Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., met with President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend at Mar-a-Lago to discuss issues including U.S. steel and support for Israel. Fetterman stands out as one of the few Senate Democrats who has consistently demonstrated unwavering support for the Jewish state.
“It was a totally fascinating meeting,” Trump told the Washington Examiner in an exclusive interview following the meeting. “He’s a fascinating man and his wife is lovely. … I couldn’t be more impressed.”
The steel industry is crucial to Pennsylvania’s economy, and Trump has pledged to support Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza upon taking office.
According to The Examiner, Trump and Fetterman also discussed the president-elect’s proposal for the United States to pursue a strategic acquisition of Greenland.
Fetterman is notably the first Senate Democrat to meet with Trump following his 2024 presidential victory.
“He’s a common sense person. He’s not liberal or conservative,” Trump said of the Pennsylvania Democrat.
Fetterman discussed his decision to accept Trump’s Mar-a-Lago invite last week. “We are going to have a conversation,” the senator said of their planned meeting.
“I think that one, he’s the president, or he will be officially,” the maverick senator told CBS News. “And I think it’s pretty reasonable that if the president would like to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — to have it. And no one is my gatekeeper.”
“I’ve been very clear that I have ongoing conversations with people that are going to have an impact on Pennsylvania and for the nation,” he said. “And I am a senator for Pennsylvania, not just for Democrats. I am a senator for everyone in Pennsylvania.”
As most Democrats scoffed at Trump’s plans to gain control of Greenland, Fetterman did not dismiss the idea.
“I have no idea what’s going to exactly come up. So, I mean, regardless of whatever comes up, that’s going to be part of the conversation,” he said to CBS News.
He later joked with reporters who asked him why he was going to meet with the president-elect, saying, “I’m angling to be named the pope of Greenland.”
In December Fetterman placed blame for the Democrat defeat on former House Speaker and Democrat California Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
During an interview with Politico, Fetterman went after Pelosi when asked if he thought President Joe Biden should have dropped out of the race after the terrible debate with Donald Trump.
“People like [Nancy] Pelosi, she really tried to — what’s the word I’m looking for? — she embraced this ‘she’s the godmother, she’s the enforcer.’ And now she’s blaming Biden,” Fetterman said, holding nothing back while blaming Pelosi for trying to pull power moves.
“Well, you can’t have it both ways. You got what you wanted,” he added, referring to Biden’s ouster and the installment of Kamala Harris, “and now you’re still blaming Biden.”
Democrats have split into various feuding factions and are blaming one another for their failure to retake the House of Representatives, their loss of the Senate, and their defeat by Trump in the presidential race. Pelosi has claimed that Biden should not immediately have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and suggested that the decision led to her embarrassing defeat.
“I think it’s really ironic that you have a woman at age 84, and she is still hanging on. Why not give a younger generation an opportunity to occupy that seat?” he added.
He then spoke out against Harris and other Democrats who say Trump followers are “fascists” because of their political views.
“I love people that are absolutely going to vote for Trump. They’re not fascists. They’re not those things. I think if you go to the tickle switch, use those kinds of terms, then it’s kind of hard to walk back on those things,” he continued.
“That’s kind of a word that really isn’t part of the vernacular for voters. Scolding harder or clutching the pearls harder, that’s never going to work for Democrats,” Fetterman concluded.
