Fetterman on whether Democrats can win back white men: 'Truthfully, I'm not sure'

[Polybius]

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on a new podcast is accusing his own party of being “toxic,” while suggesting it may be unable to win over white male voters.

In an appearance on the “Somebody’s Gotta Win” podcast, the senator said Democrats have talked down to voters, and they are seeing that boomerang on them.

“I think [Democrats’] primary currency was shaming and scolding and talking down to people and telling them, ‘Hey, I know better than you,’ or you’re dopes, or you’re a bro, or you’re ignorant or, ‘how can you be this dumb? I can’t imagine it.’ And then, by the way, they’re fascists. How can you vote for that?” Fetterman told host Tara Palmeri.

He added that just because someone may have voted for President Trump does not mean they are fascist or “support insurrections and those things.”

Read more...

[Blues Heron]

1. If they voted for an insurrectionist then of course they support it. He is covering for them. Why?

[BOSSHOG]

2. John. I'm a white guy

I’ve voted for Democrats for 50 years and will continue to do so. Why? Cause I love our country. Dumbass. Try it. Find fault with Dems? Damn Skippy. Worse than Republican bullshit? No fucking way. Dems, a serious cold? Republicans, inoperable cancer. Make your choice. Go ahead John.

[kelly1mm]

8. They don't need to 'win back' you. You never left. He is referencing those white males that shifted in BIG

numbers to the GOP. He is saying they may be lost forever.

[Wiz Imp]

49. That shift happened 60 years ago, not recently

[Butterflylady]

56. He lost me and a lot of other democrats.

He once said he doesn't care how the senate operates. I honestly don't think he'll run again.

[Jit423]

30. And what Dem said what John said they said?

The GOP always thinks that telling the truth is "talking down to them." I guess John is a Republican after all.

[William Seger]

36. Damn straight

If Democrats are doing something wrong, John, turning into Republicans is NOT a solution.

[Blue Full Moon]

46. 100%

[elocs]

37. I've voted exclusively for Democrats for over 50 years now and too often have found Democratic voters too often to be

complacent and over-confident, too willing to vote for a 3rd party candidate. And losing white men when we are losing Black men is anything but encouraging. We all need to get out and vote as if our democracy depends upon it (which it does) like it was our duty.
Sadly, Trump, Musk, and Maga know that the '26 midterms would not be good for them so they will try and finish off our democracy before then.
I'm not even sure we will have meaningful elections then.

I feel so sorry for the children and young people of today who, even if we survive as a democratic nation, will never know the America that once was.
I sure hope the nations of Europe will remember what we once were and how we helped them in the past.
My family came from Europe nearly 400 years ago and I never thought that I would be in the generation where it all falls apart. It's a terrible thing to lose hope and know that we brought much of this upon ourselves by taking our freedoms for granted.

[Deuxcents]

3. Hard to turn things around when we elect someone who turns around and betrays the voters

[Wiz Imp]

4. Democrats have not won a majority of votes from White men since 1964.

Fetterman's reasons he gives are extremely stupid. They haven't won white men in 60 years. I'd say that's a big enough sample to show that it has nothing to do with Democrats talking down to them or other dumb reasons like that. The primary reason a majority of white men don't support Democrats is beyond obvious. ..............It's RACISM pure and simple!

No, not all white men who vote Republican are necessarily racist, but they at the very least have proven they have no problem supporting racist policies. After the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, southern white racists deserted the Democratic Party and all flocked to the Republican party in droves. The Republican party then adopted it as a strategy which has continued ever since. As long as there remains a "significant" number of racist whites, the Democrats will NEVER win a majority of white men.

[Keepthesoulalive]

12. Thank you

Fetterman will fit right in with the trump administration, with his identity politics.

[betsuni]

16. I want to know exactly who they think is talking down to them. Republicans just tell them that.

Trump is the one calling them stupid right to their face.

Then there's whining about Democrats supposedly "courting white voters" -- who's doing THAT?

As usual, Democrats are accused of doing opposite things simultaneously: looking down on white voters and pandering to white voters.

