Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., traveled to President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club for a face-to-face meeting with the incoming president, drawing criticism and questions from his fellow Democrats according to The Hill.
Trump told the Washington Examiner after his meeting with Fetterman earlier this week that the senator is "a fascinating man … I couldn't be more impressed." He also described Fetterman as "a commonsense person. He's not liberal or conservative."
Fetterman's trip to Florida has led some Democrats, such as party strategist Eddie Vale, to speculate that the senator could be "thinking about different or future opportunities" — possibly on the national stage.
He added that the "simplest answer is just what he is saying: He is a senator from a 50/50 state that voted for Trump twice, so he's trying to have a foot in both worlds."
Norman Solomon, founder of progressive activist network RootsAction, added, "There's no telling with any certainty what Fetterman's motivations are. I do political analysis, not psychoanalysis. But clearly, he has been moving rightward."
Christopher Nicholas, a Republican consultant who published a Pennsylvania political newsletter, said that Fetterman ran for Senate in 2016 "as a younger, taller, tatted" version of Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and that Fetterman has "accurately read the room and knows there's a new sheriff in town. He's very adroit at shocking people and then coming back with a retort when they seem shocked. It's his modus operandi."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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