Some listeners and readers have asked me about a Wall Street Journal piece on Sen. John Fetterman. Is it a hit piece? Did the Journal get it right? The answers are: yes and no.
This story says a great deal about today’s media landscape, political divides, and dehumanization. I break it down in Episode 126: America’s Most Unpopular.
The Journal packed the piece with anonymous sources, including some of his former staffers, claiming dysfunction in Fetterman’s office. He says they’re disgruntled, pushing half-truths and smears.
While allegations of dysfunction in any public official’s office are worth reporting, this article cites no tangible problems that have resulted from it. No actual impacts on governing.
That raises a question: Why allow all the anonymity? Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker has said the paper limits anonymity to only “the most sensitive stories.” How did this story meet that bar? (I’ve asked the Journal, and received no response.)
Fetterman maintains the same overall level of popularity at home in Pennsylvania. While Democrats have turned on him, Republicans and Independents have increased their support for him. The article includes no quotes from people in the latter camp.
In the background of all this is the fact that many staffers who work for Democrats are part of AZHM, the Antizionist Hate Movement — the biggest antisemitic movement of our time. And they hate that he stands staunchly against that.
Coverage of Fetterman, in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, touches on his support for Israel in its battle against Islamist terrorism. It also generally points out his failure to play along with Democratic leadership these days. But it leaves out a central point. There’s no understanding Fetterman without understanding this.
From his 2025 book, Unfettered:
“I’ve drunk deeply of the venom of both the left and the right. And as a connoisseur, I can confirm that the most poisonous, the bitterest is from the far left.”
He discussed this on CNN. While the right says “really rough things” to him, people on the left say “they want me to die, or ‘we’re cheering for your next stroke,’ or ‘why couldn’t the depression (have) won, and I hope your kids find you,’” he explained. “One post said, ‘The doctor let us down. And why did they have to save his life?’ That’s really been consistent, in that community online.”
This is what Fetterman’s day is like. And he sees Democrats doing nothing about it. Democrats are letting it get worse as the hate movement on the left outgrows the one on the right. So yeah, guess what? He might not want to spend any energy worrying about what the party leaders want from him. But these stories don’t point that out. They don’t discuss it.
Major newsrooms love to obsess over the symptoms — the friction, the defiance, the bad blood — while deliberately looking away from the cause.
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It's amazing how all the problems and wars and famines and tortures all over the world do not merit the "outrage" perpetuated non stop against Israel and anything it stands for. This specific "anti" has become part of election campaign slogans, omitting mention of any other dastardly events.