John Fetterman’s fight with the left is no longer just about Israel

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s brashness toward progressives has expanded beyond the topic of Israel.

Fetterman was the topic of a lengthy feature article published by the New York Times on Saturday that highlighted how the senator, who had been on thin ice with progressives for his staunch and unconditional support for Israel in its war with Hamas, has shown that his willingness to make waves within his own party doesn’t stop at the Middle East.

Fetterman was seen mocking environmentalist Stevie O’Hanlon, who was trying to speak to him about a Chester County pipeline, in a video that circulated online earlier this month. Fetterman dismissed her, recorded her, and made sarcastic remarks.

“I’ve talked to Republicans who are much friendlier than that,” O’Hanlon told the New York Times. “The person that we voted for is not the person who mocks constituents when they bring up concerns.”

Progressives have argued that Fetterman abandoned the left because of his staunch support of Israel, but the senator insisted in an interview earlier this year that he was never a progressive in the first place.

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“Even before the primary I was like, ‘I’m not a progressive.’ It’s just strange why people want to ignore that. It’s not new news,” he told The Inquirer in January.

Before Fetterman’s 2022 Senate bid, the former lieutenant governor and Braddock mayor had called himself a progressive. But on the campaign trail that year, he described himself as “just a Democrat.”

» READ MORE: Progressives say John Fetterman has abandoned them. But he says he hasn’t changed.

Fetterman’s political shift has gained momentum since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent attack on Gaza, with the brash senator casting aside the label more aggressively and top advisers leaving his team.

Longtime political adviser Rebecca Katz recently departed his team, according to the New York Times, and his former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, resigned last month to instead work as an outside adviser for Fetterman.

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All three of his top communications staffers left a couple of months ago; two of them left for unquestionably progressive political jobs. Joe Cavello, who left to work for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, lauded Johnson as “a true progressive.” Nick Gavio left to work for the Working Families Party.

The third comms staffer, Emma Mustion, went to work for the campaign of Sen. Bob Casey, Fetterman’s more even-tempered counterpart.

But while Fetterman has lost staffers and supporters, he has gained respect from those on the right who once mocked him, and has been invited to speak at Democratic Party events across the country.

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He’s also been lauded by advocates of Israel, and is slated to receive a high honor from Yeshiva University at the school’s commencement on Wednesday. That honor was last given to the inventor of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.

All in all, public opinion about Fetterman in Pennsylvania is split, as revealed by a poll by The Inquirer, New York Times, and Siena College.

» READ MORE: Public opinion on John Fetterman is split. Here’s what our poll says about Pa.’s outspoken senator

But he may be fracturing relationships with his former allies, such as U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D. N.Y.), who previously backed him for Senate.

» READ MORE: John Fetterman, ‘hero of Israel,’ will receive high honor at Yeshiva commencement

The senator appeared to mock a heated exchange on the House floor that emerged when U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) hurled an insult about the appearance of U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas). Ocasio-Cortez joined in the confrontation to stand up for Crockett.

“In the past, I’ve described the U.S. House as The Jerry Springer Show. Today, I’m apologizing to The Jerry Springer Show,” Fetterman posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the argument.

Annie Wu Henry, a former Fetterman campaign staffer who ran his TikTok and later worked for Ocasio-Cortez, shot back by saying: “In the past, I’ve described the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race as one where we voted for a candidate with empathy and character. Today, I’m apologizing to everyone who also believed that was the case.”

On a similar note, Ocasio-Cortez seemed to call Fetterman a bully, in response to his Jerry Springer remark.

Ocasio-Cortez said she has no comment when asked about Fetterman’s shift on Thursday, and said, “It’s up to Pennsylvanians,” the New York Times reported.

When asked for comment on the assessment that Fetterman is picking fights on the left, the senator’s spokesperson Carrie Adams pointed to a CNN video in which Fetterman called the bullying accusation “absurd,” and said he was responding to the general chaos on the House floor. Adams also pointed to a Wall Street Journal article that featured him.