The Left Needs a Narrative. Can John Fetterman Provide?
The senatorial candidate's win yesterday is an inspiring political development.
On yesterday’s Ezra Klein Show, the Times columnist was joined by Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum to discuss authoritarianism.
Toward the end of the podcast, they began weighing what can be done to abate the litany of threats to liberalism in contemporary America. Klein said:
To the sum of our conversation here, one way of looking at [the problem in liberalism] is that these external challenging movements are able to tell these world historic, almost mythic stories. And because they’re not bound in any way by truth, because they’re not bound by what they can deliver, they can say almost anything. And that liberalism needs to come up with a counter story.
The pair considered rejecting this notion – that liberalism needs to “do what it does well” i.e., govern, and govern effectively. But as Applebaum noted, we may be in a moment where getting things done is ineffective in swaying the public; the Biden administration was able to pass a massive bipartisan infrastructure bill, and even when they made earnest efforts to promote the accomplishment, nobody appeared to care. Applebaum remarks:
I worry that Americans, especially in the area of national politics, are so caught up in the culture wars, and in these existential arguments, that it’s very hard to even get people interested in the business of governing or the business of building, and that’s a very dangerous moment.
The phenomenon of disinterest may be due in part to the media landscape – the effective death of local newspapers has left few people aware of or interested in local news and governance (to the benefit of The New York Times, which has, alongside The Washington Post all but become a duopoly for reputable daily print news).
But as they discuss earlier in the podcast, disinterest is bred from cynicism, which has come to dominate national culture across the political spectrum.
The Right’s cynicism, goaded on by the spread of disinformation in a contained media ecosystem, has led them down the dark path of white nationalism, adopting narratives such as the Great Replacement that result in terrorism and tragedy.
The Left’s cynicism has given way to despair, as progressives and liberals bicker about policy differences while accomplishing little, letting Republicans go unaccountable for lawlessness thanks in part to a politicized Supreme Court and bad faith political actors from Manchin to McConnell.
They are both a result of a belief that America is fundamentally unfixable. Despite using completely different logic, the conviction that corruption in the US has become as obvious as it has impossible to stop is reached by progressives, moderates, and self-admitting white supremacists all the same. It’s why 12% of Sanders voters voted for T**** in 2016 – both populist candidates promised to upset a political establishment which clearly was not working for the benefit of average Americans, but rather “the 1%”.
And I’m not apart from any of this cynicism – my lack of hope in American institutions to not just fend off the rise of authoritarianism, but make meaningful gains in social policy, is part of what drove me to look for work in jolly old England. (Okay that, and the fact that my girlfriend lives here. But still that, too!)
Effective governance, rare as it is in America, does not appear sufficient to drive a resurgence in liberalism. A strong counternarrative will be required to inspire voters to not just vote against a worse America led by demagogues, but for a better, aspirational America.
It’s a tall order. Voters generally voted for Biden more because he was “not the other guy” than because people were really excited about a 78-year-old moderate political careerist, even if his life story is among the most inspiring. The rest of the field of Democratic candidates also lacked gusto. Indeed, the Democratic party hasn’t had anyone to provide the country with a cure for cynicism since 2008’s Barack Obama.
Enter John Fetterman, winner of last night’s Pennsylvania Democratic primary.
The 6’8” goateed politician, who previously served as Lieutenant Governor of the state, made national headlines in November 2020 for lampooning T****’s claims of voter fraud, saying that he could “sue a ham sandwich.”
Fetterman is an authentic politician – an oxymoron, but it’s true. Of middle-class Pennsylvanian background, he’s allergic to suits, preferring baggy shorts and hoodies. A Kennedy School alum, as Lieutenant Governor, he opted to open a public pool for local kids at his official state residence rather than live there. He and his family prefer to instead reside in a restored car dealership. While mayor of Braddock, he revitalized the once-hollowed-out former steel town, cutting the murder rate to 0 in part by investing in local youth and art programs.
He “speaks his mind” in a way that is blunt, like the former president, but respectful and empathetic, unlike the former president. In a Washington Post op-ed, he wrote:
I’m in the camp that says that if you’re to the right of South Dakota on anything, you should use that as a moment to recalibrate your core values.
In the piece, he discussed his signature issue – legalizing weed, and commuting sentences of anyone (especially minorities) who have been arrested on charges relating to a harmless and ever-normalizing drug.
It reflects his overall progressivism. He’s left of liberals on most issues, aligning himself close to the wing of the party dominated by AOC and Sanders, who have themselves lost some good will with non-progressives over the past few years. But it would be hard to imagine, for instance, the irony of wearing a “tax the rich” dress to the Met Gala being lost on Fetterman.
Outside of his pragmatic stance on fracking (he prefers not to ban it, but rather transition away from it and other fossil fuels and toward green energy over time – not my favorite stance, but one that is perhaps more likely to actually accomplish climate goals compared to the pipe dream that is a fully realized Green New Deal), Fetterman is about as progressive as they come. For example, he is profoundly pro-LGBTQ, is in favor of removing the Senate filibuster, supports universal background checks on guns, supports raising the federal minimum wage, supports codifying Roe into law, has spoken in favor of Medicare For All, and supports implementing a wealth tax.
His policy positions aren’t the driving factor behind his popularity, though. People like Fetterman. He comes across as humble and genuine, because he is.
Of course, he is not perfect (and he wouldn’t admit to being so, anyway). In asking if Fetterman could be the future of the Democratic party, Michael Sokolove pondered in The New York Times whether Fetterman could persuade enough of the Black vote to get behind him, especially given a 2013 incident where he tracked down a Black man he suspected of firing a gun and held him at gunpoint. Fetterman has since apologized, and the man – Christopher Miyares – went on to at least partially reconcile with and endorse Fetterman, who had served Braddock — a town with a 70% Black population — extraordinarily well.
He also recently had a stroke and had a pacemaker installed. While still just 52, his size doesn’t exactly make him spry (though it does make him appear intimidating in an LBJ-type way).
All that to say, he might not be the perfect politician for our time (if there ever was one), but he is nevertheless a model for behavior that the country is starved for.
Fetterman is true to himself as he is to the world, and he has backed his words of empathy through action time and again. He has found success in speaking to rural, conservative Pennsylvanian voters in ways that other Democrats have failed to do. He is pragmatic when he needs to be and sticks to his guns on issues he profoundly cares about. He tells you who he is and what he stands for, and expects you to respect him as much as he respects you. He knows some Americans are too far gone down the rabbit hole and isn’t willing to needlessly compromise with a hostile Right, but he knows that the Left can do better to understand those closer to the center that are concerned about their country and local communities.
Fetterman could provide Democrats a lifeline if he wins the Senatorial race in PA. Even if he doesn’t, he provides the party, and the country, with an inspiring, hard-fighting narrative against the hate and violence that threatens our democracy on the Right.
The America we love — the country that fights for empathy, diversity, and representative government — is not beyond saving. And we don’t have to work with the Right to save it.
Oh, and we’re dog people.
I have similar feelings about Fetterman. What are your thoughts about Josh Shapiro’s chances to win the Governor race over Mastriano … the state of our democracy depends on Shapiro wining!