Jon Stewart appeared to confront Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) on his threat to leave the Democratic Party if it adopted an “anti-Israel” stance, telling the politician it was a “weird line to draw.”
The comedian asked Fetterman about his “red line” regarding Israel during their conversation on “The Weekly Show,” which releases its new episode in full on Wednesday.
“So, for you, you could agree with them 90%, but Israel is the red line,” Stewart asked in a sneak peek shared on X Tuesday.
“Absolutely,” Fetterman replied. “I can’t ever turn my back to Israel after where it’s at.’
Stewart doubled down on his question, telling the senator that he did not mean any “disrespect,” adding, “But that is not our country. You’re saying that these candidates may’ve had great ideas for our economy, they may want to do the same exact thing you want to do, in terms of getting money out of politics, they may want to increase the social safety net, they may want to change the balance of power from capital back to labor, but if they don’t agree with you on Israel, you don’t want them in your party.”
Fetterman side stepped responding to this comment by asking Stewart to clarify who exactly he was referring to in this scenario. When presented with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) as examples, Fetterman declared that Democratic Socialists of America members should “run under [their] own banner.”
“I think Bill Maher said something very insightful,” he continued. “He said the DSA are colonizing the Democratic Party. So, just be Democrats if you’re running under the Democratic Party. Why have a DSA party?”
Stewart remained unconvinced, however, defending the DSA is “just an organization.”
“We have a two-party system,” Stewart added. “It’s like the Freedom Caucus in the Republican party. There’s Randy Fine and [Andy] Ogles and all these nut bags that are also part of an area, and Republicans, I’m sure, may not agree with all of them on all kinds of things. But there is no other party.”
Stewart highlighted that even New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani disagrees with certain platform points, despite being a staunch member of the DSA.
“And I’m assuming there’s probably things in the Democratic platform that you disagree with,” Stewart said. “But you don’t disavow the entire thing. You’re literally saying, ‘We can all have discussions – except when it comes to Israel.’ Which is not America.”
He added: “It seems like a weird line to draw.”
Fetterman disagreed, defending that “when people turn their backs to the Jewish community things end really badly.” Though, as Stewart pointed out, “Jewish community and Israel are not the same thing, brotherman.”
Watch the pair’s back-and-forth above.
Fetterman seemingly threatened to leave the Democratic Party last month, noting, “If our party ever becomes, and just make it official, as the anti-Israel party … that’s when I would leave because that’s a bit of moral clarity for me.”
Though, on Friday, he appeared to walk back this threat, telling the New York Times he would “never” switch parties.
“I’m not being cute,” he said. “I vote 90-something percent with Democrats.”
