One of the Senate’s most controversial members has just dropped a truth bomb on his own party that many of them are not going to appreciate.
In an interview with NBC News, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) spoke frankly about his political positions, noting that he’s “not a progressive,” a statement that comes after his vehement support for Israel in its war against Hamas and calls for tougher immigration and border policies.
The outlet noted further: He’s also continually scolding Democrats for not pushing Sen. Bob Menendez out of office after he was indicted on federal charges of taking bribes and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt, which the New Jersey Democrat denies.
In the 2022 campaign, Fetterman’s ties to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., prompted GOP opponent Mehmet Oz to tell voters he’d be a mere “sidekick” for the democratic socialist. But Fetterman’s recent stances point to an unorthodox brand of blue-collar liberalism, with a dash of outsider populism, in a purple state that is expected to be hotly contested again in the 2024 elections.
He also told the outlet that his fellow Democrats should not be surprised by his quasi-independent streak.
“I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things. But with Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well,” he said.
Fetterman emphasized that he can support pro-immigration policies while also favoring measures to manage the flow of migration — which is a position held by most conservatives — differing from progressives who oppose new limits on asylum and criticize certain ideas in the negotiations as cruel.
“It’s a reasonable conversation — until somebody can say there’s an explanation on what we can do when 270,000 people are being encountered on the border, not including the ones, of course, that we don’t know about,” he said. “To put that in reference, that is essentially the size of Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania.”
The Democratic senator added that though it’s “not ideal to have this conversation” about asylum and parole policy linked to a multi-billion dollar aid package for Israel and Ukraine, “it’s still one that we should have,” especially after Republicans have border security and immigration enforcement an essential condition to advance the supplemental bill, NBC News noted.
“Progressives better do that because we can’t leave Israel — we can’t sell them out, and we can’t sell Ukraine out, and we have to deliver on this,” Fetterman said. “I just would very much like to get a deal to deliver this critical aid.”
When the conversation turned to Menendez, Fetterman began to laugh.
“Oh, Bob Menendez,” he said. “What a guy. What a guy. He’s still running his mouth against Biden right now.”
“He needs to go. I don’t understand why he can be here, having expelled Santos,” he said. “But I’m sure there might be a very innocent explanation of having gold bars in your mattress and overstuffed envelopes of cash.”
Earlier this month, the GOP-led House expelled now-former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who is facing a number of federal charges related to his 2022 campaign.
Some Republicans have been pleasantly shocked by Fetterman’s stances.
“For a lot of Republicans, it’s been a pleasant surprise,” Christopher Nicholas, a longtime GOP strategist based in Pennsylvania, told NBC News. “Here is a freshman taking some strong stances. … I just see someone who’s ‘Well, that’s what I think, and I say what I think.’”
He’s particularly surprised that Fetterman continues to focus on Menendez.
“I know how clubby the Senate is, having worked for Arlen Specter for 18 years. So I get it,” Nicholas said. “But I find it perplexing that you haven’t had a lot of other Democratic members of the Senate saying it. Perhaps that’s because he’s a freshman and he hasn’t been totally inculcated into the ‘Here in the Senate we do things differently’ line of thinking.”
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