[Voltaire2]

62. this is a standard rightwing talking point that has been repeated so often

that not only do republicans believe it but many democrats also believe it. It is part of the 'limousine liberal' etc framing.

[keep_left]

66. Yep. Trump was the one saying "I love the poorly educated"...

...and if you continue that line of thinking, the rest of that sentence would read "because they're so damn easy to manipulate!". It's a totally naked version of right-wing Leninism. I was surprised that Trump got away with that comment, but he did.

[Diamond_Dog]

77. I too would like to know that.

I truly believe the Democratic Party is becoming the party of women and women’s’ rights, and way too many men are still too fragile to support the idea of a woman calling the shots.

[Voltaire2]

61. this. However:

'No, not all white men who vote Republican are necessarily racist' - at this point all people supporting the republican party are a combination of utterly or willfully ignorant, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic. That there exists a white man who voted for Trump who is not overtly racist is really not relevant.

[Wiz Imp]

64. I agree

I just didn't want someone twisting my words and saying I said something I didn't say

[Polybius]

71. The last time that Republicans won the black vote for the Presidency was even longer

1924 or 1928. I couldn't find the data, as they only showed 1932 and later.

[Wiz Imp]

74. I found an article that says Hoover won a majority of the Black vote in 1932

Regardless of the specific year it happened, by 1936 a significant majority of black voters had shifted to the Democratic party who they have supported ever since. It was apparently due to the fact that a number of New Deal programs were very beneficial to blacks which caused the switch.

https://www.coursehero.com/sg/us-history/us-presidential-election-of-1932/

[Maru Kitteh]

5. He seems to have internalized some criticisms following his stroke. Seek therapy elsewhere

Mr. Federman. You betray your constituents.

[Ilikepurple]

6. With everything happening in the US right now this is what a democratic senator decides to use his voice for?

Don’t we have to win the white male vote before we win it back? Also from the article
“Trump won 57 percent of white voter support, according to exit polling from CNN, and about 60 percent of white men’s ballots, according to NBC exit polling. But those numbers were largely unchanged from 2020’s presidential election.”

This is why I steam a bit over posts here that want us to court the white vote, particularly male, at the expense of marginalized peoples. Trump’s win has been an opportunity for the white voice in both parties to attack progressive policies. I fear some see this as a historical opportunity to shift the democratic further right on social issues. I for one don’t want to turn back the clock while pretending we’re moving forward.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. Meanwhile the Rs never insult anybody.

[SunSeeker]

25. Right?

Fucking Hell.

[Cosmocat]

41. X 1,000,000,000

Its literally all they do.

[Silent Type]

9. Do think Dems "talk down" to white wingers, but for damn good reason. I'm on some sites in my rube red

area, they call you every kind of slur imaginable.

What do they expect in response, but a big f#&k you ignorant racist inbred. FYA, they are sensitive about “inbred.”

[Kingofalldems]

10. "Bad things about Democrats."

[Polybius]

48. It's been a while!

Haven't seen you say it much lately.

[subterranean]

11. Show me one Democratic politician who talked down to people like that.

Certainly Kamala Harris and Tim Walz didn't.

[Music Man]

72. Kamala and Tim Walz do not operate that way

But I do believe there is a sense more generally that progressives talk down to people. And what people vote on is the personal: "Well, I don't want *those* people running the country." Has little to do with Harris, Walz, or any other politician.

We might not like to hear it, but as I said in another post in this thread, we just lost to Donald Trump... again. And we've lost the House and Senate. We're clearly doing something wrong. We've been saying for years, "The demographics of America are becoming less white, so the future of the country is naturally Democratic." When exactly is this supposed to be happening, folks? Never mind the fact that we lost ground with Black and Hispanic voters this time. Is *anyone* our constituency?

Time to look in the mirror, because what we're doing ain't it.

[Pinback]

78. Exactly!

Was just about to post this. Does Fetterman think people making disparaging comments about MAGAts on progressive online forums are Democratic politicians? I guess he’s been listening to too much James Carville, Sam Harris, et al.

