Sumbitch. If you'd have ever told me I'd look at John Fetterman and say "Hell yeah" I'd have laughed in your face. I am stunned. Well done Mr. F.
The Pennsylvania senator on the ‘bros’ vote, where he thinks he can work with Trump and the problem with Democrats calling Trump a fascist.
John Fetterman often has an uncanny sense of which presidential candidate is going to win Pennsylvania.
The Democratic senator
warned that Donald Trump was stronger than ever in the days leading up to the 2024 contest. He was bullish about Joe Biden in 2020 — and again this year, even after the president’s disastrous debate. Fetterman sounded alarms about Hillary Clinton in 2016, too,
when he said “the white male vote is going to decide the race.”
In an interview this week, we asked Fetterman why Trump carried Pennsylvania for a second time (with the help of the “bros” vote). He said Trump “has a special connection” to the state, pointing as an example to a “Walmart of Trump swag” in western Pennsylvania where “people are pulling up and buying that ****” at 9 p.m. like “fireworks on July 3rd.”
Fetterman said billionaire Elon Musk’s endorsement of Trump also mattered — and that Democrats looked “weak” when they tried unsuccessfully to stop his $1 million giveaway to voters. He also said the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, a 45-minute drive from his home, “changed everything.”
“Immediately after that, when I was out, I saw people with custom shirts with that image,” he said, referring to the iconic photo of Trump raising his fist after being shot. “It’s like, ‘They tried everything. They impeached this man, they put him on trial. You know, the media. And now they tried to kill him, and he survived.’ And he had the presence of mind to even respond, and created that. What if that was [Barack] Obama? Can you imagine what that would have meant to Democrats?”
We also talked with Fetterman about why he disagreed with Kamala Harris’ decision to call Trump a “fascist,” how Republicans overcame Democrats’ edge on abortion this year, and what issues he could work on with Trump.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
After Joe’s Biden debate over the summer,
We can both agree that he had a rough debate.
People like [Nancy] Pelosi, she really tried to — what’s the word I’m looking for? — she embraced this “she’s the godmother, she’s the enforcer.” And now she’s blaming Biden. Well, you can’t have it both ways. You got what you wanted, and now you’re still blaming Biden.
I think it’s really ironic that you have a woman at age 84 and she is still hanging on. Why not give a younger generation an opportunity to occupy that seat?
Given what we know now — how much of a red wave the election was, the fact that inflation was a big part of the results — do you think that Biden would have won?
We’ll never know if Biden would win or not. We knew it was going to be very close. It was really tough.
What did you make of Harris’ decision to call Trump a fascist?
I love people that are absolutely going to vote for Trump. They’re not fascists. They’re not those things. I think if you go to the tickle switch, use those kinds of terms, then it’s kind of hard to walk back on those things.
That’s kind of a word that really isn’t part of the vernacular for voters. Scolding harder or clutching the pearls harder, that’s never going to work for Democrats.
Looking back, do you think that the Ohio and Montana seats in the Senate were ever winnable? Or should Democrats have focused their resources elsewhere?
I said that Montana, Trump was going to carry it by 20 points. Everybody loves [Jon] Tester. I mean, he’s a real real. You can be incredibly strong, but nobody can bench press 1,000 pounds.
It’s strange that Democrats were absolutely committed to investing a lot of money in that situation, but then they ditched Biden.
[Sherrod] Brown is one of the hardest-working dudes I’ve ever witnessed, and he left everything on the field. But it’s also undeniable Ohio is a hard-red state.
Exit polls show men aged 18 to 29 voted for Trump. From going to your campaign events in 2022, I know you have a lot of supporters who are young men. You went on Joe Rogan’s podcast this year. What have you learned about how to appeal to these voters?
I think this election was a serious flex for bros. And you know, it was strange that Democrats are like, “Oh, childless cat ladies. How dare you.” Okay, that
is weird. I don’t know why [JD] Vance would say that — you can be pro-family without insulting people that choose not to have kids or are unable to have kids. But it’s the same thing. I mean, is the term “bros” positive? And the media use that so liberally, pejoratively. Like, well, they’re unsophisticated, they’re shallow, or they’re crass. And we dismiss them.
I don’t understand why you wouldn’t go on Rogan. I’ve always been a long-term fan of his. I don’t agree with him on everything. But don’t we all have the responsibility to challenge our views and to be a part of those conversations with people?
Forty-two million people witnessed the Trump interview [with Rogan]. The power that the platform that he created — to ignore that — I can’t imagine why anyone would do that.
I show up on Fox News, and they’ve played it straight. I was even on Newsmax and they played it straight. I’ll have a conversation with anybody if we play it straight.
One of the things that struck me was that none of the Harris abortion ads seemed to be aimed toward younger men. I would assume that a Barstool Sports guy would not want a national abortion ban. What did you make of that?
I’m straight up, 100 percent
Roe,
Roe,
Roe. It should have never changed. It should stand. But now it’s created a situation where states are able to select [abortion policies]. And I thought the GOP did as effective as they possibly could to kind of frame that. It’s like, “Well, hey, where it exists, we’re no problem with that.”
It’s kind of an equilibrium where we have pro- states and we have restricted states. I think enough Americans thought that’s kind of where we are on those things.
You might have some lunatics that would maybe argue for [a national abortion ban]. But I think anyone on the Republican side knows that “we’ve kind of won” in that sense.
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