Meet Pennsylvania’s anger translator, and Donald Trump’s worst nightmare
When Donald Trump set his sights on overturning the results of the election in Pennsylvania, there were a few things working against him. First, the margin of Joe Biden’s victory put it beyond the need for a recount. Second, Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American democracy, and they take this stuff very seriously. Third, John Fetterman.
Fetterman, the burly lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, has been a constant thorn in the side of the Trump campaign’s efforts to undermine the election in his state. In doing so, he has emerged from the chaos of campaign season with a new legion of fans.
He was a familiar presence on television throughout the state’s arduous and pivotal ballot count, often on hand to swat away Trump campaign attacks against the integrity of the counting process. At 6ft 8in tall, tattoos on his arms, a long goatee and often in short sleeves, he stood out amid the parade of suits. He once said of his appearance: “I do not look like a typical politician. I do not even look like a typical person.” ...
“Everybody, including and especially the president, knows how this movie is gonna end. They are just these little Twitter storm freakouts. It's just sad and pathetic that the president of the United States has become just some sad internet troll.”
... “I've said this time and time again, the media needs to turn its back on the president's reckless claims of voter fraud. He is and has been for some time now yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre. This is not free or protected speech. This is dangerous and damaging speech. And it really just comes down to that." ...
“This was a campaign of misinformation from the biggest microphone in the world,” says Fetterman. “And it was [my job] to push back against that. This idea that there was any fraud, well actually, no, there were exactly three cases of documented fraud in Pennsylvania.”
“We pulled up the biggest election in Pennsylvania history, and there wasn't any of that, none of that, and this idea that it was anything other than a fair, free and full accounting of the democratic will of Pennsylvania voters has been widely debunked in every courtroom at every juncture,” he adds.
Fetterman has used his Twitter feed to refute some of the wilder claims of voting fraud from the president. “The President just tweeted this article and said “DEAD PEOPLE VOTED” and in Pennsylvania he’s RIGHT. In Luzerne County, a Republican attempted to vote for the President for his dead mother,” he wrote in response to one of Trump’s tweets.
He also tried to claim a reward from his Republican counterpart in Texas, lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, who offered a $1million for reports of voter fraud that lead to a conviction. Sharing the same two examples above, he asked for his reward to be paid in gift cards for Sheetz — a Pennsylvania convenience store.
I won't expect him to reach higher office. Forget the Repugs and moderates, establishment Dems won't allow it.
