Fetterman: Dem Party’s Brand Has Become ‘Toxic’

For being a Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) sometimes doesn’t sound like one.

Fetterman went on the “Somebody’s Gotta Win” podcast Thursday and said his party’s brand has become “toxic” after “shaming and scolding” voters. 

Host Tara Palmeri asked Fetterman about the state of the Democratic Party, per Fox News.

“I think their primary currency was shaming and scolding and talking down to people and telling them ‘Hey, I know better than you, or you’re dopes, or you’re a bro, or you’re ignorant or, how can you be this dumb? I can’t imagine it. And then, by the way, they’re fascists. How can you vote for that?’” he said.

“And you know, when you’re in a state like Pennsylvania, I know and I love people that voted for Trump, and they’re not fascist,” he added. “They don’t support insurrection and those things. And if you go to an extreme, and you become a boutique kind of proposition, then you’re going to lose the argument. And we have done that.” 

He added the 2024 election was a “gut-check kind of vote.”

He explained votes were cast based on who was “going to protect or project [their] personal view of the American way of life.” 

Fetterman is not sure the party can regain the supporters it has lost.

“I think that’s been seriously eroding for a while. And in some cases, in the conversations I’ve had, a lot of people, they don’t even want to say it publicly, but they just feel like the other side seems like … the men’s the problem,” Fetterman said. “Men are to blame. Or their masculinity is toxic. Or unless you’re able to conform to our very strict kinds of definition of what we think is appropriate, well then, hey, I’m going to find an alternative. And they’ve done that. That’s absolutely true.” 

Getting that demographic back can be tricky, Fetterman said.

“And once [they’ve] kind of turned their back on that demographic, it’s going to be difficult to rebuild and replace that with those voters, because I think that migration has been an ongoing phenomenon for several years and that has been in front and center in part of the election in ’24,” he said.

X users posted their approval of Fetterman’s assessment.