Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) defended the supporters of President Donald Trump on Wednesday night while speaking at the NewsNation Town Hall at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It was the latest comment from the Democratic senator that runs counter to the messaging of other elected officials in his party.
After years of Trump and his supporters being labeled “fascist” or called “Nazis” since Trump became the Republican front-runner for the presidency in the 2016 presidential campaign, Fetterman rebuked such insults, claiming that many of his loved ones were Trump supporters and such characterizations were untrue.
“I’m the only Democrat in my family,” said Fetterman. “I grew up in a conservative part of Pennsylvania. And I grew up, I knew, and I loved people that voted for President Trump. But they are not fascists. They’re not Nazis. They’re not trying to destroy the Constitution and those things.”
In September, Fetterman also criticized people who used “unchecked extreme rhetoric” in political discourse and slammed people who used the words “fascist” and “Nazi.” The senator made the comments in a post on X, which highlighted a recent study that revealed an increase in left-wing political violence in recent years.
“Unchecked extreme rhetoric, like labels as Hitler or fascist, will foment more extreme outcomes,” Fetterman said. “Political violence is always wrong — no exceptions,” the senator added. “We must all turn the temperature down.”
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Fetterman’s comments defending Trump and his supporters come days after he was one of several Pennsylvania Democrats who praised the president for his efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity. It also came a week after Fetterman said he would consider nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic efforts, including the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
“If this sticks, I think the whole point of having a Nobel Peace Prize is for ending wars and promoting peace,” Fetterman said during an interview on Fox News on Sunday. “And if he brings the Ukrainian war to its end, I will be the Democrat leading the committee for his Nobel Prize…”
