this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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Messages obtained by New York Magazine show the Democrat mocking free healthcare, dismissing the Epstein files as a “nothing burger,” and calling Democrats hypocritical for their outrage at the killing of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Fetterman has been a thorn in his party’s side on a host of issues.

In January, according to the report, Fetterman sent staffers an article about how annual healthcare costs for a typical working American family are nearly $4,000.

“How should it cost? Free?” he wrote. “I don’t understand what affordability it is.”

Also in January, as the Trump administration was dragging its heels about releasing the Epstein files, Fetterman messaged a staffer: “Epstein was a nothing burger. Worst pics I’ve seen were from Clinton lol.”

Fetterman has been sounding more like a Republican, staffers say. Fetterman has been sounding more like a Republican, staffers say.

Then, after federal agents repeatedly shot Pretti in the back during anti-ICE protests, Fetterman complained that Democrats shouldn’t be taking his side because they had objected when Kyle Rittenhouse “brought a gun to a protest,” as Fetterman characterized it.

“Kyle Rittenhouse brought a gun to a protest,” Fetterman, 56, texted a staffer. “He was roundly condemned for that. Why are now democrats defending the nurse it was legal to carry. Both legal weapons. Square that.”

Unlike Pretti, though, Rittenhouse actually fired his gun. He shot three men—two fatally—during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020 after the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer. Rittenhouse was charged with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide, among other charges. He was found not guilty.

Pretti’s killing, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office determined, was a homicide.

Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.

Archived at https://ghostarchive.org/archive/s6iC8

NYMag article archived at https://ghostarchive.org/archive/7ayBq

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[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

This guy is such a braindead piece of fucking shit.

Seriously, he might be the second dumbest person in America after Trump.

[–] artifex@piefed.zip 132 points 1 day ago (2 children)

democrat + extensive brain damage = republican

[–] demizerone@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

You don't even need brain damage to be a Democrat and be a Republican. They are both the same, except the Republican party currently is full-on Nazi. We need a real workers party then the Democrats can become the new Republican party.

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[–] Drusas@fedia.io 96 points 1 day ago (3 children)

“How should it cost? Free?” he wrote. “I don’t understand what affordability it is.”

He has the literacy level of a Republican as well.

[–] humorlessrepost@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Brain damage be like that.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

AIPAC shoves all this money in front of him thats why.

Rich people never care. He makes 174,000 dollars a year. By himself. One person.

[–] NekoKoneko@lemmy.world 82 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Fetterman has been sounding more like a Republican, staffers say. Fetterman has been sounding more like a Republican, staffers say.

You can say that again!

[–] Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Fetterman has been sounding more like a Republican, staffers say.

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fetterman has been sounding more like a staffer, republicans say.

[–] TheGoldenV@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 7 points 1 day ago

He said, "Fetterman has been sounding more like a staffer, republicans say."

[–] Archer@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

LANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

It's an entirely different kind of flying.

[–] BonsaiBoo@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Honestly I can't understand how he has staff anymore. Not any that want to keep working on the left.

[–] NekoKoneko@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

Well, I can't hate on the staffers.

If we're driving along a cliff with a ravine to our right, and the brain-damaged driver just keeps pulling the wheel right because their brain is broken, if you stay with them just to keep pulling the wheel back to the left, it sounds more like a service to everyone in the car than a moral failing. Yes, we can switch drivers as soon as possible but the next rest stop is a few years away.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

his staffers is basically keeping him afloat as a senator, probably doing damage control. while gop/aipac is manipulating a "disabled" person.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

he always was a DINO, he just used the stroke to hide it better.

[–] Marleyinoc@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Fermentedman is the most disappointing candidate I once supported. I hear some say he was always a bit right leaning, and it's why he was able to get elected, but I really think the stroke changed him, so that's sad. But he can go fuck himself anyway.

[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

he was a compromised grifter before the stroke

[–] behemuthm@lemmus.org 14 points 1 day ago

I honestly don't think it was the stroke so much as he's a duplicitous opportunist

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

probably not as disappointing as SINEMA, she is intentionally went where the money went out of her way to rub it in the dems face too and she isnt brain damaged. MANCHIN is a given, since he had to be bought by the DNC to become a DEM senator in WV.

[–] Dultas@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Also didn't Rittenhouse illegally transport his gun across state lines or am I miss-remembering.

[–] funksoulkitchen@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 day ago

He did but the key difference is that one of them killed a bunch of people with the gun they brought to their protest and the other just was carrying and was shot dead by ice guys.

Another difference is that one was a handgun and the other was some sort of ar16 looking thing, but if the guns were switched and the guy filming Ice was carrying an AR he borrowed from another state. Id still be thinking they shouldnt have tackled him and shot him in the back just because he had his phone out

Plus one

That charge was dropped as the weapon was supposedly actually stored in Kenosha, Wisconsin at a friend's property where he retrieved it, so there was no interstate trafficking. There was also a possession charge dropped, as the long gun he carried didn't fit into the short barreled rifle ban for minors.

