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Meet Pennsylvania's anger translator, and Donald Trump's worst nightmare | The Independent

  
Via:  Trout Giggles  •  4 years ago  •  51 comments

By:   Richard Hall (The Independent)

Meet Pennsylvania's anger translator, and Donald Trump's worst nightmare | The Independent
John Fetterman has become a symbol of Pennsylvania's resistance to Trump's anti-democratic moves, writes Richard Hall

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The Reality Show

This guy talks like the people I grew up with.


S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



John Fetterman has become a symbol of Pennsylvania's resistance to Trump's anti-democratic moves, writes Richard Hall

Saturday 21 November 2020 16:34 0commentsurnpublicidap.orgb270c26c8e954caead72e548bcded383.jpg?width=982&height=726 W

When Donald Trump set his sights on overturning the results of the election in Pennsylvania, there were a few things working against him. First, the margin of Joe Biden's victory put it beyond the need for a recount. Second, Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American democracy, and they take this stuff very seriously. Third, John Fetterman.

Fetterman, the burly lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, has been a constant thorn in the side of the Trump campaign's efforts to undermine the election in his state. In doing so, he has emerged from the chaos of campaign season with a new legion of fans.

He was a familiar presence on television throughout the state's arduous and pivotal ballot count, often on hand to swat away Trump campaign attacks against the integrity of the counting process. At 6ft 8in tall, tattoos on his arms, a long goatee and often in short sleeves, he stood out amid the parade of suits. He once said of his appearance: "I do not look like a typical politician. I do not even look like a typical person."

He doesn't talk like a typical politician either. His Twitter feed is full of dry humour, memes and barbs. In the weeks since the election, he has continued his crusade against disinformation and played down any talk of a Trump longshot coup. While others have cloaked themselves in sober and diplomatic language, he has been Pennsylvania's anger translator.

"Everybody, including and especially the president, knows how this movie is gonna end," he tells The Independent by phone, on a break from his day job presiding over the Pennsylvania state senate.

"They are just these little Twitter storm freakouts. It's just sad and pathetic that the president of the United States has become just some sad internet troll."

Fetterman has been pretty clear from day one that there is no way Trump can overturn the will of Pennsylvanian voters ("math doesn't care about your feelings or lies," is one of his favourite refrains), but he is also stark in his assessment of the president's norm-shattering behaviour.

"I've said this time and time again, the media needs to turn its back on the president's reckless claims of voter fraud. He is and has been for some time now yelling 'fire' in a crowded theatre. This is not free or protected speech. This is dangerous and damaging speech. And it really just comes down to that," he says.

He is fiercely proud of the job that Pennsylvania did in pulling off an extraordinary election, coming as it did in the midst of a pandemic, with a record number of mail-in ballots, and in the face of daily attacks from the White House.

Trump singled out Pennsylvania early on for a campaign of falsehoods about the integrity of mail-in ballots. The president claimed without evidence that voting by mail was susceptible to fraud, and that Pennsylvania would be the centre of that fraud. He famously remarked during one of his presidential debates: "Bad things happen in Philadelphia."

"This was a campaign of misinformation from the biggest microphone in the world," says Fetterman. "And it was [my job] to push back against that. This idea that there was any fraud, well actually, no, there were exactly three cases of documented fraud in Pennsylvania."

"We pulled up the biggest election in Pennsylvania history, and there wasn't any of that, none of that, and this idea that it was anything other than a fair, free and full accounting of the democratic will of Pennsylvania voters has been widely debunked in every courtroom at every juncture," he adds.

Fetterman has used his Twitter feed to refute some of the wilder claims of voting fraud from the president. "The President just tweeted this article and said "DEAD PEOPLE VOTED" and in Pennsylvania he's RIGHT. In Luzerne County, a Republican attempted to vote for the President for his dead mother," he wrote in response to one of Trump's tweets.

He also tried to claim a reward from his Republican counterpart in Texas, lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, who offered a $1million for reports of voter fraud that lead to a conviction. Sharing the same two examples above, he asked for his reward to be paid in gift cards for Sheetz — a Pennsylvania convenience store.

Fetterman began his political career in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. He won his first election by one vote to become the mayor of Braddock, a gritty former steel town, and won two more times after that.