[Music Man]

13. We've lost the white vote since the Southern Strategy came about in the late '60s.

LBJ won it overwhelmingly in 1964. That was the last time for a Democrat, I believe. The last time it was even close was the '90s, when Clinton barely lost the white vote.

I am not interested in winning the white vote per se, but rather poor and working-class white voters. The trend toward Trump apparently being the party of working people and Democrats being the party of elites is a sad development, though in reality it's not much different from blue collar people, unions, etc., voting for Reagan in overwhelming numbers. Cultural grievances, concerns about "getting the government off our back." Some things never change.

I will say this, though: We just lost another election to Donald fucking Trump. The Democratic Party is clearly doing something wrong. We ignore the points John Fetterman is making at our own peril.

[Keepthesoulalive]

21. I keep asking

What have the republicans done for the working class? Their focus on identity politics works because it gives them someone to blame. Normally someone who does not look like them. If they think which they don’t, they would realize the democrats have given them the benefits they need , instead they vote their racism and misogyny.

[regnaD kciN]

27. Yep -- the Republican appeal to those in the "working class"...

...basically boils down to "You've been getting the short end of the stick and, let's face it, that isn't going to change anytime soon. But elect us, and we'll make sure minorities have it even worse than you, so you can feel better about yourself."

[betsuni]

34. Myth the Tea Party was a populist grassroots economic movement. Yet policy didn't change one tiny bit!

All a mirage to hide the culture wars, racism, hate and fear they vote for. Then there are the non-right-wing idiot populists STILL repeating like a senile parrot that everything bad is Democrats' fault because they ignore the working class and that's why white people left the party.

[Self Esteem]

68. And Clinton barely only lost the white vote because of Perot.

He didn't do much better than other Democrats - it's just that Perot's biggest group of support came from white men. In 1996, Clinton won 44% of white voters. That was only three-points better than Biden in 2020.

[Music Man]

69. Good point.

That hadn't come to mind, and you're right.

[Polybius]

70. I think we need another Bill Clinton

People complained when he said "the era of big government is over," but he won two elections with huge Electoral majorities.

[struggle4progress]

14. He's a man with too little political imagination

[2naSalit]

15. Why is anyone...

Even asking him anything?

[PufPuf23]

17. Fetterman has gone stale with such an idiotic comment. Needs to be replaced IMHO.

AOC is much brighter and egalitarian American but gets more criticism.

[Pris]

18. He is clueless

This guy.......

[JI7]

20. How is he clueless ? Majority of white men have not supported democrats

ever since LBJ passed the civil rights act.

[Keepthesoulalive]

22. Why?

[SunSeeker]

28. Because the Democratic Party insists on using taxes to help all Americans regardless of race, per the Civil Rights Act.

The majority of white men don't want their taxes going to help black or brown people. White people were fine with money going to public schools until black people could go to them. They were fine with building roads and bridges, but not in black neighborhoods.

Mind you, while 60% of white men voted for Trump, white women were not that far behind, with 53% of them voting for Trump. https://navigatorresearch.org/2024-post-election-survey-racial-analysis-of-2024-election-results/

That is why Trump is making sure he keeps his white racist base happy by pounding on black and brown people, accusing them of being DEI hires, trying to deport them, etc. His base eats that shit up. They don't care if he tanks the economy, so long as he's beating up on black and brown people.

The rich love that because the majority of white people hate black people so much that they are willing to cut taxes for the rich just to deny money going to people of color. So the rich have been employing this "Southern Strategy" since the Civil Rights Act and Brown v. Board of Education desegregated schools. Lyndon Johnson knew it would be so.

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
-- Lyndon B. Johnson

[Keepthesoulalive]

31. I understand

I was asking why the need to appeal to a group who will not vote for democrats.
The only way to appeal to them is to out racist them and I don’t think we can be that slimy and
Self serving. I’m beginning to think the good senator is off his cookie . There is always a joker in the bunch.

