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John Federman, thank you for joining us here on the All-In podcast for this All-In interview. Very excited to have
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you here today. I know you're in the middle of voting today. Sounds like the
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Save America Act might be starting its debate on the floor. Is that correct? >> I don't know. Like what what I've heard
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recently that they don't have the votes, but we will find. But I I don't have any
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special insight. I mean, it's it's going to be very close. I don't think it would
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if they do hit it, I don't see it more beyond 51, but I I'm not I'm not really
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sure. It's a shame that they didn't make it more about just ID to vote. They they
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turned it into other things that they turned it into kind of a Christmas tree and they're hanging all these things on
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it. But no, that's that's where we are. But we'll know uh and having someone
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follow that too. I just he's going to let me know in fact cuz I'm really
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interested to see how it goes because if they do then that's going to turn into a
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really uh a spectacle about what a a talking filibuster is. >> Yeah. Well, let's see what happens. I
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mean, it's a pretty >> dramatic week ahead. Let me just start I want to zoom out a little bit and talk
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about how you make policy decisions. And I want to just start with party. You ran
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as a progressive in 2016, lost. You beat Dr. draws in 22 and now you have a 72% approval rating from Pennsylvania
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Republicans and only 22% from Democrats. Are you a Republican or are you a Democrat uh senator? And kind of what's
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the way that you think about your party affiliation? Well, I actually I think the the more realistic the the realistic
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numbers was like earlier in the morning console and that put me at basically 50/50 with Dems and I was I was in the
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the 60s for with Republicans without a doubt without a doubt that that I am more popular with with Republicans and I
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I'm mystified by that. I mean I'm honored to to have support from any Pennian. But what I will say that um you
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know I've just going to follow what I think is the moral clarity and now in my
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very first race back in 2015 over a decade ago uh what used to be a progressive is definitely not what a
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progressive started to turn into and what it be became. And and even in my my race in 2122 I was announcing I am no
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longer I I'm just a Democrat. I'm not a progressive. And now there's been that
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evolution away from like those core principles that really weren't weren't
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controversial. And and now I've isolated myself by following and standing and
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proud to be un unapologetically supporting Israel. And now if you've seen that that poll came out yesterday
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that the standing and the Democratic party continues to deteriorate. I've put
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that out on my social media and I said I don't follow I don't care about the
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polls. You know, there's a moral clarity here and that should be where the rest
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of us should should be. Uh and now it's been really easy for me to to lean in on
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it. And that I created the only Democrat that's very supportive about Epic Fury.
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And I'm also the only Democrat that refuses to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. Yes, as a Democrat,
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we'd like to make some some reforms on ICE, but what I'm unwilling to do is
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shut it down. And after that horrific that attack in Michigan where where he was looking to kill 150 toddlers, you
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know, and now there's more and more kinds of these these events. Why would you vote to shut our government down?
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And the cyber security agency, you know, that must be incredible for the Chinese
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and the Iranians that that we've shut that uh government down. So that's that,
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you know, I my core values haven't changed. If anything's changed, that's
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been kind of the core what what's required to be a Democrat. and I'm going
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to follow what I think is true. What is the country over party? Whether that's
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the right side of history. >> What do you think the Democratic Party used to stand for? What does it stand
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for today? And what do you think it should stand for? >> I I I honestly I I I don't know. But
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what I will say, as I would refer to to your listeners, is like listen to what the people that are
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running for the Senate as Democrats. watch what they're saying and doing. And
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that's becoming more and more anti-Israel, uh, openingly hostile to to Israel. And
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now, uh, that becomes part of the lit litmus purity test to I'm not going to
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take any of their money. Uh, I'm going to denounce that. And I was the only Democrat.
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That's absolutely Netanyahu just done the right thing to to break the that access
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uh there Hezbollah and Hamas and now attacking also Houthus as well. So I mean so do you know where what Democrats
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stand for? see who's running for the Senate. And now Planter look the the Nazi tattoo guy uh you know on top of
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being a an avowed communist and now said incredibly offensive things about women
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and sexual assault um and now refers to rural people is stupid and racist and know so and now is that what Democrats
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want? I guess we'll see that. But, you know, you see in all these different things also in Michigan, too. A guy that
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really, as far I know, has refused to condemn Hamas. And he led the, you know, no uh the the no uh what was the no
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committed. It's like, forget what that that stupid thing was called, but it was
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like you, you know, no vote, no vote for uncommitted. Uncommitt. Yeah. Uncommitted. But, you know, we're not
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going to vote for Camala Harris. and and now they helped deliver um Trump for Michigan. So that's like look who's
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running and look who's being competitive. So that that's you want to know where Democrats are, look in those
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kinds of races. >> You know, it's interesting. We used to have the ability to agree on some things
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and disagree on other things. It seems nowadays whatever the other side is doing or saying, you have to take the
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opposing view. And in many cases, it seems like that might force folks to kind of contort into these weird
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positions that don't even make logical sense. Why did we get to this point? What happened that everything had to be
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polar? There was never the ability for us to there's no longer the ability for
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us to agree on some things while disagreeing on other things. What caused this change in this country? And can we
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get back from it? >> I I don't know. Like part of my party's become so inflexible. what what I've
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discovered that, you know, you are not allowed to be a proud unapologetic standing uh with Israel, but it's it's
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okay. Uh it's not a big deal if you have a Nazi tattoo on your chest and you have
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people and now in my party now who are trying to normalize that or to excuse that. I mean, like it's that that's
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that's that's kind of where we are. And and now I know what's toxic as a
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Democrat to disagree with, but for me those are, I think, our core values. You know, the kinds of values in Israel
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kinds of the core value that we've always used to say, never ever shut our government down. That's always wrong.
