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‘MAGA Friendly’ Fetterman Blasted for Accepting Trump Mar-a-Lago Invite

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U.S. Senator John Fetterman is facing criticism after accepting an invitation from Donald Trump to meet at the President-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort and residence. Just hours after the Democratic freshman senator from Pennsylvania confirmed his decision, his top communications aide reportedly resigned.

Senator Fetterman increasingly appears to be taking controversial positions that are at odds with many elected and rank-and-file Democrats, such as suggesting Trump’s call for the U.S. to take over Greenland is a “responsible conversation.”

“If anyone thinks that’s bonkers, it’s like, well, remember the Louisiana Purchase?” Fetterman said, The New Republic reported.

He defended his decision to travel to Mar-a-Lago in a statement Thursday.

“I’ve been clear that no one is my gatekeeper. I will meet with and have a conversation with anyone if it helps me deliver for Pennsylvania and the nation,” Fetterman said, according to NBC News’ Frank Thorp V. “President Trump invited me to meet, and I accepted. I’m the Senator for all Pennsylvanians— not just Democrats in Pennsylvania.”

READ MORE: Alito’s ‘Unmistakable Breach’ Warrants Recusal in Trump Case: Judicial Policy Expert

“I think that one, he’s the president, or he will be officially,” Fetterman also said, according to CBS News. “And I think it’s pretty reasonable that if the president would like to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — to have it.”

“I’m not the person that’s going to set what [the conversation is] going to be,” Fetterman also told reporters (video below).

And while Senator Fetterman says he does not know what he and the President-elect will discuss, as CBS News noted, Trump “hopes Fetterman will support some of his nominees, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, a source said.”

During his 2022 Senate campaign, Fetterman was forced to deny he used illegal drugs, after Trump baselessly accused him of doing so.

“Fetterman supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete decriminalization of illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra lethal fentanyl,” Trump said, according to People magazine. “By the way, he takes them himself.”

Fetterman’s support for Republicans’ anti-immigrant legislation, the Laken Riley Act—a bill that requires the federal government to detain undocumented immigrants if they have been arrested for crimes such as theft—has also been controversial.

The Pennsylvania lawmaker was the first Democrat to co-sponsor the bill in the Senate, angering immigrants’ rights activists, some of whom are calling it, “an attack on constitutional protections and a green light to Trump’s mass deportation agenda.”

U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego, another freshman Democrat, also co-sponsored the bill.

After passing the House, the bill stalled in the Senate, but Thursday afternoon, the bill appeared headed for passage. Less than ten Democrats voted against allowing the bill to proceed.

“Fetterman and Gallego and a few others are undercutting the possibility of mounting a more united front that could fix its worst elements,” The New Republic’s Greg Sargent wrote.

Some critics are saying Fetterman appears likely to switch parties, after his apparent embrace of Trump.

“Fetterman is likely to switch parties. Let’s face it. Full horseshoe,” claimed Tom Watson, who writes “The Liberal” at Substack. “Too many people are forgetting that the Democratic Party is basically a liberal party. There’s no possible room for a pro-Trump Democrat to hold major office. If Fetterman thinks being a MAGA Dem is possible, he’ll find out it’s not,” he added.

Meanwhile, Politico reports, Carrie Adams, Fetterman’s communications director, “has left his office, a person close to the senator said.” She had joined Fetterman’s office in April, “after he lost three top staffers in a matter of months, then drew criticism last year after she was quoted openly disagreeing with her boss’ stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict in an August interview with the Free Press.”

“Fetterman’s shifting political persona in Congress has shocked many who worked for him during his 2022 campaign. While he eschewed the ‘progressive’ label, he had endorsed Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential run and advocated for some left-wing policies in his campaign,” Politico adds. “In recent weeks alone, he’s made a habit of taking time to speak to President Donald Trump’s nominees and of reaching across the aisle to work with Republicans on legislation.”

READ MORE: ‘Cowardice Spreads Like Wildfire’: Kinzinger Trolls Republicans With Their Own J6 Comments

The New Republic also noted the shift in Fetterman’s politics.

