John Fetterman and the Hodgetwins debate political toxicity, contrasting far-left extremism on Blue Sky with GOP claims of rising insurance costs. They analyze Fetterman's controversial vote to reopen the government despite Sanders and Newsom's criticism, arguing he represents swing voters rather than deep blue states. While the host accuses Democrats of drifting toward socialism amidst 42 million facing food insecurity, the guest defends Fetterman's pragmatic approach to avoid harming constituents. Ultimately, the episode suggests that internal party divisions over ideology may be overshadowing the urgent economic needs of American workers. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Troubling Political Discharge Petition00:04:58
Of course, absolutely.
And now, it's absolutely troubling, you know, to see that.
And I think we probably need more.
And my understanding is that now that the House is back, now they have enough to activate that discharge petition.
I think that's the technical term.
And then I think everything should come out.
I think enough people agree that it should just come out and just see where this goes and follow it where the evidence has at this point.
Absolutely.
So if it does pass the House, it will come.
Well, it will be a question of whether the Senate Majority Leader John Thune will bring it for a vote in the Senate.
I assume that means that you'll push him to do that.
Yes.
Well, yes.
I mean, I think, yeah, everybody agrees at this point.
Let's just release everything and then we can find and see exactly what it is right now.
Senator, let's talk about your memoir.
It's incredibly, as I said, it's incredibly raw.
You talk in great detail about your struggle with the disease that is depression.
And I'm going to talk about that in one second.
But I do want to ask about the way that you approach the Senate.
And you write about that in your book.
You said, quote, I've drunk deeply of the venom of both the left and the right.
As a connoisseur, I can confirm that the most poisonous, the bitterest is from the far left.
That is pretty remarkable to hear you say that as an elected Democrat.
Why?
It's obvious.
Yeah.
Yeah, no.
You know, it's just been my personal experience on this thing.
And when I asked my digital team, I said, you know, we're on all the platforms.
You know, really, what's kind of the harshest?
What's kind of the most personal?
And the answer was immediate.
They said, oh, blue sky.
It's blue sky.
And the difference is, I mean, the right would say really rough things and names.
You know, some names I won't repeat on TV, but on the left, it was like, they want me to die, or that we're cheering for your next stroke, or that's terrible that depression won.
Why couldn't it depression won?
And I hope your kids find you.
I mean, they even have like the graphic, a gif where they have like a stroke, you know, in your head.
Yeah.
And they said that.
And she's acting like she's surprised.
CNN is so fake.
It's all obvious, especially what happened to Charlie.
Yeah, everybody was, they celebrated that.
I don't know what rock she's under, but a majority of the political hatred and the vile, disgusting things is from the left.
I remember one, they claimed, oh, the doctor let us down and why did they have to save his life?
I mean, just really like, I just can't imagine people are wishing, you know, I wish he dies or I want him to die, you know, literally cheering for a stroke.
And I don't know what the kind of a place where that comes from.
I mean, that's much different than just.
Well, the left has demonized the right so much.
They vilified the right so much.
They've painted us as Nazis and fascists.
That's where it comes from.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they dehumanize.
So it's okay to them because they actually think in their mind that they're actually doing something good.
Yeah.
We're violent, disgusting people.
That's why they do it.
Right.
So just now before you get back to Vita, and now John Fenneman, he vote to reopen the government.
They turn on him like that.
Yeah.
Him to die, you know, literally cheering for a stroke.
And I don't know what the kind of a place where that comes from.
I mean, that's much different than just calling me a name.
And that's really been consistent in that community online.
Let's talk about.
Oh, yeah.
I'm sorry.
Go ahead.
I do want to talk about your story.
He changed the topic from that.
But anyway, he actually had a heart issue today.
Yeah, he fell down, right?
I think he's home recovering, though.
He fell down today, right, on his face.
And I go to Blue Sky.
That's the platform he was talking about.
I mean, this just happened.
Right.
And somebody posted this on Blue Sky.
Feldman makes first public appearance since fall.
That's crazy.
And when he, they say he had some kind of heart ailment.
Maybe it was Kardaka Rest.
Yeah, I mean, I see things.
Democrats Blaming GOP for Shutdown00:05:12
I mean, not remotely as bad as the left, but I see things on the right.
I was like, I cringe when I see it.
Yeah.
Like, what's the guy's name?
Black guy.
He's everywhere.
George Floyd?
