Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, is encouraging his party to remain calm following their recent defeat to President-elect Trump earlier this month. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Fetterman stated that the panic and outrage exhibited by his party in the aftermath of Trump’s victory have only made him stronger and rendered liberals ineffective. “We’re not even at Thanksgiving, and Democrats just can’t stop losing our minds every fifteen minutes. We really need to pace ourselves, or, you know, FFS [for f—‘s sake], just grab a grip,” he told Times reporter Jess Bidgood.
The lawmaker made the point in response to Bidgood asking if Democratic leaders “need to do an analysis of what went wrong,” noting that the party should take its time to reassess its positions and political strategies rather than flying off the handle over everything Trump says or does. “Realize that this is how elections go. At least for the next two years, they’re going to have the opportunity to write the narrative and to drive the narrative,” Fetterman continued.
The reporter asked Fetterman for specifics on how the party should respond to the president-elect’s cabinet picks. He advised being patient and avoiding extreme resistance. “I’m just saying, buckle up and pack a lunch because it’s going to be four years of this. And if you have a choice to freak out, you know, on the hour, then that’s your right. But I will not,” he said, adding, “I’m not that dude, and I’m not that Democrat. I’m going to pick my fights.”
Adding a word of warning to his colleagues, he said, “If you freak out on everything, you lose any kind of relevance.” Bidgood followed up by asking if liberals have “done too much freaking out” about the 47th president-elect. “It’s symbiotic. One feeds off the other. The Democrats can’t resist a freakout, and that must be the wind under the wings for Trump,” Fetterman said. He noted further that the “freakout and all the anxiety and all that should have been before Nov. 5.”
“Does clutching the pearls so hard — does that change anything?” he said. “Did it work? Did it change the election? Was it productive? And, like, I can’t believe the outrage. That has to be candy for Trump.” The incoming president secured a victory in Pennsylvania, as well as the other six so-called “battleground” states. This result marked the fifth consecutive election in which the winner of Pennsylvania also won the White House. Fetterman, who was first elected to the Senate in 2022, had consistently highlighted Trump’s strong support in the state, despite President Joe Biden carrying Pennsylvania in the 2020 election.
