(The Hill) — Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s (D) message to fellow Democrats regarding President-elect Trump and his appointments is to “chill” since “he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet.”
“And that’s the thing. If you’re already exhausted, freaking out and it’s not even Thanksgiving, then you really ought to pace yourselves. Because he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet,” Fetterman said in an interview with NBC News that was published on Friday.
“So you really have to chill out, and you’re going to have to be more discerning or discriminate on what’s going to freak you out or what’s just trolling,” he added. “Because it’s not the weather, it’s the climate now for the next four years.”
Fetterman’s comments come as Trump has rolled out a bevy of cabinet and other administration appointments this week, with some of them drawing shock across Washington. He picked Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to be his attorney general, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) as the director of national intelligence and Fox News’ Pete Hegseth for defense secretary.
The Pennsylvania Democrat said Trump’s decision to tap Gaetz as the nation’s top law enforcement official is “just nothing but trolling. And, you know, even the Republicans know who he is,” he said during Friday’s interview.
“That’s got to be candy for him [Trump] to have and watch everybody get triggered. I’ve said this before, it’s like, clutch those pearls harder and scold louder, that’s not going to win,” Fetterman said during the Friday interview. “And that’s been demonstrated in this cycle.”
In the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election that saw Trump beat the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, in all seven battleground states, Fetterman said his party has made mistakes when it came to targeting certain voter groups.
“We have a challenge. We have our own kind of ‘childless cat ladies’ situation: ‘Bros.’ People refer to these young guys as bros and clearly, that’s not a positive term,” Fetterman said earlier this month.
Despite the senator characterizing Trump’s decision to pick Gaetz as the “ultimate troll,” Fetterman said earlier this week that he would vote to confirm a different nominee of the president-elect, fellow upper chamber lawmaker, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“Unsurprisingly, the other team’s pick will have political differences than my own. That being said, my colleague @SenMarcoRubio is a strong choice and I look forward to voting for his confirmation,” the freshman senator said on social media.
