Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, is sending fundraising emails pledging to “stand with America” and “reject the extremes” — using email lists for Republican candidates and committees.
asserted
Fetterman → send → candidates
An email over the weekend sent by Fetterman’s campaign came from the address “info@gopsquad.com” and vowed: “I’m always going to reject Socialism and the Anti-American way of life.”
asserted
I → send → life
Other recent appeals sent from the same address encourage readers to help President Donald Trump pass new voting restrictions, to read an “urgent memo” from House Speaker Mike Johnson on fighting the left, and to back Republican Mike Rogers for Senate in Michigan over Abdul El-Sayed, whom the email compared to a terrorist and a “threat to our way of life.”
asserted
email → send → life
The email from Fetterman’s campaign comes as the senator has moved closer to the Republican caucus, rankling his Democratic colleagues and spurring rumors that he might switch parties.
uncertain
he → come → parties
He received the maximum allowed contribution from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, as The Intercept reported in July.
asserted
Intercept → receive → July
But the use of Republican fundraising infrastructure represents a new step in Fetterman’s confounding electoral strategy.
asserted
use → represent → strategy
The Fetterman campaign also sent copies of the fundraising email from alternate GOP domains including “unshakeableconservatives.com” and “freedomfaction.net.”
asserted
campaign → send → unshakeableconservatives.com
It’s possible that Fetterman for PA rented or bought a GOP email list, something campaigns commonly do for targeted outreach, but the campaign’s specific arrangement is unclear.
uncertain
arrangement → ’ → outreach
The text retreads major talking points that the Democratic senator delivered in a controversial video appearance at the Republican party’s midterm convention earlier this month, where he railed against “extremes” and promised to “stand with America.”
asserted
he → retread → America
Fetterman’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
asserted
campaign → respond → comment
Former Fetterman staffers, who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisal, condemned their old boss’s pivot and suggested he’d betrayed his previous supporters.
“After taking contributions from millions of small-dollar donors who wanted a Democratic Senate, John Fetterman turned around and became Donald Trump’s useful idiot,” said one former staffer.
uncertain
staffer → speak → Senate
“Now, it’s no surprise that he has to resort to GOP donors to prop up his dismal fundraising numbers.”
asserted
he → ’ → numbers
With two years left in his first term, Fetterman has made himself the subject of a series of political upheavals and dramatic reversals.
asserted
himself → leave → upheavals
The image he was heralded for upon his 2022 election — a gritty, heterodox, and unpredictable model for the future of the Democratic Party — has all but crumbled.
asserted
he → herald → Party
Staffers, donors, previous supporters, and his Democratic colleagues have fled from Fetterman’s orbit in droves as he’s aligned himself with Republicans on Trump’s war with Iran, U.S. boat strikes in the Caribbean, and funding the Department of Homeland Security amid a slew of killings, shootings, and misconduct by federal immigration agents.
asserted
he → flee → agents
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on his resistance to carrying out his daily responsibilities as a senator — which marked a stark contrast from his energy for showing up on Fox News, where he made more than 50 appearances in the first six months of this year.
asserted
he → report → year
The senator has particularly alienated former supporters on the left with his hardline support for the Israeli government, which he has offered unconditional support throughout its genocide in Gaza.
asserted
he → alienate → Gaza
Fetterman’s critics are looking for a candidate to primary him in 2028 as he fields questions about whether he plans to join the GOP — or run for reelection at all, given his sinking popularity among his own party and outrage from former supporters over his rightward turn.
asserted
he → look → turn
Fetterman’s coziness with — and popularity among — Republicans doesn’t necessarily mean he’s likely to join the GOP conference, said several former Fetterman staffers who spoke to The Intercept.
asserted
who → mean → Intercept
They predicted that Fetterman might follow in the footsteps of former Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who consistently blocked their party’s more progressive measures and then became independent.
uncertain
who → predict → measures
That, according to one former staffer, would let him maintain the wildcard he’s curated over four erratic years in office.
uncertain
he → accord → office
“He loves being the enigma,” another former staffer told The Intercept.
asserted
staffer → love → Intercept
“He loves the, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to see what happens.’”
asserted
what → love → ?
As Fetterman’s staffers struggled in recent months to get him to do basic parts of his job — including fundraising — his office reached out to staffers for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to ask him to talk to Fetterman in an attempt to right what they saw as a sinking ship, according to a former staffer.
uncertain
they → struggle → staffer
The staffer said that Schumer agreed, but Fetterman refused to talk to him.
asserted
Fetterman → say → him
Schumer’s office has said the two are in communication and met for dinner in August.
asserted
two → say → August
If there’s a lesson to be learned from Fetterman’s explosion onto the national stage and the trail of disgruntled staffers, organizers, and small-dollar donors left in its wake, it has little to do with political ideology and more to do with psychology, former staffers told The Intercept.
asserted
staffers → ’ → Intercept
Fetterman views himself as a renegade and an outsider above all else, according to his former staff.
uncertain
Fetterman → view → staff
He has long struggled with depression, and while campaigning in 2022, he suffered a stroke whose effects led him to use assistive technology in the Senate and continue to be felt in other ways.
asserted
effects → struggle → ways
Notwithstanding any decision he might make about switching parties, the conservative world has welcomed Fetterman with open arms.
uncertain
world → make → arms
In July, Fetterman attended a retreat in Montana hosted by Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media scion behind Fox News, at the network’s invitation, according to two former Fetterman staffers.
uncertain
Fetterman → attend → staffers
At the retreat, Fetterman spoke on a panel alongside Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala. Fetterman’s attendance at Murdoch’s event came several days after he launched an unusual bipartisan fundraising committee with his Republican counterpart in Pennsylvania, Sen. Dave McCormick.
asserted
he → speak → Pennsylvania
While Fetterman’s campaign has previously used the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue for communications, including in a recent text for a joint fundraiser with McCormick, his campaign sent recent fundraising texts using another platform, including a link with the name “Save America 26.”
asserted
campaign → use → name
Fetterman’s campaign also recently redesigned its website to use his antagonistic persona in its favor.
asserted
campaign → redesign → favor
The website boasts that Fetterman “thinks for himself.
asserted
Fetterman → boast → himself
Fetterman isn’t an average Democrat, his new website reads.
asserted
website → read → ?
“John doesn’t look like a typical politician, and more importantly, he doesn’t act like one.”
asserted
he → look → one
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
asserted
WE → ’ → ?
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
asserted
seeing → see → government
Court orders are being ignored.
asserted
orders → ignore → ?
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
