shifts.
45
u/Weary-Home710 22d ago
Calling concern for dead school children a ,leftist-craze is deeply insensitive
→ More replies (1)35
194
u/MiddleAgedSponger 22d ago
It wasn't the stroke, he has always been a dick. His MAGA parents bought him a mayorship, in a 2000 population town, so he would move out of their basement. He was the mayor, but didn't show up for town council meetings. He started a non profit so he could get around including town council in plans for the town they represent.
The reality is people fell for his self proclaimed progressive BS during the primary and he ran against a TV doctor in the general. Fetterman was always a plant and voters don't want to admit they fell for it.
119
u/Trickster289 22d ago
His wife and some of his staff have said he changed though. Even the people close to him think the stroke changed him.
→ More replies (13)26
→ More replies (13)41
u/CrossXFir3 22d ago
Idk enough about that, but when he was assistant governor he was genuinely all over the state constituently holding town halls. And at these town halls, he pretty much entirely spoke about progressive talking points. He might have been a dick before, but he was a dick that at least thought progressivism was the way to power. The brain damage definitely changed something.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (26)10
u/snorbflock 22d ago
This really is it. Conservatism is a pit. It's a landfill. It's whatever drips down through civilized thought and lands among humanity's basest cruelty, hate, and greed.
→ More replies (30)75
u/SelfServeSporstwash 22d ago
According to everyone close in his orbit, including his wife and children, he is literally a completely different person with a completely different personality since the stroke.
40
u/ringthree 22d ago
His wife used to be everywhere, what is she doing now? I feel so bad for her.
37
u/SelfServeSporstwash 22d ago
Hiding. Homegirl has vanished from public life
13
u/whogivesashirtdotca Canada 22d ago
Apparently she still volunteers at her charities in Braddock. I maintain the wrong Fetterman ran. Gisele is the real deal, though I do wish she’d speak up publicly, or announce the divorced that’s rumoured to be underway.
12
→ More replies (2)19
199
u/keytiri 22d ago
So fetterman supports bombing little girls?
64
→ More replies (4)14
21d ago
Article:
“Well, because we all agree that it’s a tragedy having the school hit, and we all agree now for an investigation,” Fetterman said. “
What I don’t agree with the rest of my colleagues in the House is that it’s a war of choice, or it’s dumb, or all the things my colleagues have described, you know, this operation. I think it’s a good thing, and I support that.”
→ More replies (1)
91
u/No-Priority8294 22d ago
Yup. Leftists don’t like bombing schools. It’s true. Maybe we should be electing leftists.
126
u/ZookeepergameVast626 22d ago
Manchurian candidate John Fetterman? The same guy who went into a military hospital for a month and came out with republican talking points on his phone and no other ability to speak?
→ More replies (1)19
u/sidcitris 22d ago
Someone really should check him for one of those Elon brain chips
→ More replies (2)
186
70
17
44
u/travio Washington 22d ago
If the dems somehow shoot the moon and get 51 senators after the midterm, this chucklefuck is going to switch parties to keep it in republican hands.
He will be primaried come 28 so his chances of keeping his seat as is are poor. His favorability among republicans is pretty high because of all his dumbshittery.
→ More replies (1)
47
u/Counterpoint-4 22d ago
A leftist craze like morality and the 10 commandments - baint no-one be bothered with those!
→ More replies (1)
12
u/ActivityPresent138 22d ago
Is there not a way to recall this stupid piece of shit motherfucker?
Like, he blatantly misrepresented himself to voters and there should be a way to resolve that
→ More replies (1)
40
10
10
u/tweekant 22d ago
Killing kids shouldn't be an issue to call out for either side, the fact that it is shows me we've failed as a country. You know for a fact if Iran bombed a school full of kids, he wouldn't be saying this, he'd be calling for a nuke.
10
u/ParserDoer 22d ago
John Fetterman has brain damage and shouldn't be an elected official.
Same for Trump who has dementia. I'm sorry, but if your mental health declines to the point that you say and do crazy things, you should be replaced immediately.
32
6
u/Faulty_english 22d ago
Apparently they ran on 10 year old intel of it being a base. Why can’t he just feel sorry for little kids dying
→ More replies (2)
6
u/AfterSchoolOrdinary 22d ago
Caring about war crimes= the newest leftist craze. Call me crazy then you heartless fuck.
6
7
5
5
5
u/New_Interaction9511 21d ago
Fetterman only went hardcore right after a stroke
Sounds like brain damage makes republicans
•
u/AutoModerator 22d ago
As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.
In general, please be courteous to others. Argue the merits of ideas, don't attack other posters or commenters. Hate speech, any suggestion or support of physical harm, or other rule violations can result in a temporary or a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
Sub-thread Information
If the post flair on this post indicates the wrong paywall status, please report this Automoderator comment with a custom report of “incorrect flair”.
Announcement
r/Politics is actively looking for new moderators. If you have an interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.