John Fetterman and The Hundred Days of the Dragon
February 6, 2025
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I don’t put much stock in conspiracy theories, so it’s ironic that I’m creating one of my own here.
We’re all familiar with the pilgrimages that scores of politicians, social media moguls, and billionaires have made to Mar-a-Lago. I really didn’t pay much attention to them, because the excursions always had the same result: the visitors pledging an undying oath of fealty to that convicted felon, Donald J. Trump.
But then last month, Pennsylvania U.S. Senator John Fetterman accepted an invitation to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the first Democrat to meet with the then President-elect since the election.
I found this odd, in that neither man had anything good to say about the other prior to the election. Fetterman said that Trump was "no different than any other random internet troll.” Trump said of Fetterman "He's the most dangerous Democrat seeking to join Congress this year, and one of the most fringe, far-left freakshows ever to seek election for any office in any state."
After their encounter, the tone was quite different.
“It was a totally fascinating meeting. He’s a fascinating man, and his wife is lovely. They were both up, and I couldn’t be more impressed. He’s a commonsense person. He’s not liberal or conservative. He’s just a commonsense person, which is beautiful,” Trump said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
Fetterman told The View, “Overall, it was a positive experience. I mean, he was kind, he was cordial. It wasn’t in any kind of theater. It wasn’t trying to get your picture taken to kind of put something out on social media. It was just, really, a conversation. We actually spoke for over an hour.”
I’ve followed Fetterman since he became mayor of Braddock, PA. I grew up in Homestead, just a few miles down the Monongahela River. Homestead and Braddock were quite similar- both had former Carnegie steel works, both had Carnegie-endowed libraries, and both suffered greatly when U.S. Steel hit the skids in the ‘80s. But Braddock ended up in far worse shape than Homestead, and I admired Fetterman’s dedication to revitalizing the town.
Fetterman supported Bernie Sanders, and at the time I admired both men because their positions on the issues never changed throughout their careers.
Then Fetterman visited Mar-a-Lago, and he seemed to lose the progressive fervor that had convinced me to vote for him for lieutenant governor and then US senator. He joined Trump’s social media platform and called Trump “a singular political talent”.
Always a staunch supporter of Israel, he stunned many by saying he’d support Trump’s potential American occupation of the Gaza Strip and that he’d “fully support” the use of American troops.
Fetterman’s radical change reminded me of something. While browsing YouTube, I stumbled across this:
The Hundred Days of the Dragon (link to video) is the second episode of the original The Outer Limits television series. The Wikipedia summary:
An Asian government develops a reliable means of changing a person's physical appearance and fingerprints, by rendering tissues "malleable in molecular arrangement", and uses it to replace a U.S. presidential candidate with his double.
Perhaps during those trips to Mar-a-Lago, the visitors are replaced with compliant MAGA folk, who will do and say whatever Trump directs.
But why did Trump wait so long to invite Fetterman? My guess is it was difficult to find a potential synthetic doppelgänger. (Fetterman is six foot eight.)
The episode was produced in 1963. Certainly the procedure has progressed since then:
Well, it makes sense to me.
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Among other things, today is- in no particular order of importance-
International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, Lame Duck Day, National Chopsticks Day, National Frozen Yogurt Day, National Sweater Day (Canada), Pay-a-Compliment Day and Ronald Reagan Day
Some persons born on this date with quotable quotes (Click on link after name for quotes):
1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948)
1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
1917 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (d. 2016)
1932 – François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
1939 – Mike Farrell, American actor, director, producer, and activist
Other birthdays:
1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
1931 – Rip Torn, American actor (d. 2019)
1943 – Fabian Forte, American pop singer and actor
On This Day:
1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.
1951 – The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.
1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
1965 - Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin’” hits #1
1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.
1992 - Late Night with David Letterman 10th Anniversary Show At Radio City Music Hall
1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
2014 - Jay Leno hosted "The Tonight Show" for the final time
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