Speaking during a NewsNation town hall on the night of Wednesday, October 15, Sen. John Fetterman commented on what it is like to be a relatively normal Democrat who supports Israel, noting that most of his family members are conservative Trump supporters and that he abhors the sort of crazy rhetoric coming out of his party.
As background, Sen. Fetterman has routinely criticized the left-wing parts of his party, getting into seemingly routine fights with some of the more socialist elements like AOC over their delusional beliefs and the way those beliefs alienate Americans who just want to have government representatives who help them out.
For reference, when asked about the rise of socialism in his party, as shown by AOC and Mamdani in New York, he said, speaking of a conversation he had with a man in a formerly communist nation, “I said, ‘Some people in my party, some of the lefties are talking about socialism now. What do you think?’ And he’s like, ‘That’s the worst thing ever. You would never want to live here, I’ve lived through that kind of a thing.'” He added, “You’re going to need a reality check if you ever adopt any of those things. You know, like, you are morons. It’s like, it was a nightmare for us, and now we are a free market nation.’ It was Croatia.”
In any case, speaking more recently about the matter, in comments that came during a NewsNation town hall, Sen. Fetterman explained that his family tends to lean conservative, saying, “I’m the only Democrat in my family. I grew up in a conservative part of Pennsylvania and I grew up and I know and I love people that voted for President Trump.”
Continuing, he noted that he refuses to engage in the sort of radical rhetoric that other party members engage in, saying, “They are not fascists, they are not Nazis, they are not trying to destroy the Constitution, those things, and that’s part of another thing.”
Building on that point, the senator said, “I refuse to call people, you know, Nazis or fascists.” Further condemning and calling out that “extreme rhetoric” that most members of his party have become infamous for engaging in, Sen. Fetterman said it will make it “more likely” that there will be “extreme … outcomes and political violence.”
He added, commenting on how members of his party view him, “Parts of my base are really angry with me, which is really strange. I mean, run the numbers. I mean, I vote, I think 90%-plus Democrat … but my base, [they’re] very angry about me being fully, fully, unapologetically supportive of Israel.”
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Also, when asked if he has thought about leaving the Democratic Party as its views and policies increasingly fail to represent his own, the senator explained, “Those are some independent thoughts, but overall, I mean, you have to pick one side — Republican, Democrat — that’s always been my party.”
Watch Fetterman comment on those matters here: