What's Senator John Fetterman thinking?
ALTOONA, Iowa
Before he took the stage as the keynote speaker at tonight's Iowa Democratic Party Liberty and Justice Celebration dinner in Altoona, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, told The Iowa Mercury in an interview exactly what he thinks about Govs. Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom.
It's not so good. About either. (Watch the full video of the interview above.)
"I don't think he should be worried about how tall he is," Fetterman said of DeSantis, the Florida governor and a GOP candidate for president. "I just think he should be worried about how unlikeable he is. I mean he has a gift though, he does. It's amazing, the more he speaks, people like him less. I have watched him, and I always thought he was going to be the next Scott Walker, and he absolutely is that. Anti-union. Going after gay or trans kids. Going after Disney. It's like, 'Oh, that's what Lincoln would have done.’"
DeSantis is dealing with a round of media inquiries into whether he wears lifts in boots.
Meanwhile, Fetterman, speaking to Iowa Mercury in a hallway inside Prairie Meadows casino where Democrats were holding the annual dinner, criticized fellow Democrat, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for presenting himself as a vigorous surrogate for President Biden when, in fact, Newsom is running a not-so-thinly-veiled shadow campaign for president — when the Californian should be, according to Fetterman, supporting the presumptive nominee.
"A surrogate?," Fetterman said. "He's running for president. He's running for president and then (Minnesota Congressman Dean) Phillips is running. But the difference is that he (Phillips) actually announced he's running. That's really the difference."
Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, also talked about his well-publicized battles with health issues, a recovery from a stroke and debilitating depression.
"I've been very open about it because I feel I have a privilege and a duty to talk about it, encouraging anybody that hears my voice to get help.,” Fetterman said. “You don't have to suffer. It's a very important issue. Those people who have turned it away or tried to weaponize it are the far-right kind of echo chamber that just wants to make an issue out of it."
Fetterman talks rural development and delves into his thoughts on Congressman Ro Khanna's efforts to boost the American steel industry in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania senator makes a fierce case for President Joe Biden's re-election and we learn whether Fetterman prefers pizza from Casey's or Kum & Go. He sampled both in the Des Moines area Saturday with State Auditor Rob Sand.
Douglas Burns, a fourth-generation Iowa journalist, is a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Burns resides in Carroll, Iowa where his family operated The Carroll Times Herald for 93 years.
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