“Fetterman’s reaction to Trump’s idea [to take over Greenland] seems to be part of a pattern by the Pennsylvania senator, who has boasted about shifting away from progressive politics for more than a year. Pennsylvania’s only Democratic senator even bragged that brain damage resulting from his near-fatal stroke has allowed him to ‘say the things that I have to really believe in and not be afraid of if there’s any kind of blowback.’”

In response to Fetterman’s remarks on Greenland, investigative journalist Dave Troy noted on Wednesday: “As I’ve been saying, expect Fetterman to be a cheerleader for all things Musk, Putin, and Trump 2.0 henceforth. And no, it’s probably not the brain injury.”

Several critics and political observers blasted Fetterman.

Fetterman is becoming the new Manchin,” wrote activist George Takei.

“Fetterman isn’t up for reelection till 2028 and already very busy reinventing himself as MAGA friendly,” noted HuffPost senior politics reporter Igor Bobic.

Back in December, Fetterman stood for a photo with Trump UN Ambassador nominee Elise Stefanik.

That same month he praised Trump’s political acumen while rejecting allegations of fascism for the President-elect.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Mexican America’: President of Mexico Trolls Trump With Vintage Map

 

Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons

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‘Disgraceful’: ICE Slammed After Allegedly Pepper-Spraying US Congresswoman

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U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) is accusing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of pepper-spraying her in her face while she was at a local Tucson, Arizona restaurant.

Rep. Grijalva in a video on social media said she saw about 40 mostly-masked ICE agents at a restaurant she frequents weekly.

The agents were “in several vehicles that the community had stopped right here, right in the middle of the street, because they were afraid that they were taking people without due process, without any kind of notice.”

READ MORE: Warning Signs Flash as Trump Slump Raises Fears of 2018 Blue Wave Rerun: Conservative

She said that the community was “protecting their people” when she was “sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent,” and “pushed around by others when I literally was not being aggressive.”

“I was asking for clarification, which is my right as a member of Congress,” she continued. “So, once I introduced myself, once I did, I assumed that it would be a little calmer, but there was literally only one person that was trying to speak to me in any kind of civil tone, and everyone else was being rude and disrespectful, and I just can only imagine if they’re going to treat me like that, how they’re treating everybody else.”

Congresswoman Grijalva said she saw “people directly sprayed,” including “members of our press” and staff members.

She blasted President Donald Trump, saying that he “has no regard for any due process, the rule of law, the Constitution — they’re literally disappearing people from the streets.”

Critics slammed the agents’ action.

READ MORE: Trump: Democrats Are Plotting ‘Total Obliteration’ of Supreme Court

U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) wrote that Rep. Grijalva “was doing her job, standing up for her community.”

“Pepper-spraying a sitting member of Congress is disgraceful, unacceptable, and absolutely not what we voted for. Period,” he added.

“This is unacceptable and outrageous,” observed Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. “Enforcing the rule [of] law does not mean pepper spraying a member of Congress for simply asking questions. Effective law enforcement requires restraint and accountability, not unchecked aggression.”

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein noted, “quite the beginning for Grijalva, who wasn’t seated for weeks, [cast] the decisive vote to get the Epstein files, and now has apparently been pepper sprayed in the face by immigration agents.”

Also calling the action “outrageous,” U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) wrote: “We are Members of Congress with oversight authority of ICE. Rep Grijalva was completely within her rights to stand up for her constituents. ICE is completely lawless.”

“First they tackle a sitting Senator,” noted U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY). “Now they’re pepper spraying a Representative. It’s clear ICE is spinning out of control. We will hold the agency accountable.”

READ MORE: Trump’s Ballroom Seen as ‘Key Evidence’ He’s Out of Touch as Cost of Living Spikes

 

Image via Reuters 

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Warning Signs Flash as Trump Slump Raises Fears of 2018 Blue Wave Rerun: Conservative

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A well-known conservative commentator has a warning for the Republican Party: take action now or face a repeat of the 2018 midterms when the GOP lost 41 House seats in a landslide. And this time, he says, the Senate could go to the Democrats as well.