In Braddock, Fetterman championed a community-led approach to tackling crime and poverty, both of which blighted the town. He took the job seriously — very seriously. On his right arm he has tattooed the dates of murders that took place in Braddock while he was mayor. He currently has nine dates and is due to add one more. On his left arm he has the town's zip code.

He made an unsuccessful run for the US senate in 2016, before eventually winning election as lieutenant governor in 2018. During that campaign, he was endorsed by Bernie Sanders, who called Fetterman the "candidate of the working people". After he won, he refused to take up the residence his position afforded him, and chose to live in a converted car dealership.

It's tempting to look at Fetterman and wonder where he sits in the Democratic Party nationally. There isn't an easy answer. He is liberal on most issues: he is an advocate of a higher minimum wage, the legalisation of cannabis and campaigned for the US to accept more Syrian refugees during the height of the crisis there.

And while he is a proponent of fighting climate change head-on, he has also advocated a transition to a carbon-free future that takes into account the impact on places like rural Pennsylvania — one that goes beyond asking miners to learn to code. He has said previously that Democrats need to "get honest" about energy and advocated for a "bipartisan Marshall Plan" to battle climate change.

It was former mining towns in western Pennsylvania that sent Donald Trump to the White House in 2016, and where he still retains support today. Fetterman's time spent in the working-class communities of Braddock has also given him an insight into Trump's unique appeal in those areas. In fact, he was sounding the alarm bells long before November.

"I said this from before the election, he is a uniquely distinctive and popular individual in Pennsylvania. Don't ever make the mistake of underestimating his appeal. I warned our party that this was going to be a brawl. And that's exactly what it turned out to be," he says.

"He was a transformative figure in American politics. I mean that pejoratively," he says. "He speaks to and engages a segment of our population that is intensely loyal and that's what's going to make him relevant and dangerous going forward because he is just not planning to go quietly into the night."

But how do you reach those voters who turned away from Democrats and embraced Trump in the last two elections — the people who made this one a nail-biter?

"Some of them aren't reachable," he says. "But there is an extraordinary number of thoughtful Pennsylvanians that care very deeply about good, solid public policies. We've demonstrated that," he says.

"Right now we're at a point in Pennsylvania where we all have to come together because we're headed for a tough winter with these record high Covid cases. We have to recover from this pandemic."

He is also not quite ready to take his eye off Trump just yet. He believes the outgoing president will run in 2024 without much opposition from Republicans.

"We need to be mindful," he says. But, he adds, "you can only run on chaos for so long before it collapses on itself."


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Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Trout Giggles    4 years ago
Fetterman has used his Twitter feed to refute some of the wilder claims of voting fraud from the president. "The President just tweeted this article and said "DEAD PEOPLE VOTED" and in Pennsylvania he's RIGHT. In Luzerne County, a Republican attempted to vote for the President for his dead mother," he wrote in response to one of Trump's tweets. He also tried to claim a reward from his Republican counterpart in Texas, lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, who offered a $1million for reports of voter fraud that lead to a conviction. Sharing the same two examples above, he asked for his reward to be paid in gift cards for Sheetz — a Pennsylvania convenience store.

Good choice of gift card! One can get more than one version of gas there. (Try their chili dogs, you won't be disappointed).

I do like how he threw egg on Dan Patrick's face.

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.1  devangelical  replied to  Trout Giggles @1    4 years ago

I just heard that pennsylvania certified their election for biden today, putting the final nail in the fascist coffin.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.1.1  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  devangelical @1.1    4 years ago

I saw that. That's Michigan and PA in the last 2 days. I think trmp is done

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.1.2  devangelical  replied to  Trout Giggles @1.1.1    4 years ago

stick a fork in that POS and call mitch the bitch to dinner.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.1.3  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  devangelical @1.1.2    4 years ago

Mitch the Bitch is dinner....he's the side dish

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
1.1.4  Kavika   replied to  devangelical @1.1    4 years ago

Nevada just certified their votes. Another 6 electoral votes for Biden.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.1.5  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  Kavika @1.1.4    4 years ago

20 + 16 + 6 = 42**

(somebody check my math, please)

And that's just today

**the answer to the universe is 42

 
 
 
MrFrost
Professor Expert
1.1.6  MrFrost  replied to  Kavika @1.1.4    4 years ago

Nevada just certified their votes. Another 6 electoral votes for Biden.

