Senator Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat known for his slovenly dress and hulking frame, was once the darling of the party. But all that changed when he began to espouse some more mainstream — some say conservative — political stances, eschewing the woke claptrap of the liberal intelligentsia for commonsense positions.

Sure, he still supports healthcare as a right, criminal justice reform, abolishing capital punishment, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and the federal legalization of cannabis, all baseline stances of the Democratic Party. But Mr. Fetterman has morphed into an odd hybrid — a senator who refuses to walk in lockstep with his party, and doesn’t care one whit what his own colleagues say.

The 6-foot-8, 275-pound senator asserts he’s still every bit a Democrat. “I’m not leaving my party, I just happen to have reasonable views and I don’t know why that’s controversial,” he told the New York Times in October, when asked about his break with his party’s progressive wing.

But on 10 top issues, Mr. Fetterman holds positions that would make him a solid Republican lawmaker. 

Supports Israel

After the October 7, 2023, terror attacks by Hamas against innocent civilians, Democrats were torn. They didn’t want to irk their base, which despises Israel and supports Palestinians, even after the murder of more than 1,100 Israelis.

Not Mr. Fetterman. He was unflinching in his support of Israel — especially after Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

“I want to salute Israel and celebrate the elimination of Yahya Sinwar — a necessary move for any future enduring peace. Eliminating the mastermind of the 10/7 massacre is the definition of justice served. My vote and my voice for Israel will not waver,” Mr. Fetterman declared in social media posts in October.

He went out of his way to express his support. A video went viral of Mr. Fetterman waving an Israeli flag from his rooftop at pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside his home near Pittsburgh.

The act drew praise from Sam DeMarco, the Republican Party chairman in Allegheny County, Pennsylania, where Fetterman lives, who tweeted: “Jesus this guy is making me respect him! Never would have thought that would happen.”

Demands a Secure Border

Mr. Fetterman has broken with President Biden — and nearly every Democrat — to declare that securing the Mexican border is important because, well, duh.

“I don’t understand why it’s controversial to say we need a secure border,” Mr. Fetterman told CNN’s Jake Tapper last year. “I’ve been really clear — in fact, that was weaponized against me by Republicans in my race, that I’m very much a strong supporter of immigration. My wife’s family, there’s an origin story about that.”

But the mainstream media likes to conflate the two issues. Of course, that’s absurd: There’s legal immigration and then there’s who knows who pouring across the Rio Grande into America.

“I think two things can be true at the same time: You can be very supportive of immigration, but we also need to have a secure border,” the senator said. “We want to provide the American Dream for any migrant, but it seems very difficult when you have 300,000 people showing up encountered at our border to do that.”

While that seems a very reasonable — one could even say pro-America — sentiment, his stance sends Democrats into a tizzy.

Supports Punishment for Foreign Criminals

While Democrats bury their heads in the sand about the millions of foreigners who have entered America illegally, Mr. Fetterman is demanding justice for the victims of crime committed by illegal aliens.

The senator was the first Democrat to cosponsor the Laken Riley Act, a Republican-led bill the House passed on Tuesday that would require federal authorities to detain illegals arrested for theft-related crimes. The bill is named after a nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging on the University of Georgia’s campus.

“Laken Riley’s story is a tragic reminder of what’s at stake when our systems fail to protect people,” Mr. Fetterman said in a joint press release with the bill’s Republican sponsor. “No family should have to endure the pain of losing a loved one to preventable violence. … I support giving authorities the tools to prevent tragedies like this one while we work on comprehensive solutions to our broken system.”

Mr. Fetterman is outspoken on the issue. “ICE reported tens of thousands of migrants with criminal records — homicide or sexual assault,” Mr. Fetterman posted on X on Tuesday. “425,000 have criminal records in total and should be deported. I support a secure border. I support a legal path for Dreamers. I support the Laken Riley Act.”

The senator may be ahead of his colleagues on the issue. The bill passed the House on Tuesday — with 48 Democrats voting yes — and is set for a Senate vote on Friday.

Opposes China’s Growing Power

Unlike Democrats, who kowtow to China but blast Russia at every turn, Mr. Fetterman is just the opposite. Like President Trump, he thinks China is the real threat and he’s been vocal about the communist nation’s secret move to snap up American farmland.

During a hearing last year by the Senate Agriculture Committee on foreign ownership in American agriculture and its impact on food security and national security, Mr. Fetterman blasted China.

“I hope many of our colleagues agree, the Chinese government and other U.S. adversaries should own zero, zero agricultural land in our country, I believe that,” Mr. Fetterman said. “They’re taking back our pandas! We should take back all of their farmland.”

It’s not a new stance. Back when he was the lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania in 2022, Mr. Fetterman declared he will “work to guarantee that we don’t allow China to out-innovate us.” 

Asked by Politico last year if there are “any issues that you can work with Trump on?” Mr. Fetterman said: “Sure. Protecting the American steel industry. Being very unapologetically pro-Israel. Being very, very muscular against China.” 

Supports 2A

Like many Democrats, Mr. Fetterman has tried to walk the tightrope on the Second Amendment. 

That was the Candidate Fetterman. “It’s not a radical statement: all of us should agree that we want to make sure that weapons stay out of the hands of people that could use them to hurt others, especially after the tragedies we’ve seen in Charleston, Newtown, Wilkinsburg and too many other communities,” Mr. Fetterman in 2016 in his first campaign for the Senate.

Even in his 2022 campaign, Mr. Fetterman called for gun control, saying the National Rifle Association (NRA) has a stranglehold on Congress (for the record, the NRA has given Mr. Fetterman a rating of 0 percent).

Since taking office, though, Mr. Fetterman has clarified his views.

