Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is urging the Democratic Party to look at the big picture rather than reacting to every decision or social media post from President-elect Donald Trump.
“It’s still not even not even Thanksgiving yet. If we’re having meltdowns over every tweet or every appointment or all those things — I mean, it’s going to be four years,” Fetterman said on CNN’s State of the Union.
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.@SenFettermanPA: Dems can’t “freak out” over “every tweet or every appointment” after Trump’s victory.
“It’s still not even Thanksgiving yet… it’s going to be four years.” pic.twitter.com/pRUh6SCkCb
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) November 17, 2024
Fetterman opined that Trump had won the “jackpot” this year, with Republicans controlling the House of Representatives and the Senate in addition to the presidency at least through the end of 2026.
But he cautioned that while fighting back is important, a sense of perspective must be kept in order for Democrats to maintain focus.
“[Republicans] can run the table right now,” Fetterman warned. “They have the absolute ability to run the table, at least for the next two yers. And that’s what I think we should all be concerned on, not small tweets or random kinds of appointments.”
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Trump lit up official Washington this week with controversial cabinet picks, including Tulsi Gabbard Director of National Intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Human Services Secretary, and former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for Attorney General.
Fetterman made clear he doesn’t love all of the choices while maintaining that members of his party shouldn’t freak out.
The Pennsylvania senator praised the selection of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for Secretary of State and Rep. Elise Stefanik for United Nations ambassador, but said picks like Gaetz are just “absolute trolls.”
Fetterman got into the Senate by beating Trump-backed Republican Dr. Oz in 2022, but has since emerged as a moderate voice in the upper chamber.
He previously warned blue state Democrats that their more aggressively partisan messages can hurt Democrats in purple states like his own. Trump won Pennsylvania this cycle, and incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) appears to have been unseated by Dave McCormick.
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Fetterman said the fact that Trump’s high-profile assassination attempt took place in Pennsylvania probably helped his case there, along with the fact that Trump surrogate Elon Musk spent so much time and money in the Keystone state.
“There’s going to be a lot of hot takes,” Fetterman said of post-election punditry. “There were a lot of hot takes before this election. But it’s undeniable here we are now because of a lot of the decisions that were made before the election.”