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Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) says he’s not going to switch parties, even though he doesn’t agree with the threats by Democratic leaders in Washington to shut down the federal government this week if they don’t get major concessions from Republicans on health care spending.
“No, I’m not going to switch,” Fetterman told Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Bartiromo pressed Fetterman about a possible party switch by arguing that “real extremists” have tried to “hijack the Democratic Party,” whether on “policy or the way they talk.”
Fetterman said he doesn’t agree with Democrats who try to villainize President Trump and his supporters as “Nazis or fascists.”
“If you want a Democrat that’s going to call people Nazis or fascists or all these kinds of things … I’m not going to be that guy,” he said.
Fetterman said he’s more drawn to “independent thinking and views,” regardless of whether “it’s the Republican or the Democratic voice.”
Fetterman’s independent streak has made him an attractive potential recruit for Republican senators, who would love to increase their majority to 54 seats by getting him to switch sides.
But the Pennsylvania senator has steadfastly declined entreaties to leave the Democratic Party.
During the Bartiromo interview, Fetterman defended his support for Israel and argued that had the United States pressured Israel to suddenly halt its military activities, it would not have eliminated senior Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon and Syria and would not have killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar a year ago.
“Now it’s endgame,” he said. “And this war does have to end, and that’s why [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s been forced to do this and go into Gaza City. That’s why I’m going to follow Israel, just as I’ve done for now going on two years.”
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