[Wiz Imp]

44. Right. And the fact that White men have voted for Republicans for 60 years now tells you that support

has nothing to do with anything the Democrats did or did not do this year (as Fetterman is trying to blame it on). The reason is RACISM pure and simple. The only way for Democrats to win back white men is to continue to work to eliminate or reduce racism in the US. It's been several generations already and will likely be several more, but that has to be the goal.

[Autumn]

47. He's a white man. A white man who obviously supports republicans.

[Paladin]

43. "Clueless" is WAY too charitable a description of Fetterman.

We need to rid ourselves of this loser. He needs follow his obvious inclinations and join the trump fascist camp, full-time. I'm sick of reading about him.

[JI7]

19. Democrats haven't won white men since LBJ Signed the civil right acts.

[Greybnk48]

24. And THAT'S the truth full stop.

[LudwigPastorius]

23. So, how do you propose we win back those white male Trump voters, John?

Maybe Democrats could be just a little bit racist? Or, maybe just Nazi adjacent?

Support equal rights for women some of the time?

We could support LGBTQ folks as long as they're not too gay. You know, if they look straight, they're OK!

How about only deporting the dark brown migrants?

[SunSeeker]

26. We didn't lose because we "talked down" to white men. We lost because of sexism and racism.

We lost because men of color and young men swung slightly to Trump...because they didn't want to vote for a woman. And our base in general did not turn out to vote as well as it did in 2020, but voter suppression had a lot to do with that.

[regnaD kciN]

29. Either Fettermanchin really did sustain permanent damage from his stroke...

...or he pulled off one of the greatest "long cons" in American political history. I really can't tell which.

[Irish_Dem]

32. Dem party is toxic?

Compared to the MAGAs?

He has lost his mind.

[tishaLA]

33. One of his former staffers was on Sarah Longwell's Focus Group pod on YouTube

He's written a book in which he argues that Democrats spend too much time worrying about "special interests" in the party (he may not have used those exact words) and too little time trying to win elections. He says there's too much emphasis on progressive orthodoxy and checking boxes that repubs use to make Democratic candidates appear extreme and beholden to things that don't matter/actively turn off the voters we need.

It was interesting even though I don't necessarily agree with his thesis. For example, ihe completely skips over the possibility that we can create messages that demonstrate to a broad swath of voters why issue x or y effects them. But he did mention something that was maybe compelling: when Pres Obama first ran, his stated position was that he opposed marriage equality. I don't think any progressive who'd known anything about his career and history believed it, but it was his "Sista Soulja" symbol of how he could be independent of the vocal forces trying to push him into supporting it -- at least until the broader public moved enough that support would be acceptable enough.

Anyhow, this guy says to use strategies that won't pass so-called purity tests as a way of getting elected so they can actually legislate for left of center policies. I'd say Fetterman takes this too far sometimes, as with his unblinking support of Israel's excesses in Gaza, but apparently breaking with the party has improved his poll numbers in Pennsylvania, so maybe I don't know anything.

[Red Mountain]

38. The "special interests" aspect of party politics has been exploited by Republicans since the 60s

The continue to do so.....these days it's trans people.

I think we need to replace our defense of individual categories of people (as defined by the Repukes trying to tear us down) with a broader defense of individual rights.

Mind your own business. Don't like something? Don't do it. Leave consenting adults alone, protect those who cannot give consent and mind your own business.

There will be be some grey areas.......trans people in sports, etc. where the burden of PROOF will be on those who claim they are being harmed. No harm, no foul.

With regard to proof the issue that will be hardest for conservatives to accept....their particular religious beliefs are not a winning argument.

[Cosmocat]

42. Right

This particular criticism is accurate. The party has become overly focused on specific "classes" of people. Your suggested approach of being more generalized in messaging would be much better.

But, honestly, the Rs overwhelming force of bullshit and appeal to hatred and division is strong enough it would still steam roll dems.

[yardwork]

55. I'm one of those lesbians who wanted to get married.

I've been married for 10 years and I appreciate having that right. My marriage doesn't hurt anybody else's.