However...Rittenhouse was a minor, attending a protest that he was ideologically opposed to, armed with a weapon to stand guard over property that was not his, crossing state lines to do so, and had made comments about longing to shoot thieves/protesters earlier that month online. That's a lot of stupid things to do. He was attacked by someone likely attempting to harm him and steal his weapon and defended himself with deadly force which they judged warranted under the circumstances, and I tend to agree that it was justified for the first shooting.

But then he fled the scene. Others, attempting to make sure that he didn't get away with shooting someone without even being ID'd attempted to stop him. Citizen's arrest is legal in Wisconsin when you witness a misdemeanor or have knowledge of a felony and reasonable belief that they committed the felony. While force to perform a Citizen's arrest is limited to self defense only, the guy was still carrying a weapon that he'd already shot someone with and fled the scene.

Keep in mind, that people are not expected to be all-knowing. Their actions are judged based on the knowledge they had at the time and reasonableness of their judgement and conclusions based on that knowledge. They have every reason to think he still posed a threat. Everything they did to him, following him, trying to grab him, attacking him the skateboard and pulling a gun are all defensible in these circumstances with the knowledge they had.

That same grace was afforded to Rittenhouse too though, meaning his actions following the first shooting were judge through his knowledge and the reasonability of his judgements from there. He was attacked physically with a skateboard as a weapon (which can easily kill someone) and used deadly force again in defense. Then someone pulled a gun on him and pointed it toward him, so he fired and injured that guy too. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that both of them were acting in self defense at that moment, and had the other guy shot Rottenhouse, I doubt he would have been convicted for that either.

My problem with the outcome isn't the specific instances where he reacted to immediate danger as they are at least arguably justified from his perspective. It is that he created the environment for that danger in the first place with his own immature choices and then actively avoided accountability. He stood as an antagonist to a protest carrying deadly force that the protesters, by an large, were not. He immediately fled after the first shooting without trying to make clear he was only defending himself. He made no attempt to contact the police during, immediately after, or even the next day. His mother had to drive him to the police after he told her what had happened. This paints the picture of a kid who wanted to be a vigilante, got into a bad but predictable situation that forced him into making a very adult choice for which he then ran from the consequences until forced to confront it.

And that's if the details of his story are all true.

It's not a dissimilar situation to the killing of Treyvon Martin. Everyone was acting in their own defense at the time the killings happened. But only one person in each situation put people in that position of needing to defend themselves. I think their should be legal consequences for that sort of negligence.

[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not exactly, Rittenhouse was 17 and had his friend buy the gun for him at a local store.

The illegal weapons charge was dismissed and ultimately was the reason he was able to argue self defense.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

had his friend buy the gun for him

I'm guessing they did not argue that in court because that's a straw purchase, and illegal.

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

and conservatives were defending how he has the right since the victims were has been a ccused of SA or had a gun on them.

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[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 51 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wow. Deeply brain damaged. Look, what you say I public is one thing, I know you gotta gargle daddy’s balls and all, but in private? If in private you can’t tell the difference between Alex pretti and rittenhouse, then you are an idiot.

Calling the Epstein files a nothing burger? So… are you hiding something, fetters? Hmm? Something you should share with the class?

What a turd. Flush this idiot.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 1 day ago

wonder if his brain scanned show part of it actually died.

[–] OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What a dumb fuck. Goddamn y'all, vote better ffs....

[–] AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works 5 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I voted for fetterman. it's easy to say people shouldn't have voted for him but he legitimately wasn't like this during the election cycle. it's not like he was hiding his true self, he had a massive stroke and his wife pushed some crazy rightwing/pro Israel shit while he was recovering and he was never the same.

I mean, yeah, obviously I wish I hadn't voted for him, but it's pretty hard to predict a stroke and the effects it has on someone.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 40 points 1 day ago (2 children)

$4k/yr? I fucking wish. Three times that at least.

[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 29 points 1 day ago

I pay more than that as a single adult. And to make matters worse, my plan fucking sucks and covers barely anything with a $9,000 deductible. It's the cheapest plan in my area...

Meanwhile Festerman gets free fucking healthcare on my tax dollars. Fuck that.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 4 points 1 day ago (3 children)

$715/mo. here (single, white, cis, male), tho I might qualify for subsidies I'm not (yet?) taking. My income for the year has been near zero, as I am unemployed since last April.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 8 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Check if you qualify for Medicaid.

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[–] voxthefox@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know its probably the smallest issue in everything he said here, but using the 4k annual family average Healthcare cost just seems slimy. It just seems like average would be one of the worst aggregate statistics to use, just using median instead would help account for all the families using $0, and even better would be to stratify across family income and show it as median % of family income spent on Medical care.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Failing to understand why the average is so low annoys me so much.

Luxury yachts must be super affordable since most people don't spend any money on them at all!

[–] kikutwo@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Messages obtained by New York Magazine show the Democrat mocking free healthcare, dismissing the Epstein files as a “nothing burger,” and calling Democrats hypocritical for their outrage at the killing of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Fetterman has been a thorn in his party’s side on a host of issues.

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The stroke should've taken him.

[–] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

We just need to wait longer. There will be another.

[–] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Maybe the next stroke can finish him off.

[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

One of those staffers could really help us all out

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

He turned from liberal to neoliberal

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