6 months from now there will be trump supporters that will still insist he has a chance of winning. 

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
1.1.7  Kavika   replied to  MrFrost @1.1.6    4 years ago
6 months from now there will be trump supporters that will still insist he has a chance of winning. 

Some of them are right here on NT...

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.1.8  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  Kavika @1.1.7    4 years ago

We should be kind to them

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.1.9  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  devangelical @1.1.2    4 years ago
Mitch the Bitch is dinner....he's the side dish

He's the stuffing for the turkey..he always has his head up trmp's butt

 
 
 
Just Jim NC TttH
Professor Principal
1.1.10  Just Jim NC TttH  replied to  Trout Giggles @1.1.9    4 years ago
He's the stuffing for the turkey..he always has his head up trmp's butt

Speaking of stuffing...........................

256

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.1.11  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  Just Jim NC TttH @1.1.10    4 years ago

Thanks for the nightmare I'm gonna have tonight....

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1.1.12  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  MrFrost @1.1.6    4 years ago

LOL

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2  Ender    4 years ago

6'8...Yikes. I would think twice before crossing him.

I had to laugh at the gift card for Sheetz. That is really a convenience store?

I got me some Sheetz...Haha

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  Ender @2    4 years ago

Yes, Sheetz is a real convenience store. They were getting pretty big back when I was in college in the early-mid 80's. 

6'8" is enough to make me pay attention.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2.1.1  Ender  replied to  Trout Giggles @2.1    4 years ago

Must be a northern thing, or a PA thing. I have been to Buc-ee's before. Talk about a convenience store. Holy cow (they probably sell one of those).

I had to look this guy up. He is an imposing dude...

512

512

 
 
 
Dismayed Patriot
Professor Quiet
2.1.2  Dismayed Patriot  replied to  Ender @2.1.1    4 years ago
I had to look this guy up. He is an imposing dude...

"No more rhyming and I mean it!"

"Anybody want a peanut?"

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.2  sandy-2021492  replied to  Ender @2    4 years ago

Sheetz is an awesome convenience store.  Good coffee, and not nearly as expensive or pretentious as Starbucks.  Better tasting than Starbucks, too.

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
2.2.1  Raven Wing  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.2    4 years ago
Sheetz is an awesome convenience store.

I saw plenty of those when I lived in No Virginia. They do seem to be very nice stores.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
2.2.2  Split Personality  replied to  Raven Wing @2.2.1    4 years ago

They hit a wall in the Philly suburbs which WaWa dominates by out Sheetzing Sheetz.

They have expanded into all of NJ and now Florida starting just outside of Disneworld orlando.

WaWa will one day be like Amazon and Microsoft.

(my son is a very successful GM for Wawa jrSmiley_4_smiley_image.png as is my next daughter in law )

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
2.2.3  Split Personality  replied to  Split Personality @2.2.2    4 years ago

Sheetz loves hot dogs of every kind

WaWa is going head to head with Subway, Starbucks and & 7-Eleven, gas stations everywhere 

and winning ...

 
 
 
charger 383
Professor Silent
2.2.4  charger 383  replied to  sandy-2021492 @2.2    4 years ago
    "Sheetz is an awesome convenience store.  Good coffee"
my favorite convenience store. get my morning coffee there every day,

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.2.5  sandy-2021492  replied to  Split Personality @2.2.2    4 years ago

They're all over West Virginia, and in at least my part of Virginia.  They seem to become less common the further south I go in Virginia.

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
2.2.6  sandy-2021492  replied to  charger 383 @2.2.4    4 years ago

I generally make breakfast and coffee at home, but if I get a craving for some frozen coffee sugar/caffeine bomb, I like Sheetz.  They have good frozen lemonade, too.  Hits the spot when it's hot outside.

 
 
 
igknorantzrulz
PhD Quiet
2.2.7  igknorantzrulz  replied to  Split Personality @2.2.2    4 years ago
WaWa will one day be like Amazon and Microsoft.

they are sprouting up all over near me

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
2.3  Raven Wing  replied to  Ender @2    4 years ago
6'8...Yikes.

I had three Cousins who were 6'7", 6'8", 6'9", and their parents were both under 6 ft. Two of them wanted to be Air Force pilots, and the third wanted to be a Submariner. All three got turned down due to their height. So they wound up joining the Marines and the Army. 

