In the debate over the federal government shutdown, U.S. Senator John Fetterman, D-PA, has been the only Democrat to be critical of his party’s role in creating the debacle. In an interview on Sunday’s CNN show State of The Union with Jake Tapper, Fetterman said, “I feel like the Democrats really need to own the shutdown. I mean, we’re shutting it down.” In addition, Fetterman noted that the problem of “42 million Americans” facing “food insecurity” would be solved if Democrats “just reopen our government.”
Fetterman continued to blast his party’s neglect of Americans in need. He claimed, “Now we are hurting the very people that we fight for, and now we’re getting nothing for them if we continue to keep our government shut down.”
These comments are both accurate and courageous, as Fetterman stands alone among Democrats. Yet, the Senator is comfortable going his own way. No other Senator wears shorts and a sweatshirt in the halls of Congress. He has also shown tremendous perseverance, publicly dealing with his stroke and clinical depression.
As Fetterman has become healthier, his politics have become firmly rooted in the political center, which is well-suited to his state of Pennsylvania, a battleground in every election. Pennsylvania has a Democratic Governor, one Democratic Senator, and a Republican Senator.
Fetterman understands that the political games being played by Democrats are putting Americans in danger. In the CNN interview, Fetterman discussed the impact of the shutdown on air traffic controllers. He asked if Democrats “really want to make flying less safe by forcing this kind of situation and making things…stressed?”
Sadly, the Democrats do not care about the people facing food insecurity or the safety of the flying public. Their biggest concern is political power and opposing everything President Donald Trump is offering. Unlike Fetterman, almost every Democrat is suffering from an incurable case of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Along with continuing with their obsessive hatred of Trump, Democrats are also moving far to the political left. They are abandoning the moderate policies that helped enact welfare reform and provide capital gains tax cuts and federal budget surpluses to the American people during the administration of President Bill Clinton.
This was an era of bipartisanship as Clinton crafted several major political deals with the U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-GA. Today, such bipartisanship is impossible as Democrats refuse to collaborate with President Trump on any legislation.
The leftward march of the Democratic Party is on display in New York City, as their mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani, is a proud socialist. This political shift toward socialism is not supported by Fetterman. While many leading Democrats endorsed Mamdani, Fetterman has been openly critical.
In a July 2025 interview on Fox News, Fetterman said he did not “really agree with virtually” anything on Mamdani’s agenda. In fact, he stressed that Mamdani is “not even really a Democrat.”
In his CNN interview, Fetterman claimed that “Socialism is not the future of my party... We all know how socialism works out. Ask anybody that’s lived under those kinds of systems…across the globe.”
Yes, Senator Fetterman is right, socialism has utterly failed “across the globe,” and it will fail if implemented in New York City. However, Senator Fetterman is wrong that socialism is “not the future” of the Democratic Party. Socialism is being embraced by Democrats in major urban areas and in Congress.
The policies espoused by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, are socialist. This is the wing of the Democratic Party that is creating excitement and interest. When Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders held a campaign rally for Mamdani in New York City, it attracted a large, enthusiastic crowd. This was comparable to the crowds that Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have been drawing nationwide.
While Democratic activists and extreme leftists love these socialist policies, most Americans are not enthralled. As Bill Maher warned on his HBO program, “the Democrats have their lowest rating in 35 years, 63% unfavorable.” Unless major changes are made, Maher believes that Democrats could become a “ghost brand” like “Sears,” which exists only as a “pathetic shell of its former self.”
Despite Maher’s warnings, Democrats are not listening. The party is on a course toward outright socialism. For example, none of the potential candidates for the 2028 Democratic Party presidential nomination are offering any centrist policies. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have remarkably similar leftist policies that are a continuation of the disastrous agenda of President Joe Biden.
In contrast to top leaders in his party, Fetterman has been a breath of fresh air on a variety of issues. Unlike many Democrats who have refused to support Israel in its war against the terrorist group Hamas, Fetterman has been a staunch supporter.
He was the only Democrat to endorse a Republican bill to sanction the International Criminal Court for issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for authorizing military operations in Gaza.
Fetterman has been one of the few Democrats to support the enforcement of immigration laws. He was one of two Democrats to co-sponsor the Laken Riley Act, named in honor of a Georgia nursing student killed by an illegal immigrant, who had been arrested for shoplifting and then released.
This act, the first bill signed by President Trump in his second term, requires federal authorities to detain illegal aliens charged with crimes such as theft, burglary, and assault of a law enforcement officer.
Upon co-sponsoring the bill, Fetterman said, “Laken Riley’s story is a tragic reminder of what’s at stake when our systems fail to protect people…I support giving authorities the tools to prevent tragedies like this one.”
Fetterman’s common sense beliefs are not shared by his Democratic colleagues. Hopefully, he will realize that he is a lone voice in the Democratic wilderness and it would be better to find a new political home with a party that appreciates his values.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs Saturdays from Noon until 1 p.m. CT nationally on Real America's Voice TV Network & AmericasVoice.News and weekdays from 7-9 a.m. & 6-7 p.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance, and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and at Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com