U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is repeatedly earning praise from those not politically aligned with him but it seems he is turning off “young progressives” with his sometimes conservative views.
The Pennsylvania Democrat’s strong views again caused some pleasant surprise as he took a stand against the “outrageous” sale of the United States Steel Corporation.
Reacting to the news on Monday of the $14.9 billion sale of the steel producer with corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh to Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel, Fetterman took to social media to declare it was “wrong for workers and wrong for Pennsylvania.”
The Democrat explained in a video message that he was on the roof of his house directly across from U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thompson plant in Braddock, Pa.
“I just have to say it’s absolutely outrageous that they have sold themselves to a foreign nation and a company,” he said.
The acquisition of @U_S_Steel by a foreign company is wrong for workers and wrong for Pennsylvania. I’m gonna do everything I can to block it. pic.twitter.com/9EqohwRhRJ
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) December 18, 2023
“Nippon Steel will pay $55 per share in a cash transaction to purchase U.S. Steel and will assume all the company’s debt,” The Hill reported.
The announcement Monday caused a spike in stock prices of U.S. Steel which jumped up 25 percent.
The historic American company was founded in 1901 when business icons Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Charles Schwab, joined with Elbert H. Gary, U. S. Steel’s first chairman, in forming the company. Ironically, on its website, U.S. Steel touts its founding and the fact that “we have made the steel that built America.”
The site also notes that “U. S. Steel has played an integral part in the history of the United States, including supplying steel for countless iconic American buildings, bridges and other structures.” And all that means nothing evidently as it stands poised to hand over the reins to a foreign country.
“I’m gonna do everything I can to block it,” Fetterman wrote on X.
In a statement, the freshman senator said, “It’s absolutely outrageous that U.S. Steel has agreed to sell themselves to a foreign company. Steel is always about security — both our national security and the economic security of our steel communities. I am committed to doing anything I can do, using my platform and my position, to block this foreign sale.”
“This is yet another example of hard-working Americans being blindsided by greedy corporations willing to sell out their communities to serve their shareholders. I stand with the men and women of the Steelworkers and their union way of life,” he added. “We cannot allow them to be screwed over or left behind. I promise to them and to all forgotten communities across Pennsylvania that I will work with [Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.)] and the rest of the delegation to fight like hell to make this right.”
While Fetterman’s tough stand on the issue earned praise, the senator’s surprising break from his party on other hot-button issues has many on the left soured on what they thought was going to be a different kind of lawmaker.
Columnist Will Bunch addressed the disillusionment in an op-ed published in The Philadelphia Inquirer titled, “Fetterman’s betrayal of progressives is why young people are turning off politics.”
“… Now having achieved his dream of election to the U.S. Senate, and after becoming a leading national figure in the Democratic Party, Fetterman flatly declared in an NBC News interview: ‘I am not a progressive,'” Bunch wrote, going on to note the many ways the senator has strayed from the narrative.
He wrote that “some of those early supporters say they were betrayed, or even feel lied to,” with Fetterman having the audacity to support Israel, push for border security, and more.
Bunch even admitted that the “senator has not been the man I once thought he was” and added, “ignoring the plight of slaughtered civilians in Gaza and dropping the pro-immigrant vibe that drew people to him in the first place? That feels like any moral center has caved in.”
The reaction on X was as brutal as expected.
“betrayal”
You adult babies should really consider growing up and spare yourselves public humiliation.
— JWF (@JammieWF) December 18, 2023
Will he be called an extrimist now like anyone who doesn’t completely fall in line with the progressive wing of the D party?
— AlexisP, irrelevant stakeholder (@luce_lexi) December 18, 2023
He IS different. He’s not a commie.
— Amy2112 (@Amy21123) December 18, 2023
Must be awful to endorse someone and then they turn out not to be pro-Hamas.
— KevinCorbettDoesNotCare (@TooMader) December 18, 2023
.@SenFettermanPA is a lot of things, but “more of the same” couldn’t be less accurate
I guess it impossible for Will to imagine anyone breaking from Far Left orthodoxy, even if it’s to support a strong US ally who’s civilians were barbarically attacked and kidnapped
— Over Salted Pretzel (@OverSaltPretzel) December 18, 2023
Who knew Fetterman post-stroke would turn out to be substantially less insane than the average Dem?
But excuse me if I lack pity for “young people” who were willing to chose a brain damaged Senator because they thought he would be a reliable prog vote
— Diana Villiers (@DianaVilliers1) December 19, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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