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
3  Bob Nelson    4 years ago
"They are just these little Twitter storm freakouts. It's just sad and pathetic that the president of the United States has become just some sad internet troll."

Fetterman says it well. 

He seems like a very normal guy. ... ... other than the 6'8" and the weird beard. 

 
 
 
Hal A. Lujah
Professor Guide
4  Hal A. Lujah    4 years ago

This country needs a million more of him.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
4.1  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  Hal A. Lujah @4    4 years ago

Maybe he'll run for governor of PA and from there....who knows?

 
 
 
TᵢG
Professor Principal
5  TᵢG    4 years ago
It's just sad and pathetic that the president of the United States has become just some sad internet troll

Indeed

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
6  Kavika     4 years ago

It was a couple of months ago when his wife was attacked verbally with a lot of racist comments. 

The person that verbally attacked Mrs. Fetterman is damn lucky that the Lt. Governor wasn't there.

I've seen him on TV a few times and he can sure deliver some zingers with a smile on his face.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
7  Kavika     4 years ago

Now that PA and NV have certified their votes and GA and WI are doing a re-count we have the possibility of a new first for Trump.

Trump will be the first president in US history to lose a state three times in three weeks. (GA) it's a race to see if he'll lose WI twice or GA three times first.

Trump will be Number 1 and number 2 a record never before achieved by any US president.

Please hold your applause until it's official...jrSmiley_10_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
7.1  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  Kavika @7    4 years ago

But I see that it's ok to laugh.... ;)

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
7.1.1  Kavika   replied to  Trout Giggles @7.1    4 years ago

Just the thought of seeing Trump as a 3 times loser puts me into gales of laugher...

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
7.1.2  Raven Wing  replied to  Kavika @7.1.1    4 years ago
Just the thought of seeing Trump as a 3 times loser puts me into gales of laugher...

Ditto! jrSmiley_79_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
MrFrost
Professor Expert
8  MrFrost    4 years ago

Trump will leave the White House with Grace and Dignity, as soon as Grace finds her shoes, Dignity gets her clothes on, and they both get paid.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
8.1  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  MrFrost @8    4 years ago

I hope they got paid up front. Isn't that the preferred method of business?

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
8.1.1  Raven Wing  replied to  Trout Giggles @8.1    4 years ago
Isn't that the preferred method of business?

When dealing with Trump, his Family and/or his close associates, that is the only way to do business. Otherwise, they may never see their money. Ask El Paso TX. 

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
9  Gsquared    4 years ago

Breaking News:  Trump just pardoned a turkey at the White House.  Apparently, he still thinks he can pardon himself.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
9.1  Kavika   replied to  Gsquared @9    4 years ago

512

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
10  Buzz of the Orient    4 years ago

Great article.  Even the comments were great. 

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
10.1  seeder  Trout Giggles  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @10    4 years ago

Thanks, Buzz!

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
11  Kavika     4 years ago

The reason that Trump was a no show in PA today was that he heard that Fetterman was going to meet him at the airport...LOL

 
 
 
Gazoo
Junior Silent
11.1  Gazoo  replied to  Kavika @11    4 years ago

That freak wouldn’t get within 100’ of president trump. On the other hand, he could be a klingon for halloween and wouldn’t need a costume.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
11.1.1  Kavika   replied to  Gazoo @11.1    4 years ago

Making fun of Fetterman's looks while being a trumpster is hilarious. Keep up the bizarre comments. 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-wPMV8BrgewAyyPqEga5n7edveOkp2P0-8w&usqp=CAU

 
 
 
Gazoo
Junior Silent
11.1.2  Gazoo  replied to  Kavika @11.1.1    4 years ago

I didn’t make fun of his looks, i merely pointed out that he looks like a klingon. 

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
11.2  Raven Wing  replied to  Kavika @11    4 years ago

Ahh Kavika....be truthful now...the reason Trump did not show is because his bone spurs were giving him trouble again. jrSmiley_10_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
JumpDrive
Freshman Silent
13  JumpDrive    4 years ago

I didn't know about him before this seed. Some Pennsylvania regional slang from Fetterman's Twitter feed:

C9T4J4bV0AAKLOD?format=jpg&name=900x900

 
 

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