Senator John Fetterman was one of the handful of Democrats who opted to vote alongside Republicans to reopen the government over the weekend, and during his Tuesday appearance on “The View,” host Sunny Hostin called him out directly for it. According to the ABC host, he and his colleagues brought “a butter knife to a gunfight.”
Hostin was quick to point out that fellow Democrats like Sen. Bernie Sanders called the move a “horrific mistake,” while California governor Gavin Newsom called it “pathetic” and a “surrender. The ABC host also questioned the decision following Democrats’ sweeping victories on election night last Tuesday.
“Poll after poll found more Americans on both sides of the aisle blaming Republicans. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed the GOP!” Hostin said. “As you mentioned, Democrats had big wins last week. So you had momentum. Why give in now? Why bring a butter knife to a gunfight?!”
On Sunday, Fetterman and nine other Democrats teamed with Republicans on a deal, despite the rest of the Democratic party remaining steadfast against it until Republicans agreed not to strip ACA subsidies from millions of people. Instead, Republicans simply promised to vote on the health care issue, but did not set a date for that vote, or promise that the subsidies would actually remain intact.
“Are you willing to gamble that the GOP will negotiate on health care in good faith once the government reopens?” Hostin pressed. “Because if that gamble is wrong, half a million Pennsylvanians, that you represent, their health care costs will skyrocket if you are wrong! And I believe you are wrong!”
For his part, Fetterman maintained his calm and immediately dismissed the idea of ever taking any cues from Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“If Democrats are celebrating Crazy Pants like that, then that’s on them,” he said. “And I don’t need a lecture from, whether it’s Bernie or the governor in California, because they are representing very deep blue kinds of populations. And a lot of those things were part of the extreme.”
Fetterman argued against leaning extremely to one side, considering purple states like his.
