John Fetterman, David McCormick show unusual display of friendship at Sun Valley

John Fetterman and Dave McCormick showing up arm in arm at Sun Valley, cracking jokes for the cameras, is the kind of thing that would have gotten a senator run out of his own party twenty years ago. Now it barely registers as news except for how rare it's become. Two guys who represent the same state, disagree on plenty, and apparently still like each other. Imagine that.

We've written plenty about Fetterman drifting from his party on Israel, on border security, on the performative stuff Democrats seem to think matters more than results. This isn't about pretending he's suddenly one of ours. He isn't. But there's something worth noticing when a Democrat from Braddock and a hedge fund Republican from Pittsburgh's suburbs can sit at the same table without one of them getting torched on social media for it by his own side.

McCormick doesn't need Fetterman's approval to win in Pennsylvania, and Fetterman doesn't need McCormick's to survive in a state that's trending away from his party's coastal instincts. That's probably part of why this works. Neither man is performing for a base that demands total war with the other tribe. It's almost quaint watching two politicians act like adults who share a home state instead of hostages to their own consultants.

None of this means Washington is suddenly functional. One friendly photo op doesn't rewrite a Senate that can't pass a budget on time or agree on much of anything. But if more members treated the other side like neighbors instead of enemy combatants, maybe fewer of the actual fights would be this stupid. Pennsylvania sent two very different men to Washington. At least they seem to remember they're from the same place.