The political metamorphosis of Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) over the last few months has been nothing short of remarkable, with the Menendez indictment and the Israel-Hamas war seeming to be two of the main turning points for what some political observers have described as his rightward shift.
In addition to that, Fetterman has given public statements acknowledging that the Biden border crisis is a big problem – something his Democratic colleagues never do, has scorched California’s Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom on occasion, and even showed compassion towards Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and her son at a time when not many people would.
None of this, of course, makes Fetterman a rock-ribbed conservative (far from it). But his dunks on Democrats and some of their pet causes along with his open rejection of the “progressive” label back in December appear to have caused some tensions behind the scenes, with three of his top comms staffers resigning within the past month to move on to jobs with other politicos/groups whose leftist (read: woke) creds are not in question:
Nick Gavio, who was deputy communications director, will leave the office at the end of March to take a new role with the Working Families Party. Fetterman’s former communications director, Joe Calvello, left earlier this month to work for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
And Emma Mustion, a press and digital aide also left Fetterman’s office to work on the reelection of Sen. Bob Casey.
Gavio and Calvello, two veterans of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign, and Fetterman’s Senate campaign, offered nothing but nice comments about their new jobs.
The news comes just two days after Fetterman sat down for an interview with the left’s most hated network – Fox News – where he further fueled speculation of a “break” with Democrat leadership in the Senate:
Chad Pergram: In your short period of time in the Senate, you have sometimes plowed a different road than some of your Democratic colleagues on different issues. Talk about how you arrived at those decisions that differ from what some people expected from you politically when you came to the Senate.
Fetterman: I know that some people were caught by surprise. And, you know, even when I just said, you know, in passing that I’m not a progressive, I’ve been saying that for years, actually. I’ve just really been committed to really being on what I thought it was like the right side on these things. And no, maybe politically it might be less popular with our base.
Needless to say, reports of the abrupt comms team departures just one year in sent tongues wagging and rumors flying on social media that there’s an exodus going on because so-called progressive staffers became disillusioned with Fetterman 2.0.
Others joked that the “only comms staffer Fetterman needs is John Fetterman.”
There was also this:
Sounds about right. Come on over to the dark side, Sen. Fetterman. You know you want to.
