John Fetterman: ‘I Don’t Believe Living in a Pup Tent for Hamas Is Really Helpful’

STIREWALT: “On college campuses from coast to coast, universities are wrestling with how to handle student protesters who are upset over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, with hundreds arrested on at least 15 college campuses nationwide over the past week. Now, while some of this has been peaceful, others have featured violent anti-Jewish, anti-Israel rhetoric, and expressions of praise and sympathy for Hamas, the terrorist organization responsible for the October 7th attacks, the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. This is what President Joe Biden said when asked about the protests.”Show more

[Clip starts]
Biden: “I condemn the anti-Semitic protests. That’s why I’ve set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
[Clip ends]

STIREWALT: “With us today to talk about that and a host of other things is John Fetterman. He is Democratic senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is true. And I’m going to just say for our viewers, the iPad that you see in front of the senator is a transcription of our conversation.”
Fetterman: “Yes, that’s true. I am partially deaf and — and this is just captioning. It’s no different than if you’re watching a show with captioning or if you use glasses in order to read more effectively. It’s just a tool to allow me to fully participate.”
STIREWALT: “And we appreciate your participation. We appreciate you being here. So, when President Biden was talking about these protests, he did a little both-sidesing, he said the anti-Semitism of the protesters is bad, but everybody needs to understand about the humanitarian plight in Gaza, too. What tone do you think he should be taking? What’s the right answer when talking about these issues?”
Fetterman: “Well, I’m not — I’m not going to give the president any advice, or anyone. Only on fashion.
(Laughter)
But — but I will say this, is that it’s very clear that there is a very germ of anti-Semitism in all of these protests. And then sometimes it flares up. And again, including one of the — one of the leaders in Columbia said some just awful things and talking about, ‘Well, they’re lucky that I’m not killing Zionists,’ and things like that. And then he defended himself by saying, well, those were taken out of context. And I’m like, well, that’s very similar to the way the college presidents, that same kind of language and those kind of monocultures that create situations, and that replicates. And now it’s no — it’s not a surprise that when you kind of seeing this manifest itself in a campus like this. Now, of course, it’s a great American value to to protest, but I don’t believe living in a pup tent for Hamas is really helpful.”
STIREWALT: “You have said that Israel should be allowed to prosecute its own war without conditions from the United States.”
Fetterman: “I do. I don’t know what the turn of words is that, of course, everyone’s has the right to defend yourself, a nation, but you also have the right, I believe, to go after and and eliminate Hamas or at least to force them to surrender. And I’ve always — I’m confused why we’re not talking about that more. And if you are gonna protest, why aren’t we protesting? I can’t end that war, Joe Biden can’t end that war, Netanyahu can’t end that war. But Hamas could end it right now, immediately. They could release the last hostage and they could surrender, and all of the misery and the death and destruction ends right there too. So, for true peace, you cannot allow Hamas to — allow it to function. And they’ve been very clear, ‘We’re proud of what we’d done and we’re going to do it again and again.’ It’s very reasonable to make sure that Hamas needs to be neutralized.”
STIREWALT: “Okay, the — whether it’s the protesters or Israel or other issues, your public image has gone through a pretty dramatic makeover in recent years or in the past year, let’s say. You were once a progressive hero, you were — “
Fetterman: “Well, with all due respect, I really haven’t changed on that. And I feel like I’ve been very consistent on those things. And then when — I’ve been saying that for years, like, I really don’t identify myself a progressive. And I’ve said this before, that it’s not that I have changed, but that that word has changed as well. And I’ve just — I’m just a Democrat, and I’ve been very clear here and I think consistent. And before the primary, I said, look, you know, I support peace and I support a two-state solution. But if the stuff hits the fan, I’m gonna lean in on Israel, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”