John Fetterman and the “Dirtbag Left”

Photograph Source: Maayan Toaf – CC BY-SA 3.0

A divide is growing in the Democratic Party between democratic socialist upstarts and establishment Democrats. We saw the divide last Tuesday, June 23, when three members of Democratic Socialists of America won Congressional primaries in New York. The three were endorsed by New York City’s charismatic democratic socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani. Democratic socialists and other progressives also came out on top in Maine, New Jersey, California, and Philadelphia.

Not everyone is feeling the love, however. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) told the conservative New York Post that “the Democratic Party is becoming an orgy of socialism,” which makes the Democratic Party sound more fun than it is.

Fetterman dismisses the socialists with a term Amber A’Lee Frost, co-host of the Chapo Trap House podcast, coined to describe herself and the podcast: “dirtbag left.” What differentiates the dirtbag left is largely a matter of style. It’s a style that is marked by irreverance, vulgar humor, and lack of decorum. When President Trump came down with Covid, the Chapo Trap House hosts gleefully looked forward to his death.

In remarks to Fox News a few days after the primaries, Fetterman didn’t merely call the victors “dirtbag left”; he said they’re “not Democrats.” Or “socialists.” They’re “communists,” “many of them,” who ought to “form their own party and run on all the things that they’ve had to delete on social media.”

The Left invested great hopes in Fetterman. There were signs that the Left’s hopes would be disappointed as early as December 2023 when Fetterman, not quite a year into his first term, told NBC News: “I’m not a progressive.”

No Freebies from Big John

Fetterman angered progressives by his vote during the federal government shutdown in October and November 2025. This was the third government shutdown under Trump. It happened because Congress was unable to pass a continuing budget resolution. Passage of a resolution had been stalled for weeks over the expanded (also called “enhanced”) Obamacare subsidies which were to expire at the end of December. Democrats wanted to continue the subsidies, Republicans didn’t.

The federal government had been shut down since October 1 when finally eight Democratic senators, Fetterman included, voted for a Republican continuing budget resolution.

The eight Democrats said that they capitulated because reopening the........

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