Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said that if he left the Democratic Party, his views and votes would not change.
Host Jake Tapper said, “You’ve said that if the Democratic Party becomes officially and overtly hostile to Israel, that might cause you to leave the party to become an independent, to be clear, not to become a Republican. This week, there was a vote in the House to cut off more than $3 billion in military aid to Israel. There are 212 House Democrats,103 of them voted to cut off that aid. The people voting included, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi voting to cut off aid. If when would when do you view the party as becoming officially overtly anti-Israel? When it’s all of the House Democrats doing that when it’s a majority? Because you’re pretty close right there with 103 out of 212.”
Fettermen said “Well, candidates run on a platform and if that becomes the Democratic platform that we will now ever vote for any aid and we’ll turn our back on Israel, then that makes me make that decision is really what a Democrat should stand for, or being a part of my party for me. And now, you know, Jake, I’ve said this, that if I change my party spontaneously right now, my views and my votes aren’t going to change.”
He added, “It’s really more of a statement now. And if you look at the kind of people that are winning our primaries, their centerpieces of their campaign is anti Israel kinds of rhetoric, whether it’s in my state or it’s whether in New York City and what’s happening in Colorado now too. If you believe the Democratic Party’s future is rooted in describing Israel as apartheid state or genocidal, and they don’t deserve to have our support, that forces me to say, is this really make sense for me as a Democrat with these views are to continue to actually intensify?”
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