Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., on Friday defended President Joe Biden after his disastrous debate with former President Donald Trump, telling fellow Democrats to “chill the [expletive] out.”
Fetterman — who once struggled in his own debate ahead of the 2022 election — posted a screenshot of a Politico story outlining how “panicked” Democrats are looking for alternatives in the wake of Biden’s troubling performance.
“I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on Biden’s shoulder after the debate,” Fetterman wrote on X. “No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record.”
Reaction on Capitol Hill was brutal after Fetterman’s October 2022 debate with GOP nominee Mehmet Oz, with one unnamed Democratic lawmaker questioning “why the hell” Fetterman agreed to the match, Axios reported at the time, adding: “This will obviously raise more questions than answers about John’s health.”
Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged on CNN it had been a “slow start” for Biden in the presidential race, the Independent reported.
“That’s obvious to everyone,” she said. “I’m not going to debate that point. I’m talking about the choice in November.”
In his X post, Fetterman recalled how dire predictions of his political demise played out.
“Morning-after thermonuclear beat downs from my race from the debate and polling geniuses like 538 predicted I’d lose by 2. And what happened? The only seat to flip and won by a historic margin (+5),” Fetterman posted.
“Chill the [expletive] out,” he wrote.
Pennsylvania is one of three Democratic-leaning states in the Midwest Biden needs to win to secure reelection, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, assuming he doesn’t pull off unlikely upsets in other regions, The Hill reported.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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