In a jaw-dropping twist straight out of a bygone era when politicians of different parties actually liked each other, hoodie-loving Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) stunned the nation Wednesday night by making a surprise video appearance at the Republican Midterm Convention.
The purpose? To heap praise on his Keystone State colleague, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), leaving the Democrats clutching their stress balls and screaming into the abyss.
Throwing party orthodoxy right out the window, Fetterman delivered a fiery, unity-first endorsement for his Republican counterpart, proving that brotherhood in the Senate isn’t completely dead just yet.
“I’m gonna stand with America,” Fetterman declared in the video broadcast. “I’m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life. Dave McCormick is the kind of senator that gets the job done, and he’s going to fight for Pennsylvania. I’m proud to count him as my friend.”
In the video, Fetterman stood with the iconic Edgar Thomson Steel Works mill looming over his shoulder. The Braddock plant is the historic heartbeat of the Steel Valley in Allegheny County where raw steel is forged. He pledged to lock arms with McCormick and work directly with President Trump to safeguard the region’s legendary manufacturing heritage.
“Yes, he’s in a different party,” Fetterman stated, “but I’m proud to count him as my great friend.”
The cross-aisle friendship between the towering Democrat and the pragmatic Republican has been brewing for months, much to the chagrin of hyper-partisan zealots on the Left. The pair have forged a tight bond, co-sponsoring bipartisan bills and frequently taking to the airwaves together.
Their alliance kicked off with a surprisingly polite truce. After a hard-fought election cycle, the two sat down and agreed to put partisan bickering aside in favor of securing real results for working families, securing the southern border, and combating antisemitism. In late June, McCormick told Fox News’ Guy Benson:
We are definitely an odd couple. … It’s interesting for me too; he campaigned against me … I remember meeting him for the very first time at the Tree of Life five-year commemoration. He said, “Listen, this campaign will get spicy but it’s nothing personal.” I didn’t know quite what he meant by that …
After I won, I went over to see him, and we sat down and we had a real conversation about how he was thinking about things, and he said, “Listen, I want to find ways to work together; we agree on a lot, including the fight against antisemitism, including the crisis at the border, the need to help working families in Pennsylvania. We disagree on a lot; let’s just find ways to work together.”
It’s been great. I trust him …. about a month ago he came under this vicious attack, an orchestrated attack in a number of different articles against him, and nobody was defending him. I sent him a note and said, “Listen, I’d like to come out and defend you but I don’t want to hurt you politically. Would you like me to hold back or would you like me to take it out there?” He said, “Nobody’s defending me. Get out there.”
Fetterman recently announced he would refuse to ever campaign against McCormick in future races, calling him a “great guy.”
While Fetterman has repeatedly brushed off rumors that he might join the GOP, Senate Majority Leader John Thune openly admitted that Republicans would roll out the red carpet to welcome him into the GOP conference if he ever decided to make the leap.
Fetterman’s shocker at the Republican convention offered a refreshing, throwback reminder of how Washington used to work.
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