Award-winning writer and journalist Bernard Goldberg reminded readers at The Hill that in 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term, “Republicans got walloped … and a good chunk of that had President Trump’s name written all over it.”

Trump’s “approval ratings were in the low 40s, and independents — the folks who usually decide elections — had seen enough. They broke hard for the Democrats,” Goldberg noted. “Now here we are, staring down 2026, and you can almost hear history clearing its throat, getting ready to repeat itself.”

READ MORE: Trump: Democrats Are Plotting ‘Total Obliteration’ of Supreme Court

Goldberg noted that Trump’s approval rating is currently the lowest it’s been this term.

“Among Republicans, his support dropped from 91 percent right after the 2024 election to 84 percent last month. Among independents, it cratered — from 42 percent to just 25 percent.”

“If the trend continues,” he warned, “Republicans could be headed for another blue wave — and this time, it could wash away not just the House majority, but control of the Senate too.”

Why?

“It’s the economy — still,” he wrote.

“Trump is out there saying the economy is humming. Biden said the same thing before him. But voters didn’t buy it then, and they’re not buying it now. Why? Because it’s not GDP numbers that matter. It’s affordability,” Goldberg noted.

READ MORE: Trump’s Ballroom Seen as ‘Key Evidence’ He’s Out of Touch as Cost of Living Spikes

That’s a word that President Trump continues to call a “con job,” while his own administration tries to claim he is focused on.

He pointed to a Karl Rove Wall Street Journal column and wrote: “The Republicans may have ‘avoided disaster’ in Tennessee, but the result should be a wake-up call for Republicans. He’s right.”

Goldberg asked: “will anyone in the Republican Party actually pick up the phone?”

“Because if Republicans don’t wake up — and fast — they’re going to find out the hard way what happens when you keep rerunning the same movie and expecting a different ending. To lose in 2026, all they have to do is nothing. And right now, that’s pretty much what they’re doing.”

READ MORE: Trump Urges Judge Aileen Cannon to Keep Jack Smith Report Secret

 

 

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Trump: Democrats Are Plotting ‘Total Obliteration’ of Supreme Court

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President Donald Trump is claiming that the top priority of Democrats is the “total obliteration” of the U.S. Supreme Court. His remarks came just hours after SCOTUS gave Republicans a 6-3 win along partisan lines, in the form of approving Texas’s redrawn mid-decade congressional maps that could help add five GOP-held seats to the U.S. House of Representatives. A lower court had ruled the redrawn Texas maps were likely racially biased.

Although there are different ways to measure, one study by Court Accountability this fall found that the Supreme Court has ruled in Trump’s favor 90% of the time.

“Most of these wins for the president came from the court’s ‘shadow docket’ slate of opinions — where the court has typically, in the past, only ruled on administrative measures,” according to Truthout. “However, in recent years, the Supreme Court has been making announcements on cases, issuing injunctions or allowances of actions to remain in place, that have the same effect, essentially, as a final decision.”

READ MORE: White House Touts Trump’s ‘Track Record’ on Affordability

On Friday, the president declared that the “Democrats number one policy push is the complete and total OBLITERATION of our great United States Supreme Court.”

“They will do this on their very first day in office, through the simple Termination of the Filibuster, SHOULD THEY WIN THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS,” he wrote.

Trump has strongly advocated for Republicans to eliminate the Senate filibuster.

“The Radical Left Democrats are looking at 21 Justices, with immediate ascension,” he wrote, claiming that Democrats would more than double the current size of the court.

“This would be terrible for our Country. Fear not, however, Republicans will not let it, or any of their other catastrophic policies, happen. Our Country is now in very good hands. MAGA!!!”

Some court reform advocates have suggested the Supreme Court be expanded to 13 justices, one for each of the thirteen U.S. Courts of Appeals.

READ MORE: Trump’s Ballroom Seen as ‘Key Evidence’ He’s Out of Touch as Cost of Living Spikes

 

Image via Reuters 

 

 

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