John Fetterman spent years convincing Pennsylvania Democrats he was their guy.
A brutal Wall Street Journal investigation just blew that story apart.
And now John Fetterman is facing a revolt that could end his career.
The Staffers Who Finally Had Enough
A group calling itself “Former Fetterman Staffers” launched an anonymous X account in the wake of the Wall Street Journal report, announcing plans to release what they described as far worse material than anything already published. The account’s acronym, FFS, carries a double meaning that is hard to miss.
“We’re a group of former campaign & Senate staffers for John Fetterman who are disgusted with what he’s become,” the group wrote on X. “If you were troubled by yesterday’s Wall Street Journal story… trust us, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
The group also told followers to mark their calendars. “Set your calendar for September 14th — the day the Senate is back in session — for our first drop,” the account posted, adding: “(Let’s be honest, maybe the 15th: he’ll skip Monday’s votes).”
That last line lands differently when you read what the Wall Street Journal actually found. The paper cited more than a dozen former Fetterman staffers and colleagues and included verified internal text messages documenting a pattern of avoidance that goes well beyond ordinary Senate absenteeism.
Three paralyzed military veterans traveled from rural Pennsylvania to Washington, DC, specifically to meet with Fetterman about health care legislation. He canceled on them, according to the Journal’s reporting, instructing his staff to tell them he had a stomach bug. He then appeared for a live interview on Fox News that same day.
And that was not the only incident. Internal communications showed Fetterman refused to attend a three-hour funeral for fallen local police officers in Pennsylvania, calling the length of the service a “nonstarter.”
These are not scheduling conflicts. They are choices.
His Own Party Is Calling Him a Disgrace
The reaction from Pennsylvania Democrats was severe, and it came fast. Former Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA), who lost to Fetterman by more than 30 percentage points in the 2022 Senate primary and has been mentioned as a potential 2028 challenger, did not hold back. Lamb specifically cited the incident involving the paralyzed military veterans when he called on Fetterman to step down.
“John, if there is a decent bone left in your body, just quit. It’s an insult to decent people in our state for you to treat them and the office this way,” Lamb wrote on X.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) went further. “John Fetterman is a disgrace,” Boyle wrote. “Our state deserves better than a lazy trust fund baby who is too lazy to do the job.”
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) piled on as well. “There is a lot I could say about this report of John Fetterman’s pathetic behavior as a senator,” Deluzio wrote on X. “But between the laziness, disrespect, and willingness to carry water for a foreign government, it shows us something we already know: this man has no sense of duty.”
Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who also serves as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, offered a statement that carried particular institutional weight. “This report is horrifying, but not new to many of us in PA. John barely showed up as [Lieutenant Governor] and is constantly MIA as our senator,” Kenyatta wrote. “When he’s not on FOX cheerleading Trump & endless wars, he is attacking the very neighbors who gave him a chance. 2028 can’t come soon enough.”
When a sitting DNC vice chair is publicly counting down the days until a senator from his own party can be replaced, something has broken past the point of ordinary intraparty friction.
The Loyalty Debate Nobody Wins
Not everyone cheered the anonymous staffer account. Marc Thiessen, a political pundit and former White House speechwriter for the Bush Administration, took direct aim at the group’s decision to go public without putting names on it.
“So disloyal. He gave you jobs and opportunities and advanced your careers, and you publicly turn on him and set up an X account to attack him?” Thiessen wrote on X. “Honorable thing, if you disagree, is to resign quietly and work for someone else you prefer. You are pathetic.”
Mark Morgan, political director for the Republican Governors Association, echoed the anonymity critique with his own bluntness. “Staff rule #1: it’s not about you Staff rule #2: Your boss had the courage to put their name on a ballot. If you’ve chosen to become a click-seeking bottom feeder, at least have the courage to put your own name on it,” Morgan said.
Both men have a point about anonymity. Signing your name to a serious accusation takes something that a protected X account does not require.
But the loyalty argument runs into a wall when the behavior being described involves standing up paralyzed veterans who came to Washington to ask for help. Whatever the staffers owe Fetterman professionally, those veterans owed him nothing and got less than nothing in return.
What Fetterman Actually Is
Pennsylvania voters need to understand something clearly. John Fetterman is not a Trump-friendly moderate. He is not a maverick. He is a reliable Democrat vote who supports abortion on demand until birth, gun control, amnesty for illegal aliens, and transgender surgeries for kids. The centrist act is a performance, calibrated to keep him viable in a state that has been trending red, ahead of what many expect to be a tough 2028 reelection fight.
The pattern Kenyatta described — barely showing up as lieutenant governor, constantly missing votes as senator — is not new information for people who paid attention. What the Wall Street Journal did was document it with texts, names, and specifics that make denial impossible.
And the former staffers are promising more. Whether they deliver, and whether those revelations carry the weight they are promising, remains to be seen. But the fact that people who worked inside his office felt compelled to launch a public campaign against him tells a story of its own.
Fetterman’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Pennsylvania sent a man to the United States Senate who allegedly could not be bothered to sit through a police funeral or take a meeting with veterans who traveled hours to see him. His fellow Democrats are now saying out loud what many have known privately for years. The only question left is whether anyone in a position to do something about it actually will.
Sources: Fox News Digital; Wall Street Journal; Spotlight PA; NOTUS