Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., declared he's "not a progressive" in an interview with NBC News as he bucks the party on Israel and illegal immigration.
After months of left-wing frustration with Sen. John Fetterman’s, D-Penn., over his pro-Israel stance, the lawmaker officially declared he does align with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
In an interview with NBC News, the freshman U.S. senator said, "I’m not a progressive," and explained how he differs with leftists in the party on the subjects of Israel and illegal immigration.
"I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things. But with Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well," Fetterman said.
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Fetterman’s words come after weeks of him taking notably non-leftist positions on hot topics of the day.
Where many in the party have sympathized with the Palestinian’s struggles amid the Israel-Hamas War and have called for a "cease-fire" in the conflict, Fetterman has openly supported Israel’s right to defend itself, and has even mocked progressive protesters demanding he speak out against Israel’s war effort.
That's earned the ire of some of the far-left voices in the party and even former staffers who say they feel betrayed.
Separating from Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on the issue, NBC noted, "Fetterman’s fierce and unwavering support for Israel breaks sharply with demands by Sanders to withdraw U.S. military aid and has drawn searing criticism from the left as the Palestinian death toll soars amid the Israeli government’s bombing campaign in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas attack."
He also has freely criticized his party for not pushing out Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who was federally indicted for alleged involvement in a bribery scheme, in addition to bucking the party on calls for stronger border security.
Ripping Menendez, he told NBC, "He needs to go. I don’t understand why he can be here, having expelled [George] Santos. But I’m sure there might be a very innocent explanation of having gold bars in your mattress and overstuffed envelopes of cash."
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The outlet also mentioned his unique stance on immigration.
"Fetterman insisted he can be pro-immigration while also favoring policies to restrict the flow of migration to manageable levels, disagreeing with progressives who oppose new limits on asylum and bash some of the ideas in the negotiations as cruel," NBC reported.
He told NBC, "It’s a reasonable conversation — until somebody can say there’s an explanation on what we can do when 270,000 people are being encountered on the border, not including the ones, of course, that we don’t know about."
"To put that in reference, that is essentially the size of Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania," he added.
He continues to vote with President Biden's policies the vast majority of the time, however.
Fetterman was elected last year after a difficult 2022 race made more complicated by a stroke that nearly killed him and continues to make it difficult for him to process conversations. He also suffered from depression as a result and had to check into a hospital shortly after taking office this year.
Left-wing outlet The New Republic wrote Friday that Fetterman had "officially divorced himself from the progressive movement."
However, his chief of staff Adam Jentleson said he’s "always had" these positions.
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"He’s just being consistent," Jentleson told NBC News, adding, "He spent the entire campaign telling people he wasn’t a down-the-line lefty."
