I never liked John Fetterman. He was too far to the left, or so I thought. Too weird. Too much of a narcissist who did things the way that he did them to attract attention, without respecting tradition, or sartorial expectations.
I also never liked Marjorie Taylor Greene. She was too far to the right, or so I thought. Too weird. Too much of a narcissist, who did things the way that she did them to attract attention, without respecting tradition, or sartorial expectations.
Admiring them both as profiles in courage, limited as that courage is, was not on my bingo card for 2025. And yet, here we are.
Fetterman has shown himself to be a maverick, beholden to neither Biden or Trump, and willing to poke a finger in the eye of progressives who for some bizarre reason think that they own him. I had a conversation with one fellow who told me that the people who voted for him as Senator expected him to be as far left as they were, and are both shocked and disgusted that he has sliced a middle course through the political landscape, guided primarily by his own values.
The fact that in some cases, those values do not align with the uber-leftist ideals of the “defund the police,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Believe Women” and “Hamas Isn’t Evil” crowds has tempered his former fans’ Trump Derangement Syndrome with a touch of Scorned Voter Syndrome.
It’s fun, actually, to watch them have a meltdown all over social media, because these are exactly the sort of people who made my life miserable for the past few years with their threats to get me fired, with their defamatory stickers (see below,) and with their attacks on city streets. To see that sort of person panic is akin to the feeling I get when I spray a roach with Lysol and watch it meet its maker, in insect heaven.
But then we have Marjorie Taylor Greene, another extremist from the other end of the political spectrum whose comments about Space Lasers and her devotion to Donald Trump, not to mention her general vibe, made me hold my nose whenever I saw her venting on TV about the Democrats. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that this woman would show the kind of courage that is lacking among more traditional conservatives like the Speaker of the House, a host of Justice Department appointees, the head of the Heritage Foundation and, on occasion, a few Supreme Court Justices.
It started when she told the Wizard (who appointed Dr.) Oz that Americans were not suffering, and that consumer prices were down. Her very pithy comment that he’s gaslighting the nation, because “people know what they’re paying at the grocery store, they know what they’re paying for their kids’ clothes and school supplies, they know what they’re paying for their electricity bills”was pitch perfect. Yes, we do know, and no, prices are not down. They are up. They may not be way up. But food is more expensive, clothing is more expensive and tariffs definitely have something to do with it. So you go girl, tell the Wizard that you can see behind that Oval Office screen.
And then, more tellingly, the congresswoman has been in the forefront of demanding the release of the Epstein files, as Trump promised during this campaign. She has joined other GOP leaders, mostly and not coincidentally women, in seeking access to all the records.
MTG is not doing this because she hates Trump. They had a long and fruitful romance. This is one of the people who put the knife through the heart of Kevin McCarthy’s speakership, so she is no liberal. She loved Trump, she decried his two impeachments, she has stood by his side in so many battles. But apparently, she wasn’t willing to sell her soul for 30 pieces of bitcoin.
And for that, she is getting death threats from MAGA, just like Fetterman is getting them from leftists. Both of them have run afoul of the cultists, in a time when cults are gaining power and being an independent voice, even on just one or two issues, will get you excommunicated.
So I have to give this very Odd Couple credit. They might look strange, and indeed they do. But perhaps they are the new face of political courage. And at a time when people are afraid to break from the pack, that is a beautiful thing.
