U.S. Sen. John Fetterman discussed the state of the Democratic Party and reminded those shifting to the center on issues that their past may come back to bite them.
The Pennsylvania Democrat was responding to a question specifically about California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) during a NewsNation interview over the weekend. Host Natasha Zouves asked Fetterman about Newsom’s potential run for the White House in 2028, and whether his attacks on Republicans and President Donald Trump in particular make for a “winning strategy.”
Fetterman criticized the governor’s “trolling” before addressing Newsom’s seeming shift to appear less to the left on some top issues.
(Video Credit: NewsNation)
“We have seemingly seen Newsom shift more to the middle on hot-button issues,” Zouves said, before playing a clip of Newsom speaking with the late Charlie Kirk on the subject of men in women’s sports.
“You alluded to this earlier. Do you think the shift to the center really has to be the right move for the party going forward, whether it’s Newsom or anyone else?” the host asked Fetterman.
“Everyone’s going to go into the middle. But people [forget] that the internet exists and all of the clips and all of the outlandish things that they’ve said or they’ve done, that’s going to have about 20 or 30 million dollars that can pound you for those things,” the senator replied.
“So, it’s like, for all of the things that you say right now or the things now, you want to pander or monetize faux outrage now, you’re going to pay when you actually have to run in an election that you’re accountable,” he contiinued, “when you actually have Republicans and Democrat[s] and you have a purple situation where you have to find a way forward.”
“And that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do here during my time here in the Senate,” he added.
“So, as we see Newsom trying to position himself as more centrist, more moderate, do you think that some things in the past are going to come back to haunt him?” Zouves asked.
“Well, they’re all going — everyone will. They’ll pander, scream to the base, and then now — then they’re going to have to try to just walk it back or now just pretend that all these things weren’t said or done,” Fetterman replied.
“That’s how it works. And that’s one thing I refuse to do,” he said.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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