Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman says he is not a typical Democrat anymore, but keep in mind he does still support President Joe Biden.
But the senator has gained many conservative and Republican fans in recent times for his stances on illegal immigration, the war between Israel and Hamas, and more.
He appeared on the HBO show “Real Time” and said to host Bill Maher, who also often butts heads with progressive Democrats, that he is not frightened of speaking his mind anymore.
“When I see you, especially the last couple of years, you speak so freely. You speak like what politicians who I get on this show who aren’t in politics anymore, the ones who are out of office when they can be honest, and that’s the way you speak now, and it’s a beautiful thing,” the host said.
“Honestly, and this is true, you speak for a lot of Democrats that are afraid to say a lot of that stuff. I mean, it’s a lot of release for a lot of Democrats to be able to be like, ‘Thank God, someone’s actually platforming that,’” the senator said.
“No, I think we’re very much on the same page, but it’s very rare. I don’t have to worry about being reelected except by the audience,” Maher said.
“Which I think makes you even braver for doing it. The question that I’m interested in asking you — is this connected to some of your health issues? I mean, when you’ve gone through what you have, both physical and mental health issues, does it give you freedom?” he said.
“Yeah, absolutely. There’s a line from the first ‘Batman,’ Joker he’s like ‘I’ve already been dead once already. It’s very liberating,’” said Fetterman.
“That’s not reckless, that’s just freeing. It’s just freeing, in a way. And I just think after beating all of that, I just really want to be able to say the things that I have to really believe in and not be afraid of if there’s any kind of blowback,” he said.
“I heard you once say that ‘I’m not a progressive, I’m a Democrat.’ What does that mean? I don’t think I’ve used the word progressive. I think I’ve said woke. I think there is a big difference between ‘woke’ and I know that word triggers a lot of people because it had a great beginning as a meaning, but words migrate, and it went to something else. I think there is a big difference between an old-school liberal and a woke, you said, progressive Democrat. How do you describe this?” the host said.
“I agree. And I’ve been saying that for years. I said I didn’t leave the label, it left me on that. After what happened on October 7, I really knew that whole progressive stack would be blasted apart and there would not be any kind of way how the Democrats are going to be able to reply to that kind of response. And I really decided early on that I believe that was gonna be the right side with Israel throughout all of that. And I knew that Democrats would continue to peel away and kind of walk away from standing with Israel on that. But that’s where I decided –,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said.
“How do you explain that, if you can? That the people who consider themselves the most liberal have abandoned Israel, which was always a liberal darling for the people who- the terrorist organization who outwardly say they want a genocide, who outwardly are on the one side who is against the two-state solution. Somehow, they wound up with them. Why do you think that is, and will this split the Democratic party?” Maher asked.
“Well, it does because there’s an appeal there. I think you talked about that like last week. You really hit with the gender apartheid. You’ve talked about a lot of these issues. And some of the most progressive and left parts of the Democratic party are standing for the kind of side that have kinds of organizations like Hamas or these kinds of nations that there are no rights for women and they certainly don’t embrace the LGBTQ kinds of lifestyle,” the senator said.
“And even in Philadelphia, the Queers for Palestine blocked the Pride Parade in Philadelphia, and I never saw that on the Bingo card,” he said.