George Floyd.
They said he's six years sober.
They made jokes like that.
Yeah.
That's nuts.
I mean, I never mock anybody's death or wish ill will to anybody, but yeah.
But anyway, he goes on the V, right?
And he destroys them because they turn on him because the way he voted.
Check this out.
To reopen the government?
Yeah.
I mean, like, that might be a bigger problem with our party in some way that a committed Democrat from the most difficult and purple state in the country says, hey, you know, I'm trying to call balls and strikes in the middle of this chaos.
Well, Senator Bernie Sanders said the vote was a horrific mistake.
Governor Gavin Newsome called it pathetic and a surrender.
Poll after poll found more Americans on both sides of the aisle blaming Republicans.
Even Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed no, no.
Bargain.
You're taking her out of context.
Way out of context.
That's just a bold-faced lie.
The GOP.
As you mentioned, Democrats had big wins last week.
That's funny how they're still trying to blame the GOP, but miraculously, it opens back up once the Democrats vote with the Republicans.
Right, right.
Dumb.
So you had momentum.
Why give in now?
Why bring a butter knife to a gunfight?
Are you willing to gamble that the GOP will negotiate on health care in good faith once the government reopens?
Because if that gamble is wrong, half a million Pennsylvanians that you represent, their health care costs will skyrocket if you are wrong.
And I believe you are wrong.
It's been going up every year for how long?
Yeah.
My health insurance goes up every year.
Yeah, I remember when Obamacare got launched.
We got an ugly letter in the mail from Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Yeah, I mean, my insurance premiums increased $1,300 per month.
This is nothing new.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it's all the GOP's fault.
Well, first of all, MTG is quite literally the last person in America that I'm going to take advice to get their kinds of my leadership and values from.
And now if Democrats are celebrating crazy pants like that, then that's on them.
Do you see how he twisted that?
He's calling Marjorie Greene crazy.
Well, she's on the right.
But you saw how he twisted that to get everybody back on his side?
Let me just denigrate MTG.
You see what I'm saying?
And now I don't need, and I don't need a lecture.
I don't need a lecture from whether it's Bernie or the governor in California, because they are representing very deep blue, blue kinds of populations.
And a lot of those things, a lot of those things were part of the extreme.
And now remember, what really needs to win to win, the big win is involving my state and other states and those things.
And why.
Yeah.
The swing states.
Like Bernie Sanders and all these other far-left Democrats, they represent states.
Deep blue states.
So that message is going to resonate with them.
But if you want to win elections, you have to come more in the center.
Yeah, especially with Pennsylvania being a purple state.
Yeah.
Have we arrived here after the election a year ago?
We want to forget.
We got to forget some of the things that cost us that election.
Or now, for me, it's like that's why I'm trying to remind people that kind of the extremism, we can't return to those kind of things and realize we need to find a way forward.
And I would like to, rather than cite MTG, I'm going to cite one of the new governor elects saying that my election is not a green light to continue this shutdown because I promise you, this isn't a political game.
It is viewed by that by many of us.
But the reality is 42 million Americans now not sure where their next meal is going to come from.
And because we vote like that, vote like that.
Or people that haven't been paid for five weeks now and that kinds of chaos.
Those workers have to borrow more than half a billion dollars, you know, from their credit union just to pay their bills now.
So for me, we're in the middle of this.
Senator, I got to ask you to hold up a second because we have to take a break.
Yeah, when they came back, they got off that topic.
Yeah.
The view, they're deep blue.
Deep.
They are the epitome of the deep blue states, California, Chicago, those areas, Illinois.
You know?
But I don't think Democrats can really learn from their mistakes.
I mean, he made great points.
While we, everybody's forgot about this last presidential election.
And now y'all riding all high because y'all won a couple of governor races in blue states.
Right.
I mean, and Federman, he needs to realize that your party is not moderate.
Your party is swinging to be more socialist.
Yeah, but they're actually socialists now.
Yeah.
Party Swings Toward Socialism00:00:34
But they say he's a moderate.
He's not really moderate.
His voting record, that dude won't.
He's putting men in women's restrooms, men to women's sports.
He votes moderate considered based on the lunatics of his.
Yeah, but he's still far left.
He's just got common sense when it comes to this shutdown.
He has the ability to say, you know what?
I need to vote with the Republicans on certain situations.
He's going to hurt the people that I represent.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, he totally gets it, but he's still far left.