Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman looked at the schedule for a funeral honoring three police officers killed in his own state, noted the dress code and the three-hour runtime, and texted back that it might be a 'nonstarter.' That actually happened. That is a real thing a sitting United States senator put in writing about a memorial service for slain cops.
The Wall Street Journal Got the Receipts
The Wall Street Journal published what can only be described as a greatest-hits album of a senator not doing his job. Through leaked text messages between Fetterman and his aides, the paper documented a pattern of the Pennsylvania Democrat dodging constituent meetings, skipping funerals, and blowing off the basic obligations that come with holding one of a hundred Senate seats in the most powerful legislative body on earth.
The report describes Fetterman as more interested in appearing on Fox News to talk about Israel than doing the actual work of representing Pennsylvania. That is not a liberal blogger's characterization. That is what his own leaked texts apparently show, according to the Wall Street Journal's reporting.
This is not a story about ideology. This is a story about a man who looked at a three-hour funeral for officers who died in the line of duty in his state and decided that was too much to ask of him.
The Children's Hospital Texts Are Also Something
The funeral wasn't even the only example the Journal surfaced. According to the report, an aide flagged that representatives from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia wanted to meet with Fetterman over concerns about Medicaid cuts and vaccine policy. Real constituents. Real stakes. A hospital that treats sick children.
Fetterman's response, per the Journal, was to ask why he had to keep meeting with them. When the aide explained what they were worried about, Fetterman reportedly wrote: "Well, I'm not. I'm convinced they just want free trips to D.C."
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He thinks they're angling for free trips to Washington. That's where we are.
His Own Party Is Absolutely Done With Him
Pennsylvania Democrats did not take any of this quietly. Rep. Chris Deluzio went on X and called Fetterman's behavior "pathetic," citing "laziness, disrespect, and willingness to carry water for a foreign government." He promised that Pennsylvania will "do something about it in 2028."
Rep. Brendan Boyle was less diplomatic. "John Fetterman is a disgrace," Boyle posted, calling him a "lazy trust fund baby who is too lazy to do the job." That's a sitting congressman calling a sitting senator from the same state, in the same party, a disgrace. In public. With his name attached.
DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, who also happens to be a Pennsylvania state rep and is clearly eyeing Fetterman's seat, piled on too. Fox News reports Kenyatta posted that Fetterman "barely showed up" as lieutenant governor and has been "constantly MIA" as senator. "2028 can't come soon enough," Kenyatta wrote. A party official. About a member of his own party. That is a very public primary threat delivered via social media, which, sure, that's politics in 2026.
The Longer Arc of How Fetterman Got Here
To understand how strange this is, remember who Fetterman was supposed to be. He won his Senate seat in 2022 running as a Bernie Sanders-style progressive, on universal healthcare, pro-labor policy, and taxing the wealthy. He wore hoodies. He made Mehmet Oz look like an out-of-touch carpetbagger, which, to be fair, was not a difficult assignment.
Since getting to Washington, the transformation has been something else entirely. Fox News notes that Fetterman sided with Republicans during the government shutdown fight last year, has become one of the Senate's loudest pro-Israel voices, and voted to confirm several of Trump's nominees, including DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. He also reportedly turned down the chance to block his old rival Oz from running Medicare, which is a different kind of petty.
Fetterman insists he's not going to become a Republican, and told NBC News as much. He did not respond to the Journal's questions, according to Fox News. Whether he switches parties or not, the practical effect of his behavior seems largely the same.
Where This Goes From Here
Republicans, because of course they did, said they'd welcome Fetterman into the GOP fold as they eye an even bigger Senate majority. That offer is sitting on the table while his Democratic colleagues are queuing up in public to call him a disgrace and count down the months to a primary challenge.
Fetterman's Senate term runs through 2028. That is a lot of Fox News appearances and skipped funerals between now and then. Pennsylvania Democrats, from the looks of it, are already in full recruitment mode for whoever primaries him, with Kenyatta currently leading the chorus of people who cannot wait for this chapter to end.
The man himself has not said much in response to any of this, which, given his track record in the texts, is probably on brand.
The Dingo Take
Three hours. That was too long for John Fetterman to sit at a funeral for three police officers who were killed in the state he was elected to represent. He is a United States senator. He gets a salary of $174,000 a year, staffed offices, and a platform that most people in American public life would trade considerable things to have. And he looked at three hours to honor slain cops and texted back that it might be a nonstarter.
You can debate Fetterman's politics. You can debate whether his rightward drift is cynical or genuine, whether his Israel stance is principled or performative, whether the Democrats who are now sharpening knives for him were ever really his allies or just fair-weather progressives who liked his hoodie. All of that is a legitimate conversation. But the constituent meetings, the hospital visits, the funerals, those aren't partisan. Those are the job. That's the whole job.
The cruelest part of this story is the contrast it draws. The man ran against Mehmet Oz in 2022 and won in part by hammering Oz as a celebrity who didn't actually care about Pennsylvania. He surfed into the Senate on the implicit promise that he was different, that he was real, that he showed up. The texts the Wall Street Journal published suggest that somewhere between the election night party and the Senate chamber, John Fetterman stopped showing up entirely. Pennsylvania voters gave him a chance. CHOP gave him a chance. Three dead police officers' families gave him a chance, whether he took it or not. 2028 is a long way away.
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