John Fetterman Warns Against Pandering to Radical Socialist Wing of Democratic Party

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) condemned the rising influence of socialists and communists in the Democratic Party, and warned that figures like socialist streamer Hasan Piker are nudging the party in a more radical direction. 

“I would never try to elevate… a communist just because [Piker] has followers on some, on Twitch, whatever that is. But overall, if you identify with a communist who praises Mao and Cuba and for these places, that should be foreign to any Democrat. Without a doubt, that’s having an impact,” Fetterman told Fox News Digital on Tuesday at the Israel on Campus Coalition conference. 

Fetterman told the outlet at the Washington, D.C., event that the direction of his party has become “troubling.” He referenced Tuesday’s primaries as a test for whether Democrats will continue to cater to the far-left wing of their party. Establishment Democrat candidates achieved several wins on Tuesday night, including Rep. Wesley Bell over socialist-backed former Rep. Cori Bush in Missouri.

“I see the midterms right now that the more radical, the more anti-Israel, and the people have turned Israel as to the ultimate litmus … When you have Gov. Newsom describing Israel as an apartheid state. He knows better, that that’s not true,” Fetterman said, adding that it should be “pretty obvious” that Democrats should not “pander to the fringe.” 

“Those are core values… Like I said, you just can’t pander to those kinds of people,” he continued. 

Fetterman spoke at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s event, which was attended by more than 800 pro-Israel students for “advocacy training, networking, and discussions on supporting Israel, combating antisemitism, and strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship on college campuses,” according to the report. 

Fetterman noted that he has seen a shift in how even pro-Israel Democrat feel pressured to capitulate to the anti-Israel far left. 

“The left is using the term of Zionist as like a slur, or use Zio… or describing that as someone in the negative terms,” Fetterman said. “In other words, being proud, pro-Israel, that’s become a slur, and people have to defend that.”

The senator also pointed to the Democratic Party’s divide on how to handle Iran and defended the Trump administration’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“I think I was the only Democrat to support the Trump administration to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities,” he said. “If you don’t want them to acquire a nuclear bomb, it’s pretty reasonable to bomb their nuclear facilities, they want to build one. And overall, the Iranian war, I’ve remained the only Democrat to vote against the War Power[s] Act.”

“I would say that for almost half a century, every American president had been trying to address the problem with Iran. The problem is Iran. That’s the problem,” he continued.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.