Fetterman: Democratic Party has ‘socialism problem’

Centrist Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) says the Democratic Party has a “socialism problem,” pointing to candidates such as Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, and Graham Platner, who dropped out of the Maine Senate race.

Fetterman, who is now more popular in his home state among Republicans than Democrats, warned that the Democratic Party is getting dragged down by “these garbage kinds of people like El-Sayed in Michigan.”

“I don’t care if he’s a fellow Democrat,” Fetterman told “Cats & Cosby” hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby.

He also pointed to Maine Senate Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, who has been endorsed by the Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and has similar views as Platner, a far-left progressive.

“Look what’s happening in Maine,” the Pennsylvania Democrat added.

“An accused rapist,” he said, referring to a rape allegation made against Platner by a woman who dated him several years ago. Platner denied the accusation, but it ultimately pushed him to drop out of the race.

“Look at these other terrible communists and socialists,” Fetterman said. “Our party has a socialism problem.

“I’ll be the one Democrat that calls it for what it is and not use the euphemism that it’s a big-tent situation,” he added.

“Democrats like El-Sayed are proud to campaign with garbage like Hasan Piker,” he said, noting that the popular streamer once declared “America deserved 9/11.”

Piker has since apologized for those comments, and El-Sayed in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” called the statement “dumb” and disavowed the remarks.

“Of course it was a dumb statement and of course I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement,” El-Sayed told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “He disavowed it. So yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11.”

Fetterman is one of the staunchest pro-Israel advocates in the Senate Democratic Conference and has become increasingly outspoken against progressive candidates who have gained traction within the party by criticizing Israel.

The Pennsylvania senator warned last month that he would leave the Democratic Party if it ever turned its back entirely on Israel.

“If our party ever becomes — and just makes it official — the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me,” he said during an interview at the Hill Nation Summit in Washington.

A recent New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena University poll of registered voters in Pennsylvania found that 73 percent of Republicans in the state have a favorable view of Fetterman.

The survey, which was conducted from April 28 to May 7 and from Aug. 17 to Aug. 21, found that about 6 in 10 registered Democrats view Fetterman unfavorably while around 2 in 10 Democrats view him favorably.