John Fetterman says Democrats need to stop 'freaking out' over everything Trump does
In the closing weeks of the presidential campaign, Sen.
In the closing weeks of the presidential campaign, Sen. John Fetterman did something different than other Democrats.
He went on Joe Rogan’s podcast, a show Democrats had been urging Vice President Kamala Harris to do — and the kind of appearance Democrats feel their candidates need to get more comfortable making in the current media environment.
But Fetterman, who built a blunt, says-what-he-means brand, said Democratic setbacks in 2024 had more to do with unpopular positions progressives promoted than any lack of communication from the party’s center-left establishment.
“It’s not even what you might say as a candidate,” Fetterman said in an interview, adding “all of the very hard-left, kind of ‘woke’ things” Republicans used in advertising this year “are unloaded on the backs of all of us in purple states, and we’re paying for all of the things that our colleagues might say in these hard blue kinds of districts.”
That’s part of Fetterman’s broader post-election message for his party. Moving forward, he says, Democrats can’t get wrapped up in “freaking out” over every controversial move Trump makes, adding that has proven to be a losing formula for the party and its brand. He was speaking after Trump selected former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for attorney general and just before he tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
Rating: 5