Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) on Saturday defended President Biden, expressing confidence that Biden can win the November election amid growing calls for him to hand over the baton following his struggling debate with former President Trump last month.
“Democrats, stop worrying about Joe Biden’s legacy and think about your own legacy,” Fetterman said. I have written On social media platform X, he tweeted: “Abandon our great president after a tough debate, or support the only person who beat Trump? [a–] It turns to dust and disappears.
“Everyone has to make a choice, but if we don’t cut back we are certainly headed for mutual destruction. [sh–],” he added.
in Friday Interview Speaking on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” the freshman senator acknowledged that while the polls may be close, he believes Biden will ultimately win his home state of Pennsylvania. Fetterman added that voters in the Keystone State are “excited” about the incumbent.
“I haven’t had a single Democrat come to me and say, ‘Joe Biden, we’ve got to get rid of Joe,’” Fetterman told host Kaitlan Collins. “The average Pennsylvanian has their hopes in Joe Biden, and I saw that when I was in Philadelphia last week.
“Joe Biden will do OK in Pennsylvania, but it’s going to be a close race,” he said.
Pennsylvania is one of several battleground states Biden must win to secure the presidency. Trump’s approval rating is at 48.7% and the president’s at 44.7% in the Hill/Decision Desk Poll Index. Republicans are also trying to retake the seat of Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) in a hotly contested race.
Fetterman has spent much of the past two weeks criticizing Democrats who called on him to step down as the Democratic nominee after Biden’s poor performance in the debates, including his stumbling, lack of energy and raspy voice.
Biden and his campaign have sought to ease concerns in live interviews and rallies since the June 27 debate, but at least 19 Democrats have urged the sitting president to pass the baton. Actor George Clooney, a lifelong Democrat and Biden campaign fundraiser, has also called on the president to step aside.
Fetterman, in his interview with Collins, pushed back against that call.
“There are probably 18, 19, maybe 20 Democrats in Congress who have called for Joe Biden to resign,” he said. “That means over 90% of Democrats in Congress are aligned with Joe Biden at this point.”
“So I think it makes more sense to reflect what you all know about where we are as a party at this point,” Fetterman added.
Instead, he continued, it’s “more important” to focus on Trump and his ties to Project 2025, a conservative policy initiative advocated by the Heritage Foundation that could fundamentally restructure the U.S. government — something Democrats have latched onto as a way to attack the former president and Republicans ahead of the November election.
Fetterman said he believes both Biden and Casey will win reelection, but that Democrats must unite behind Biden.
“Let me be clear: Joe Biden can beat Trump,” he said, “but Joe Biden can’t beat Trump. The New York Times and other people and consultants and all these people are just jumping on the Biden bandwagon every week.”
The Pennsylvania senator was referring to an op-ed by The New York Times’ editorial board after the debate urging Biden to withdraw his candidacy. The Times reiterated the claim in a follow-up post earlier this month, saying the president was “embarrassed.”
But Biden has dismissed the debate as a “bad episode” and insists he intends to finish the campaign in the fall and defeat Trump.
