The Morning Briefing: Two More Years of 'Scorned John Fetterman' Should Be Fun to Watch

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Happy Wednesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. The Sine Qua Non Sequitur is preparing a Spanish-language TEDx talk on holistic mindfulness in alternative haberdashery.

Sen. John Fetterman is proof positive that the Democratic Party is long past the point of no return. A solid American leftist by any other measure, he's just not out there enough for the rest of the Dems in Washington. If any infamous leftist in history came back from the dead the 2026 Democrats would likely shun them for being too centrist.

Fetterman continues to run afoul of his Congressional colleagues for committing the worst of the cardinal sins according to the Democrats: breaking free from the hive mind. He doesn't do it often, but no independent thought is tolerated by the Dems. Fetterman also tends to step out on his party on some important issues. Presently, he is not in lockstep with the Dems' insane response to the war in Iran. This is from Matt:

Fetterman has been the lone Senate Democrat supporting Operation Epic Fury, the military campaign targeting Iran's nuclear capabilities, and he made clear he has no intention of backing down — even as his colleagues line up to condemn it.
When Smerconish asked what it's been like standing alone in the Democratic caucus, Fetterman didn't sugarcoat it. "Well, I know you and I are on the right side of history on this," he said. "We both know that it's the right thing to do. It used to be the common view held about Democrats."

We know that the Democrats — or any lefitsts for that matter — don't handle rejection well. This probably won't end well for Fetterman. I've always maintained that the easiest time to oust an incumbent United States Senator is after his or her first term. After that, too many favors have been doled out. The last Democrat in the Senate to hover anywhere near the center was Kyrsten Sinema. She became so toxic to the Dems that she registered as an independent before becoming a one-term casualty. There are already signs that Fetterman may soon be getting the Sinema treatment. This is from something my good friend Ed Morrissey wrote at HotAir a couple of days ago:

This doesn't speak much to John Fetterman, nor to his voting record. It doesn't say much about the Pennsylvania Senate Democrat's politics either, which may run slightly to the left of the Joe Biden of 2020, at least in terms of public presentation.
Rather, this update from Punchbowl speaks very loudly about the Keystone State's Democrats in 2026, and to the party at large. The outlet checked in with the state's House Democrat caucus to test the waters for Fetterman's expected run for re-election in 2028, and ... not a single one of Fetterman's colleagues would endorse the incumbent Senator. Not one:

Arizona Democrats began to turn on Sinema well ahead of her reelection effort. She became an independent because it was pretty clear that she wasn't going to survive a Democratic primary. The same Democrats who helped her become Arizona's first Democrat in the Senate in almost a quarter of a century turned on her that quickly. As I said, they don't like being scorned.

Fetterman's perceived betrayal has to sting the Democrats even more. While he was running for Senate, it seemed as if he was left of left and a perfect fit for the new Democrats. Most of us in conservative media have written about how shocked we've been by Fetterman's various pushbacks against his own party in the last couple of years. (Side note: last time I wrote something positive about Fetterman, I got an email from someone who acted as if I'd compared him to Abraham Lincoln. Just because I think he's the least worst of the Dems doesn't mean I'm moving to Pennsylvania to vote for him.)

If Pennsylvania Democrats want to push Fetterman out of office, they might be extra nasty because he was supposed to be a super prog. That makes me wonder if Fetterman might start butting heads with the leftist loons in his party even more. I get a feeling that he might.

This doesn't mean that I think that Fetterman is going to lurch to the right. He'll always be a lefty. He has, however, developed a habit of disagreeing with his party on some of their more outlandish positions. The Dems are getting more ridiculous by the day, which should give Fetterman plenty of opportunities to say, "That's not right."

These salmon swimming upstream turns of Fetterman's also provide some good sound bytes for Republican midterm campaign commericals. He continues to provide a stark reminder of how the Democrats used to be. That should come in handy for use against any Dems who pretend to be moderate while campaigning.

Here's to a vigorous family feud between John Fetterman and the rest of the Democratic Party. I love it when they fight.

