Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan in taking a shot at Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), a lawmaker they both once supported who recently criticized the long-serving Vermont senator.
“It’s kind of a sad state of affairs, but I will tell you that I know in Pennsylvania, I don’t think there’s anybody in the Democratic caucus who has a lower rating among Democrats than John does,” Sanders said on Hasan’s show Wednesday.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll, Fetterman holds an overall 48% approval rating with Pennsylvania voters. His support from Democratic voters shows 69% disapproval, while 77% of Republican voters approve of his performance in the Senate.
Sanders’ remarks against Fetterman come as people within his own party question whether or not the senator will officially switch parties. Fifty-two percent of respondents in the Quinnipiac University poll say they would rather see Fetterman leave the Democratic Party.
The lawmaker has occasionally made appearances on President Donald Trump-friendly media shows like Katie Miller’s podcast or Sean Hannity’s show to buddy up with the MAGA base, criticize his own party, or trash-talk further left-leaning Democrats following a progressive sweep of victories in elections.
The senator shut down the speculation about switching parties in an op-ed, stating that he has no plans of leaving and “working across the aisle is the only way forward.” He later noted he’d only leave the Democratic Party if they “make it official” in the party platform “and say we will never support aid for Israel.”
“John Fetterman is someone who was seen as a progressive at one point,” Hasan pointed out on Wednesday’s episode of his show. “You endorsed him back in the day when he was running for lieutenant governor. I supported him when he was running in the Senate primary.”
Sanders quipped, “So, I wasn’t the only one, right?!”
“A lot of us got him wrong, I think it’s fair to say,” Hasan continued. “He’s now not just awful on multiple issues, especially Israel, but he’s openly attacking you all the time and suggesting that you’re out of touch with the party, that you’re getting things wrong, that you endorse the wrong people.”
Fetterman’s feud with Sanders intensified in the wake of Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate in Maine, which ran into a series of controversies before he suspended it. Sanders, who had initially endorsed Platner but encouraged him to drop out following accusations of sexual assault, was called a “carnival barker for an accused rapist” by Fetterman.
“I just like to remind everybody watching right now, Bernie Sanders will never represent any more than 640,000 people in Vermont,” Fetterman said on Fox News last week. “That’s all he’s ever done, and he ever will do. He’s lost his — He’s never won an actual competitive election.”
“Stop giving me lectures on how to win,” he added. “Bernie’s not flipping seats. He is helping install volatile and dangerous kinds of candidates and put Democratic seats at risk.”
When Sanders was asked by Hasan if he’s worried that Fetterman will officially defect from the Democratic Party, he said, “That is, I guess, a possibility.”
“Look, you wanna get on television, you go on Fox TV and you say something bad about Bernie Sanders, get you some coverage. That’s the way it is,” Sanders said.