“I’m very much a Second Amendment kind of guy, but I also think it shouldn’t be controversial … [to not] want [guns] to not be in the hands of people that can harm themselves, or someone that we know or love,” Mr. Fetterman said during an appearance at Dartmouth college in October, the Pittsburgh City Paper reported.

Doesn’t Hate Trump

Democrats pulled out all the stops during Campaign 2024, going to the highest hyperbolic level one can reach in political discourse — calling your opponent the new Hitler.

But not Mr. Fetterman. He gets the appeal of the incoming president and has repeatedly made clear he’s prepared to work with him like, you know, an adult.

“If you’re rooting against the president, you are rooting against the nation,” Mr. Fetterman told ABC “This Week” after the election. “So country first. I know that’s become maybe like a cliche, but it happens to be true.”

Mr. Fetterman has so far been one of just a handful in his party who have met with Trump’s cabinet picks, and he’s got advice for Democrats. “I’ve been warning people, like, ‘You got to chill out,’ you know? Like the constant, you know, freakout, it’s not helpful.”

The senator has also declared the New York case against Trump a heap of … you know. “The Trump hush money and Hunter Biden cases were both bull—-, and pardons are appropriate,” he wrote on X. “Weaponizing the judiciary for blatant, partisan gain diminishes the collective faith in our institutions and sows further division.”

Happy on Fox News

During Campaign 2024, Vice President Harris famously avoided any news outlets that wouldn’t kiss her ring. She refused to go on Fox News and Joe Rogan, even though those two sources boast millions of viewers and listeners.

Not Mr. Fetterman. He seems fully comfortable on Fox and Mr. Rogan’s podcast — on which he recently appeared for a two-hour sitdown. 

“It’s really a simple rule: I’ll have a conversation with anyone, if they’re playing it straight, I’m going to do the same and engage,” Mr. Fetterman told Mr. Rogan.

Last month, Mr. Fetterman even signed up to the Trump-owned Truth Social, joining a relatively small number of Democrats — none of them in the Senate — who are on the platform.

Supports Police

Democrats went hog-wild with their “defund the police” campaign pushed by Black Lives Matter after the death of George Floyd in 2002. A host of Democrats — led by the far-left members of “The Squad,” including a top supporter of the effort, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — pushed the idea.

But some of the smarter Democrats — including Mr. Fetterman — steered clear of the political hand grenade.

During the 2022 campaign, Mr. Fetterman declared he was “pro-policing, pro–community policing, pro–funding the police.” And he had no sympathy for supporters of the effort, calling the “defund the police” movement an “absurd phrase.”

“The most effective recipe is a police department that understands that they have to do what they need to do in terms of making sure things be safer, but not at the expense of the community feeling that they’re over-policed,” he said. “I think it’s critical in any conversation to really begin to beat back the crime.”

Again, his reasoning was rational — and rather Republican. “From my own experience I’d say, anytime you have fewer police, you’re going to have more crime,” Mr. Fetterman said in an October interview with Semafor. “I just feel that police are always going to be a critical part of the conversation, and they are critical to being successful. They’re the most important tool to make the street safer.”

Pro-Buying Greenland

Trump this week floated the idea of purchasing Greenland, which he called key to American security. While a slew of Democrats quickly mocked the notion, Mr. Fetterman was not among the naysayers.

“There’s a lot of talk about Greenland, for example, and … there’s a lot of freak-outs and of course, I would never support taking it by force,” Mr. Fetterman said Tuesday on Fox News. 

But he did say there could be a “responsible conversation” to discuss its acquisition, including “just buying it out.” 

“If anyone thinks that’s bonkers, it’s like, well, remember the Louisiana Purchase?” Mr. Fetterman said, referring to the 1803 purchase of all land west of the Mississippi from the French. He also noted the 1867 purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire, adding he was “open to having all kinds of conversations.”

“Some things might work out, some may not, but that’s part of ongoing dialogue,” Fetterman said.

Sounds like a Republican, right?

Anti-Green Deal

“Progressive” Democrats, Ms. Ocasio Cortez among them, have called for a “New Green Deal” to address global warming concerns. The overly ambitious plan calls for 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, and just for good measures, includes universal health care, living wages, and job guarantees. The price tag: Anywhere from $51 trillion to $93 trillion over 10 years.

For a nation currently $36 trillion in debt, that’s not a doable plan, and Mr. Fetterman hasn’t been too shy to fly in the face of his colleagues on the issue.

“We must maintain a balance between transitioning away from fossil fuels but also safeguarding and holding the union way of life sacred and protecting those jobs and those workers that are currently in that sector,” Mr. Fetterman said in a 2021 interview on MSNBC.

“There needs to be a reasoned, rational approach, but also with the explicit agreement and knowledge that we must transition towards green, renewable energy,” Mr. Fetterman told Gizmodo in 2022. “And we must do it quickly and ethically and in an environmentally sound way. The existing workers and industry, those communities need to be respected and they need to be assisted in that transition.

In the end, Mr. Fetterman just isn’t a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. “I don’t think it’s so much his philosophy as it is just his independence,” Senator Cramer, North Dakota Republican, told NBC News. “He seems to not be tethered to any club, so to speak. And that’s evidenced by his dress code, evidenced by his demeanor. So I’m surprised, but when I think about it, I probably shouldn’t be.”

And his own team says be prepared for more of the same from the senator.

“People on both sides of the aisle thought they had John pegged a certain way. It’s been interesting to watch people on both sides realize that they were wrong. Some people are mad about it, and others are happy about it,” Mr. Fetterman’s chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, told NBC. “If people are pleasantly surprised to find out that John is not the hard-left socialist he was portrayed as during the campaign, then it’s an opportunity to maybe work together and get some things done.”

Mr. Fetterman sure isn’t a “hard-left socialist.” Clearly, he’s a Republican.