Maverick Democrat Sen. John Fetterman has admitted being perplexed about his wild popularity among Republican voters, while rebuffing an overture from Lara Trump to switch parties.
Fetterman (D-Pa.) again acknowledged that he’s been “isolated” within the Democratic Party at times due to his staunch defense of Israel and willingness to punch the far-left.
“I go everywhere. I do most of a lot of the shopping. And people will approach me, and it’s almost uniformly very positive,” Fetterman said during a prerecorded interview on “My View with Lara Trump” that dropped Saturday.
“I can’t fully understand — I’ve seen polling — why I’m so popular with Republicans. I don’t really understand that, but I’m always going to treat both sides with respect.”
The Keystone State Democrats stressed that he refuses to use hot rhetoric to describe Republicans and won’t call them fascists or Nazis, contending that it’s best to “disagree in a respectful way.”
Fetterman has a 77% approval rating among Republicans in Pennsylvania, and a 69% disapproval rating among Democrats, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted earlier this month.
Some Republicans such as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) have made overtures to Fetterman and tried to recruit him. But Fetterman has repeatedly rejected that, with the caveat that the one issue that could get him to turn is if Democrats become ardently anti-Israel.
Lara Trump told Fetterman that the Republican Party would “love” to have him switch sides, but the senator rejected that pitch.
“My whole family is Republican, and I think they love me,” Fetterman quipped, noting his dad watching him on the show does. “My criticism is directed at the extreme, in my view, indefensible kinds of views [of] things.”
“People that are winning the primaries, they are almost always anti-Israel and then anti-American, and they’ve been forced to delete all the outlandish things that they’ve said.”
Fetterman recounted how he has fought against Democrats during government shutdown standoffs and refused to turn against Israel.
Despite his reputation, GovTrack ranks Fetterman as more liberal than over a dozen Senate Democrats based on his voting record in the upper chamber.
The hulking senator also grumbled over how he takes slings and arrows for dinging the party when it goes too far to the left, but hardcore lefties get off easy for attacking moderate Democrats.
“There’s also been a double standard. People, whether it’s [Bernie] Sanders or other people, are allowed to criticize Democrats, but when I call out the extreme … I get the criticism like ‘why are you going on Fox?’” Fetterman grumbled.
“I’ll have a conversation with anyone that’s going to play it straight as you and Fox has.”
