Fetterman says 'moral clarity' drives his widening break with the Democratic Party

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said that "moral clarity," and not party politics, is his guiding principle, Saturday, as he described a widening break with Democratic colleagues over his support for Israel and opposition to the ongoing government shutdown.

"There's been a fracturing between me and my party... primarily it's been Israel," Fetterman said on "Life, Liberty & Levin," noting that he was one of the few Democrats to support Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

"That might isolate me politically, but I've had no regrets because I've always felt that's the moral clarity, and I never checked, you know, whatever politics are behind it," he said.

Fetterman criticized Democrats who campaigned with streamer Hasan Piker, a far-left internet personality who has taken heat for his controversial statements.

In one of Piker's more widely criticized moments, he said during a stream in 2019 that "America deserved 9/11," later admitting in an interview that those comments were "inappropriate."

He has also called religious Jews "inbred," defended Hamas as being "a thousand times better" than Israel, mocked discussions of antisemitism on college campuses and said it "doesn't matter" if rapes occurred during Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

"Democrats have to decide, whose side are you in? Are you proud to stand with that kinds of an individual or stand with Israel?" Fetterman asked.

"I may have lost the socialist vote and the pro-Iran vote in my party, but that's part of my party that's growing, unfortunately."

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Fetterman also broke from some of his colleagues on the government shutdown, taking a firm stance against it because of the harm to federal employees.

"That used to be the Democratic Party position, 'We'd never, ever shut our government down. That's the wrong thing. You're going to hurt workers, you're going to hurt America.'"

"What was deeply offensive to me was [Democrats] knew it would have no direct or indirect impact on ICE," he said.

Democrats' demands for ICE reforms and Republicans' refusal to acquiesce have been main drivers of the ongoing government shutdown as Congress has failed to approve funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

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The Pennsylvania Democrat argued TSA agents already had a difficult job, and now they've gone without pay for more than 40 days.

"That should be the kind of people we're fighting for," Fetterman said. "And we betrayed them for the wrong reasons."

"We have a responsibility as senators to keep our government open, and we find a way forward without punishing all these innocent workers and making our nation less safe."