Fetterman’s ‘grabbing the hog’ tweet degrades the institution of the Senate
Salena Zito
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BRADDOCK, Pa. — Four days after Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) tweeted he was driving to Michigan to join the United Auto Workers on the picket line, and two days after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) eased the Senate’s dress code so the junior senator from Pennsylvania could wear the gym clothes he favors, Fetterman issued a vulgar post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in response to a news story about upending norms.
“I figure if I take up vaping and grabbing the hog during a live musical, they’ll make me a folk hero,” the U.S. senator posted. He was referring to an incident in which Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) was kicked out of a musical for vaping and fondling her date during the show.
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At first glance, it looks like something a satirical account would issue, so I checked with Fetterman spokesman Joe Calvello to see if it was indeed the senator’s account. Calvello assured me it was, so then I checked to see what the word “hog” meant in his tweet.
Calvello texted in response, “I think you can figure that out for yourself.”
As someone who has been around long enough to see the meaning of words changing and loathing to assuming anything, I pressed. Calvello assured me I was not assuming anything, and Fetterman indeed meant a “male reproductive organ.”
Let’s set aside the outside-the-box clothing and the goofy responses to reporters’ questions. Let’s pause for a moment and really think about this. Is this the appropriate way for a U.S. senator to behave in a very public forum?
G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Millersville College, says no, “It is not appropriate,” adding, “Also it’s totally irrelevant to the issue he was responding to on Twitter.”
“Certainly there’s a legitimate question about dress,” Madonna said. “I’m not suggesting they shouldn’t have changed the dress code for members. That’s a legitimate question to debate, but to bring up activities of another kind that aren’t related, I mean, doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?”
T. J. Rooney, the former chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said he grows weary of members of both parties either breaking with norms or diminishing the integrity of our country’s institutions.
“I never really understood the purpose of this behavior, I guess he was making some point, but it was graphic and it’s got to straighten up. I mean, it’s not good… Nobody should dumb down the conversation, ever, because it just is another way to disrespect institutions by speaking in ways that are not befitting,” he said.
Rooney stressed that his opinion does not come from being an “old geezer.” He’s not; at 58, he is only four years older than the 54-year-old Fetterman.
“I don’t mind people having had it. But honesty it just gives more people reason to dislike politics and that’s just not good for anybody,” said Rooney.
Since June 2022, one month after he suffered a life-threatening stroke, Fetterman has flooded his Twitter feed with memes and mean girl posts that initially went after his Republican 2022 opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and continued with the same themes against Republicans in general since then.
Rooney isn’t sure if Fetterman’s unorthodox invocation of stroking a male appendage will cause other state party Democrats, such as Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) or other Democratic members of the Pennsylvania delegation, to need to answer for his behavior.
“Well it certainly can’t make them feel comfortable,” Rooney said.
Rooney said the elected officials who might get the worst of it because of Fetterman’s behavior are school board members.
“That’s who really bear the in-your-face brunt of it,” he said. “When things begin to deteriorate, unfortunately, in this case, it’s as much from the bottom up as it is the top down because people just emulate on the local level things that they see.”
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Rooney said, “If your U.S. senator thinks it’s okay and nobody says it’s not, then it becomes okay, [even though] it’s not,” he said.
“The truth is this was an unavoidable way of demeaning the service; the otherwise noble service is demeaned by one-liners and gotcha tweets.”