Messages obtained by New York Magazine show the Democrat mocking free healthcare, dismissing the Epstein files as a “nothing burger,” and calling Democrats hypocritical for their outrage at the killing of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Fetterman has been a thorn in his party’s side on a host of issues.

In January, according to the report, Fetterman sent staffers an article about how annual healthcare costs for a typical working American family are nearly $4,000.

“How should it cost? Free?” he wrote. “I don’t understand what affordability it is.”

Also in January, as the Trump administration was dragging its heels about releasing the Epstein files, Fetterman messaged a staffer: “Epstein was a nothing burger. Worst pics I’ve seen were from Clinton lol.”

Fetterman has been sounding more like a Republican, staffers say. Fetterman has been sounding more like a Republican, staffers say.

Then, after federal agents repeatedly shot Pretti in the back during anti-ICE protests, Fetterman complained that Democrats shouldn’t be taking his side because they had objected when Kyle Rittenhouse “brought a gun to a protest,” as Fetterman characterized it.

“Kyle Rittenhouse brought a gun to a protest,” Fetterman, 56, texted a staffer. “He was roundly condemned for that. Why are now democrats defending the nurse it was legal to carry. Both legal weapons. Square that.”

Unlike Pretti, though, Rittenhouse actually fired his gun. He shot three men—two fatally—during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020 after the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer. Rittenhouse was charged with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide, among other charges. He was found not guilty.

Pretti’s killing, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office determined, was a homicide.

Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.

Archived at https://ghostarchive.org/archive/s6iC8

NYMag article archived at https://ghostarchive.org/archive/7ayBq

    • AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      I voted for fetterman. it’s easy to say people shouldn’t have voted for him but he legitimately wasn’t like this during the election cycle. it’s not like he was hiding his true self, he had a massive stroke and his wife pushed some crazy rightwing/pro Israel shit while he was recovering and he was never the same.

      I mean, yeah, obviously I wish I hadn’t voted for him, but it’s pretty hard to predict a stroke and the effects it has on someone.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        7 hours ago

        Yes he was. Just the people that warned us were media silenced. Like Kucinich.

        • AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works
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          7 hours ago

          the “signs” were signs of him maybe not being as progressive as he claimed. not that he would have a stroke and his (seemingly progressive wife with queer kids) would push him off the deep end.

          honestly don’t understand how there’s always someone on this platform that pops up claiming they can see the future (but only in retrospect). I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you don’t live in PA and didn’t vote in that election.

          • Maeve@kbin.earth
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            7 hours ago

            Nope but I was excited and bigged him up, then I found out and admitted I’d been dumped. Again. The first step to solving a problem is admitting it’s a problem.

            • AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works
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              6 hours ago

              well, of course it’s a problem. no one here is saying anything otherwise. all we’re talking about here is whether the typical “americans voting for known genocide supporters” applies here. and this is one of the rare cases where no, he genuinely wasn’t that person when he was elected.

              of course it’s a problem that we vote for people and people change. in a better world, we’d vote for ideologies, not people, because people change, but you’re arguing up the wrong tree in this particular case. in general, I really do agree with you, but that’s not really applicable here.

              • Maeve@kbin.earth
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                4 hours ago

                The media being complicit is the point. Anything said by MSM should be carefully investigated with a healthy dose of skepticism; and we have to seek out what they don’t say.

        • AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works
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          12 hours ago

          yeah. the dude fetterman was running against was impressively even more of a douche than fetterman is now (doug mastriano if I remember the name correctly), so fetterman was very much someone people got excited to vote for. and now he’s often the single vote blocking decent measures. truly a shame all around

          • Spitefire@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            It was actually Dr. Oz in the Senate race. I voted for Fetterman and don’t regret my vote. However, I’ll never vote for Fetterman again, and I’ll likely be registering Dem just to support whoever his primary challenger is.