Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman once again broke with many in
his party to defend President Donald Trump against allegations that he’s an “autocrat”
while ripping those who compare him to Adolph Hitler and other “outlandish” figures.
Fetterman’s defense of the president comes on the heels of the assassination last week of
conservative influencer and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, whom the left has often referred to in similar terms.
“I — if you actually compare him to an actual autocrat, that is not —
that is not just that,” Fetterman said in a discussion with CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju, who had suggested that Trump was autocratic.
“Now, last night, for example, people were complaining, you know, they’re protesting about, ‘Oh, that’s Hitler, Hitler.’
I think you just don’t ever, ever compare anyone to Hitler and those kinds of extreme things,” he continued.
“Now look what happened to Charlie Kirk. I mean, the man was shot. Now, we have to turn the temperature down.
It’s like, we can’t compare people to these kinds of figures in history,” he said.
Speaking of Trump, Fetterman — who was hosted by the president at his Mar-a-Lago estate before he was sworn in – added:
“And this is not an autocrat. This is a product of a democratic election. It’s like, I participated in that. It was safe and it was secure.
We lost, and the America…people put us in the minority, and now that’s — that’s democracy.
And I revere democracy. I may not like the outcome, but I have to respect that and I have to find and work through this. And I do believe that’s what’s appropriate.”
Unsatisfied, Raju pressed, “So you don’t think that Trump is at all shattering any of the norms of democracy in any way?”
“I’m saying he’s definitely different, but that’s what America voted for. Again.
I don’t agree with many of these things, but that does not make him an autocrat,” Fetterman continued. “That does not make someone or, you know, compare him to people like Hitler and these other outlandish things.”