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The Mailbag of Magnificence

OK, I usually don't post longer emails, but this is a great response from Jim H. to yesterday's A-10 stuff:

Kudos on your article about the A-10 finding yet another life. You mention being in Tucson and watching the Warthogs overfly. Deja Vu. I graduated from UofA with an AME degree and we atudents listened - whether we wanted to or not - to the F-4 Phantoms overflying our engineering classes. Bodacious bird, that. I went on to get my USAF wings at Williams AFB, another Air Force casualty, and then off to active duty flying the C-141. I mention all that because I can confirm that for all my 6-ish years in the Air Force and every year beyond, the AF has been trying to murder Pierre Sprey's purpose-built, best-ever, bodacious close air support aircraft. And, in that title you see the very reason USAF hates it: it is for Close Air SUPPORT. A word anathema to USAF. After all, any bird worthy of the attention of an AF general officer must have a pointy nose, fly above 50,000 feet, be at least Mach 1.5 and cost at least $2 Million per copy. Support is not in the department's vocabulary and you will never get above O-4 if you harbor such heretical thinking. So, the answer in keeping the 'Hog in the air is extremely simple - give it (and its budget) to the Marines or Army. Problem solved but just watch the gaskets blow at HQ USAF. Keep up the good work and check six.

Thanks for that, Jim. I've heard a lot of people suggest giving the Warthogs to the Army. The objections I've encountered all involve the bureaucratic nightmare that would supposedly result from the Air Force and the Army attempting to work together to facilitate the transfer. I don't know if that's the real problem, but blaming bureaucracy is usually the right answer. What I would really like is a head count of how many AF brass hides have been chapped over the years by the A-10's refusal to "not go gentle into that good night." That ugly plane gets prettier each time it foils them.

Robert B. echoed Jim's assessment of the Air Force higher-ups' disdain for the Warthogs, and added this:

The pilots who fly the A-10 know this and don’t give a damn. They love the Hog and love the mission of taking care of our guys down in the dirt. They are well aware that flying the A-10 means that, if they are lucky, they may reach the rank of Lt.Col. and Squadron Commander but never go beyond that. They don’t care. They would happily trade those silver eagles and stars for a career of protecting our soldiers and marines. God bless our A-10 pilots.

God bless them, indeed. The wokeness that's plagued the military in recent years has all been at or near the top. They seem to lose focus when ambition gets in the way.

Not surprisingly, all of the emails were about the A-10, but Roy G. also weighed in on yesterday's Everything Isn't Awful offering:

I attended the Navy’s Postgraduate School from 91-93 and the AF wanted to kill the Warthog way back then. One of my professors was talking about it one day and gave what I think is the best description I’ve ever heard. “Close air support is not sexy.” As far as a happy hour with monkeys, there used to be a bar in Honolulu known as the Monkey Bar. They had a colony of monkeys behind the bar in a glass enclosure. As you can imagine there were a lot of monkey on monkey shenanigans that happened behind the glass, with a great many drunken sailors and marines cheering them on!

Now I definitely have to get back to Hawaii. The only time I've been there was for a very quick trip to do a show for Armed Forced Entertainment. We landed in the early evening, had dinner, did the gig, and flew out at 6 the next morning. Fun fact: that was the first show that Kevin Downey Jr. and I ever did together. It was also the first time we got in trouble with the Military Police!

Jonathan K. provides some history on the power behind the BRRRT:

The awesome GAU-8 rotary cannon was a product of General Electric, Burlington Div, and was the descendant of the famous 7.62 and 20mm Mini Guns of Vietnam fame. In the early 80s I worked on an ammunition re-supply vehicle with engineers from G.E. and the guys who made the feed and re-supply systems for the A-10. They're still doing it. Well, Para bellum! Take Heart, as we do from you!

Awesome story, thank you for that, as well as for the other details that I didn't post!

David C. sums it all up perfectly:

Hi Kruiser, I am also glad to see the Warthog back in the game. Although I was a landlocked sailor, not a grunt, There is no doubt, it is the greatest ground attack aircraft ever designed by the mind of man.

Amen.

Thanks to all of the above for the excellent correspondence. I hope to hear from you all again!

Everything Isn't Awful

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