It sounds so "reasonable" to throw around vague generalities like "let's not talk about special interest groups" but in practice what that means is: gay and trans people are treated like criminals, businesses can deny services to Black people, certain groups of people can be fired or made homeless or arrested just for minding their own business while being gay or Black or Jewish or Muslim...

We're either in favor of rights for all or we're in favor of majority rules and everybody else is treated like dirt. What's common sense about that?

[tishaLA]

57. You'll notice I was critical of his thesis

[livetohike]

35. The Felon talks down, chastises, humiliates people

all the time, but it’s the Dems who have problems? I don’t see any evidence of what he is saying. He didn’t come from a blue collar family. He should stop pretending that he did.

[Emile]

39. Coming from the guy who went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ass of the fascist dictator.

Last edited Sun Feb 9, 2025, 09:43 AM - Edit history (1)

I know what side I'm on!

[ratchiweenie]

40. Actually, I agree with him. But the reason is that those white men believe that WHITE, STRAIGHT, MEN, should rule the

world and we refuse to bow to their view of the universe.

[Autumn]

45. The main problem with this country is that are too fucking many white men, like him.

Last edited Sun Feb 9, 2025, 03:28 PM - Edit history (1)

[Vinca]

50. Well, here's a news flash. Said white men are not immune from Trump's reign of terror.

I imagine most of those MAGA farmers in the Midwest with their grain now rotting and unpaid for are white.

[uponit7771]

51. "win back" majority white males have been lost to dems since 70s !!

Either way the answer would be yes because we're going to first focus on fiscal issues that affect white males too like the broligarchy seizing control of the government

[yardwork]

52. Fetterman has lost me.

He's describing how Republicans talk to Democrats.

[Nanjeanne]

53. He's an ass and my suggestion is we stop trying to win any particular group and start designing a bold strong and

people-centric agenda and messaging and have Democrats actually believe in what they are promoting and I bet they will find lots of different "groups" gravitate to the message.

It's one of the things I truly admired about Tim Walz and, I think, why he is so successful in his state. He actually doesn't label his positions - he just believes in them and he articulates them with passion. His "call me what you want I just want to feed children" was exactly right - and it was a shame he was muzzled so soon after being picked. His message resonated and excited.

[Scrivener7]

54. Fetterman is not who we should be asking.

[viva la]

58. Well, that's the white man's problem.

Democrats should do what's right, and it's not restoring white men's historical privilege and burnishing the fragile egos of guys who don't want to share.

[Turbineguy]

59. Luckily the repubs and trump are working on that.

[Miami Blue]

60. With friends like fella Fetterman

The ignoramus who came down to
Narco-Lago to kiss TraitorTrump‘s Ash
who needs enemies?

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

63. I'm sure John will fix it. He IS the Democratic Party!

[JustAnotherGen]

65. Ya think John?

Those pesky things like The Civil Rights act and Voting Rights Act along with 60 years of the Evil Con that is Conservatism . . .and we are never getting them *back*.

They are pathetic mediocre lazy men who expected everything to be handed to them on a silver platter because . . . they are white men.

My husband is a white man, immigrant, and his parents didn't raise an entitled little brat. Also - he didn't want or take their stupid stinking coal job and he doesn't sell opioids and meth.

If Fetterman wants to be a "blankie and a nucky" for them - let him. Conservatism is the ideology of weak, scaredy cats - and I think it should be shoved out of my way.

No offramps.

[alarimer]

67. Not sure how without becoming what we hate.

Since clearly white men (liberals ones excepted) seem to hate women most of all and then any and all minorities.

Would it require going backwards? I sure hope not.

[kwolf68]

73. BUT ZERO COMPLAINT

About Democrats being Communists, traitors and want to destroy America so you can't vote for them.

Oh as far as "I know better than you". How about being told my beliefs are the creation of a radical left deep state.

Well done John, you sound like a sellout with no principles.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

75. The last time Democrats won white men was 1964

[Sneederbunk]

76. Can Dems win back Fetterman?