Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” to promote his new book “Unfettered,” and gives his take on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

NPR: Do you feel like that’s the case by and large? Do you feel like that’s like the political, that’s the media landscape you live in right now that people are coming in with a point of view? I’m just trying to understand how you think about this as a public figure who’s written about a lot. FETTERMAN: No, what I’m saying, it’s like, what, you know, that’s a question I would ask is like, what exactly am I guilty of? You know, yeah, I suffered from depression and I made a recovery and I won an election and I went on to be an unapologetic supporter of Israel and I happen to think that we have to have a secure border and I think it’s wrong to shut our government down. NPR: And do you feel like that’s made you a bad guy in a lot of circles? FETTERMAN: No, what I’m saying, it’s like, you know, it’s fascinating to me how a guy that voted 90% of the Democratic line and now I’ve been estranged with some people in the Democratic Party, and I don’t really understand, perhaps even some of your listeners. I voted against cutting, you know, the recessions about this. I voted against this. Look at the record for those things because we have gotten increasingly polarized in this environment and trying to find a way forward, because it’s my personal views, but I also, the kinds of states that I represent. NPR: Yeah, do you think that just comes back to the idea that there’s a strain of purity in democratic politics right now and you have to be fully in line? FETTERMAN: Or it’s like, describe that if I have a problem with a guy that votes 90% of the party line, you know, like are you, what’s in that 10% difference? Maybe that’s, you know, maybe have different views. And I don’t judge people on their views, and they make it as personal, and I’m not gonna refer to people those kinds of terrible names. NPR: What surprised you the most about coming to Washington? You came in pretty intense circumstances, that’s in the book and that we’ve talked about. You’ve been here a couple of years since then. FETTERMAN: How the lack of glamor, you know, people think it’s like, oh, it’s like, unless, you know, I have a 300 square foot apartment and it’s like — I mean, we have to find a way forward based on, and now when you’re doing it through the most polarized time. NPR: Yeah. FETTERMAN: Another thing I disagreed with my colleagues, Joe Biden, Joe Biden was rough. Absolutely, he had a terrible debate. NPR: Yeah. FETTERMAN: But I talk about in the book, mine was worse. You know, I mean, objectively, I think that was worse. NPR: Yeah. FETTERMAN: And I knew it was gonna be rough, but I was honest. I mean, people can see exactly where I’m at on things. NPR: Do you think he should have run again? FETTERMAN: I’m saying, it’s like, if you blast him out, then, you know, like, then you need to own the fallout from it, and that’s the point. I mean, I got in an argument with my colleagues. It’s like, hey, it’s like, we all agree he had a bad debate and I can’t imagine their reaction after my debate. Oh my God, you know, and they didn’t say yet. They just kind of like, and I don’t blame him. I don’t blame him. And I’m saying, it’s like, if you get what you’ve demanded, then you have to own the outcome. NPR: Because you campaigned for Biden, you campaigned for Harris. FETTERMAN: Yeah, absolutely. NPR: But do you just think it was a bad debate or do you think there were broader problems that maybe Joe Biden was too old to be president for four more years? FETTERMAN: I think that Trump is politically, politically, he has figured out things and I’ve witnessed it in Pennsylvania. And after the assassination, he was shot in the head and he was able to respond in a way, fight, fight, fight, and those kinds of iconic pictures. And that was shocking. And thank God he wasn’t, his life wasn’t taken. Yeah. You know, could you imagine if what happened with the tragedy of Charlie Kirk? NPR: Yeah. FETTERMAN: You know, where would our nation be? NPR: Right, it grazes his ear, he pops back up and it seemed, you know, and he- FETTERMAN: Yeah, well, I mean, if anyone, if someone shoots you and you’re able to respond in a way. Imagine if that was Barack Obama, what would that mean for Democrats if somebody tried to take him out? And then after that, and then another part was when after Vice President [Kamala Harris] referred to him as a fascist. It’s like, then I’m like, hey, that tells people saying- NPR: This is the closing argument from vice president Harris’s campaign. FETTERMAN: No, more than a closing argument, it means it’s like, well, the people that have voted for him in the past that we need to get them over on your side, well, then that means you must be a fascist too. NPR: Do you think, I just, because we’ve talked about this a couple of times, do you think it’s a matter of talking about things to not turn off voters, or do you think it’s a matter of your colleagues are overreacting to the things that are happening in the Trump White House when it comes to what’s inbounds and what’s out of bounds, when it comes to what’s within the norms, what is concerning for democracy? FETTERMAN: I’m not the gatekeeper, it’s like someone wants to- NPR: No, but what do you think? FETTERMAN: Well, what people think, like I’ll give you an example. Like the ballroom. NPR: Yeah. FETTERMAN: You know, like I’ve been to the White House a couple of times and it’s a living space. It’s not a monument kind of a thing. And now I think actually Bill Maher just said, you know, kind of my view. It’s like, you know, you can’t have dinners there. You’re putting it in tents. And it’s like, they’re building a new facility. Like, and now if you look at all the changes that other presidents have made about the White House in the past, it’s like, hey, you know what? I mean, it was shocking to actually raise a part of the White House, but for me, like that’s not my hill.

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