Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) laughed off Sen. Joe Manchin‘s (D-WV) attempt to reinstate the Senate dress code as part of a newfound joy in bashing his fellow Democrats.
Following a rocky campaign that included suffering a stroke and then leaving the Senate to check himself into care for depression shortly after arriving in Washington, D.C., Fetterman has been on a winding ride as a freshman senator. The uphill fight for the controversial and crass former mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, escalated further when the Senate appeared to change its long-standing dress code to appease his penchant for wearing shorts and hoodies rather than a suit and tie.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) briefly dropped the Senate’s dress code to accommodate Fetterman’s trademark casual dress. However, the change was quickly rescinded following a move led by Manchin and Senate Republicans, bringing back the professional dress code. In an interview with the Washington Post, Fetterman mocked Manchin over the move and expressed a wider feeling of alienation from his Democratic colleagues.
“At first I was really kind of angry [at him],” Fetterman said about Manchin. “And then I realized, well, he’s not going to be around much longer, and I’m going to get his parking space.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat added that the name of Manchin’s resolution, “Show Our Respect to the Senate Resolution,” or SHORTS, was interpreted as a personal slight.
Fetterman’s denunciation of Manchin is the first time he’s publicly directed anger at his colleague over the matter. Manchin, for his part, said that he had “good conversations” with his colleague over the matter and that there was no bitterness.
Fetterman now usually votes from the door of the Senate in his typical casual wear, giving a thumbs up or down for votes without entering the chamber.
Manchin isn’t the only colleague Fetterman has been emboldened to criticize. While members of the world’s most exclusive club typically save their ire for the opposition party, Fetterman has been a loud and consistent critic of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who has been indicted on corruption charges.
While most Senate Democrats remained silent on the matter, Fetterman vocally condemned him from the start.
“He has his opportunity to defend those choices, but he should not have the right to remain in [the Senate],” he said.
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The Pennsylvania Democrat also discussed the loneliness of life in Washington, D.C., his health struggles, his social media use, and defended his pro-Israel stance.
“When things happen like this … you have to make a choice and standing for a side and I’m always going to come [down] on the side of Israel,” Fetterman said. “And I absolutely, absolutely grieve the lives of any innocent, whether it’s Gaza or Israel or whatever, of course. Only one group celebrates the death of civilians and that is Hamas.”
