EDITORIAL: A coordinated political attack

Politics isn’t for the faint-hearted, but the recent attacks on Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat, have been particularly ruthless.

Sen. Fetterman, a former lieutenant governor, won his swing-state seat in 2022, beating GOP celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz by a 51-46 margin. During the campaign, he survived a stroke that nearly killed him. While still rehabilitating, he arrived in Washington with a reputation as a left-leaning iconoclast unafraid to raise hell.

But what many Democrats — and Republicans, for that matter — want today are loyal foot soldiers who fall quietly in line. Sen. Fetterman has voted with his party on most high-profile matters. But he has also broken with the progressives who dominate his party. He expressed unwavering support for Israel. He supports fracking and more aggressive immigration policies. He met with some of President Donald Trump’s controversial Cabinet nominees. And — sin of sins — Sen. Fetterman traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Mr. Trump after the November election.

It is against this backdrop that Sen. Fetterman now faces anonymous attacks — even from members of his own staff — about his mental health and performance. New York magazine quoted aides as saying that his stroke has led to erratic behavior. The New Republican argues that Sen. Fetterman’s “health is raising the question of if he’s fit to continue serving in politics.”

Perhaps Sen. Fetterman is still struggling with the aftereffects of a major medical trauma. But the sudden blitz against the Pennsylvania Democrat is hardly coincidence. In the Philadelphia Citizen this week, Larry Platt asks, “Have you ever seen a more coordinated political attack?”

In fact, many of the people moving to push Sen. Fetterman to the sideline are those who insisted that President Joe Biden was “sharp as a tack.” Take their observational mental assessments for what they’re worth: squat.

Sen. Fetterman’s real offense is his willingness to work with the White House on a handful of issues and to confront progressive orthodoxy, particularly when it comes to the “settler colonialism” rot espoused by useful idiots supporting terrorists in the Middle East. It’s no surprise that, in addition to trying to run him out of office, Democrats are threatening to primary him in 2028, most likely from the left. Good luck with that in purple Pennsylvania.

Sen. Fetterman’s Keystone State colleague, Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, has rushed to his defense. “He is authentic, decent, principled, and a fighter,” he wrote recently on X. “These disgraceful smears against him are not the John that I know and respect.”

Republicans have a precarious 53-47 advantage in the upper chamber. If Sen. Fetterman tires of the vitriol from members of his own party, the GOP might consider more aggressive efforts to increase their caucus by one.