Stephen A. Smith: Fetterman ‘pretty much spitting in the face of Democrats who elected him’

Commentator Stephen A. Smith slammed Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) for making a video appearance at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention on its opening night Wednesday.

Appearing on NewsNation after Fetterman’s video played, Smith said “hell no” when asked by host Chris Cuomo if he believed it was “common sense for Fetterman to make that video.”

“It is one thing to support the president’s policies about 28 percent of the time, which is more than any senator has done, which he has done. It is one thing to be against socialism,” Smith said.

“It’s another thing entirely to be a Democrat and be a part of a hype video at a Republican convention. That is just pretty much spitting in the face of Democrats who elected you to office,” he said.

The video Fetterman appeared in introduced his fellow Pennsylvania senator, Sen. Dave McCormick (R), whom Fetterman called “the kind of senator who gets the job done.”

“Why am I here talking to you today?” Fetterman said in the video. “Because, well, I’m a commonsense Democrat.”

The senator also added that he would always “reject the extremes in socialism and the anti-American way of life.”

Smith lauded Fetterman’s stance on socialism but warned that “being a part of a hype video and showing a fawning of support for the president in the way that he has elected to do so is an eerie reminder, or it looks pretty damn identical to what some people in his own damn administration look like.”

Fetterman confirmed Wednesday night after the video aired that he would still caucus with the Democratic Party in the Senate.

“I’m a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party — and should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on,” he said in a statement.

Fetterman warned earlier in the summer that he would leave the Democratic Party if it turned its back on Israel.