Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) takes visible pleasure in feigning shock at news he hears, habitually mocking the media and with it the notion that every event in a news cycle has to be treated with great gravity and concern.
Caught at the Capitol today wearing both his customary hoodie and his regulation issue sarcasm, Fetterman feigned shock at the news that former Congressman Matt Gaetz had withdrawn his name from consideration to be Attorney General in the incoming Donald Trump administration.
“Holy [expletive],” Fetterman said, grabbing his head in a “mind blown” gesture, “I didn’t see that coming.”
The joke, of course, is that Fetterman’s surprise, were it genuine, would make him the only lawmaker in Washington without an inkling that Gaetz might have trouble getting confirmed by the Senate.
And that’s even if the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was able — as he promised — to bury the results of a congressional ethics probe into Gaetz concerning illicit drug use, underage girls and sex trafficking, three things an Attorney General tends to prosecute rather than partake in.
John Fetterman reacts to Matt Gaetz withdrawing his name for AG: “Holy shit! I didn’t see that coming!” pic.twitter.com/nkpP5jyW6w
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) November 21, 2024
After his fake shock, Fetterman issued a warning to the media and media consumers, advising them to “pace yourself, because it’s not even Thanksgiving and we don’t have to react and take unserious things so seriously that the world’s gonna spin off its axis.”
Still Fetterman couldn’t help but add to the mockery, throwing a jab at Trump’s unrelenting commercialism, the media’s rabid bait-taking, and Gaetz’s failed nomination. The Pennsylvanian conjured up a rumor that, while absurd, also sounded almost plausible in the current circus-like environment surrounding Trump’s imminent second term.
“I just heard something,” Fetterman said. “I heard Trump is going to issue a new silver dollar to commemorate that.”