Christopher Deluzio

“There is a lot I could say about … John Fetterman’s pathetic behavior as a senator,” said Allegheny County Democratic Rep. Chris Deluzio. “But between the laziness, disrespect and willingness to carry water for a foreign government … this man has no sense of duty.”

Deluzio was speaking of a negative report on Sen. John Fetterman in the Wall Street Journal — the sort of a report against one of their own that Democrats typically ignore or denounce. Not this time. Deluzio and fellow Democrats are seizing the report to trash Fetterman.

“He is not up for the high office he was elected,” Deluzio continued, “and we in Pennsylvania will do something about it in 2028.”

Deluzio is not alone among Democrat colleagues.

“John Fetterman is a disgrace,” fumes Rep. Brendan Boyle of Philadelphia. “Our state deserves better than a lazy trust fund baby who is too lazy to do the job.”

Wow. Surely Boyle and Deluzio are alone in these blistering statements against their Democratic colleague? Hardly. Look at the words of Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia, who’s vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

“This report is horrifying,” says Kenyatta, “but not new to many of us in PA. John barely showed up as (lieutenant governor) and is constantly MIA as our senator.”

Really? All of sudden Democrats didn’t like Fetterman as their lieutenant governor, when they ran him (after a major stroke) against Republican Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz?

Kenyatta continues: “When he’s not on FOX cheerleading Trump & endless wars, he is attacking the very neighbors who gave him a chance.” Kenyatta urges: “2028 can’t come soon enough.”

That’s when Fetterman is up for reelection.

These comments are shocking for their vituperation and assault by Democrats against their own. I’ve never seen anything like it. Democrats rarely break ranks. They toe the party line with a party discipline that old Communist Party USA comrades would have admired. They’re not like Republicans, who have open internal debates all the time. Along with Trump worshippers, there are Trump defectors, and when Trump dissidents speak up, the president excoriates them with predictable petulance. Look at Thomas Massie in Kentucky. And don’t be surprised if Trump goes after the most principled member of the entire U.S. Senate, Massie’s colleague Rand Paul, for occasionally opposing Trump’s policies.

But the Democrats? Never. Anyone who dares to buck the party line is effectively excommunicated. And that’s what’s happening with Fetterman. He hasn’t saluted the party flag on every issue, and sometimes even defends Trump policies, and for that, he’s being punished. More than that, he’s going to be primaried. I wouldn’t be surprised if ideologues primary him with a democratic socialist, which would be a suicide mission. They’ll lose. Akin to how they’ll be losing the Florida Senate race after nominating democratic socialist Angie Nixon.

And yet here’s the biggest irony, if not absurdity: John Fetterman certainly hasn’t become a conservative Republican. His Heritage Foundation Scorecard ranks at 0% for the current session of the 119th Congress and a 4% lifetime score. Conservatives know that Fetterman is no conservative. He’s a liberal Democrat. But he’s also an independent Democrat — the most outspoken in the party. He’s not afraid to criticize his side, nor commend the other side. He’s truly independent.

And there’s little tolerance for such independence in today’s Democratic Party. You toe the party line or you’re ostracized — and primaried.

That’s what John Fetterman faces. It’s now clear. And it’s ugly.