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You're going to punish uh union members. You're going to punish, you know,
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everyday Americans. Now, here we're doing those same things. Uh, and now I think our border for example, I think
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secure our border, deport all the criminals, but now never ever have the kind of tragedies like we had in
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Minneapolis. That's not what anyone really voted for any of them supports. So, you know, if I'm more popular with
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Republicans, I don't really know. But, uh, but I also I treat everyone with respect and I don't refer to Republicans
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or members of MAGA. They're not Nazis. They're not fascists. They're not trying
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to destroy our country. Uh, no. I know and I love many, many people that that voted for or support uh, President
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Trump. I'm going to treat anybody with respect. I don't attack me members of
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their families. I don't use and and those kinds of attacks. We have to find a better way forward and and that's what
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I've been maintaining. >> Who do you think leads the Democratic party today?
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Oh, we don't we don't have one. I I I think I think the the TDS that I think
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that's the leader right now. You know, right now our our party is is governed
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by the TDS. And now it's made it virtually impossible without being punished as a Democrat to agree
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something's good or I agree with the other side. And I I would define that by
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epic fury. I am the literally the only Democrat in America uh in Congress that I've come across that's saying I think
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it's a great thing to break and destroy the Iranian regime. I think it's
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entirely appropriate to hold them accountable. And what's strange to me that every single Democrat that's run
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for president uh and anyone that I know in Congress says we must never allow them to acquire a nuclear bomb. When
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that happens, why not celebrate that or acknowledge that? I have only witnessed just criticism and this kinds of uh this
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kinds of attack like yeah you don't have to agree on every single thing but when
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a good thing happens just because it comes from the different party um that that tells me that you're choosing the
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demand of the the base or the party over country or what what's really I think
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appropriate in that circumstances. Now I I would say now you know to any country
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any country do you consume oil? Yes of course we do. Well then that makes it your problem too. That makes you part of
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your responsibility. I don't know why you know like Israel and and our nation
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did the heavy leaving excuse me uh the the heavy uh the heavy work to to to destroy the Iranian military apparatus.
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you know, now why not? Wouldn't you not, you know, help us to reopen uh the straits because you consume oil. You all
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could be the ability uh to why not participate that that's that's strange to me. Uh so
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I think everyone why can't you get behind the only ones that aren't are China and Russia. Those are the same
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kinds of especially in Europe, you know what they're doing to Ukraine for over
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four years and we all know what the goals of China is as well. So to say it's not our war, it's like yeah well
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it's our cause and if you consume oil and you all do, you know, that effectively makes us all part of this
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responsibility, >> right? Do you think uh there's a clear path to getting out of Iran for the
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United States at this stage? How do you view this exit happening? It seems like the president to some degree is
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declaring victory, but on the other hand, there seems to be continued activity and and push forward here.
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What's our exit path? >> I I I don't know. But what I will say, what's undeniably been happen now? Uh
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first, why aren't all of the media outlets demanding proof of life for from the Ayatollah?
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You know, ever since that first strike back in last month, not a peep, not a peep out of him. I mean, the the
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Iranians are doing kind of like weakened at Italas, you know, like they're just trying to
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pretend this guy is functional in any in any way. And you know just today today you know they just they just eliminated
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you know who was effectively the the de facto leader you know I think that's
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fantastic. Keep doing it for that. So and without a doubt they have no capabilities at this point otherwise
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than to to fire off a a drone at civilians at civilians. The Iranians have never done anything other than just
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attacking civilians. Abs. Absolutely. That's a fact. You know, they can't
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engage in traditional kinds of of combat. So those cowards, what they do is fire drones to create chaos. You
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know, they've been effectively neutered and that's a wonderful thing. And that's
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also effectively broken the the proxies and that's also made the world undeniably more secure. So, and this is
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not this is not an uh I mean this war is only three weeks into it. This whatever
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you want to call it, whatever the semantics, it's three weeks. This is not like a Ukraine in war, you know, this is
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three weeks. It it's not, you know, neat and it's not absolutely quick to to
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demand the entire Iranian apparatus for the thing. holding them accountable is entirely appropriate. And every single
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president since the last 40ome years wanted to do something about Iran. Finally, that's happened. It's a good
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thing. And now >> to your point about the strait and uh America looking for assistance to
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support the activities uh the the commercial oil activities through the strait, NATO allies have largely said
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no. Do you think that we're looking at the end of the NATO alliance? What does
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this speak to for the future of both America's leadership with the in the West and this alliance that has kind of
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created a great power center that's created balance in the world? I mean, is
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NATO at risk? I'm proud to be an American and and I believe, you know, we are a force of good in the world and I
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don't truly don't understand why they don't want to join us to to reopen the
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straits. But if you consume oil, that makes it part of your your problem and that makes you a part of your
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responsibility to join us. So we've done the hard work at this point and the
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horror of 107 was borne by the Israelis too. Now they've done the appropriate
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thing to to destroy the proxies and to hold them fully accountable and why the world can't rally around this to just do
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that. Now I do believe we will be successful with or without their help but remind people it's been 3 weeks and
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now for a nation that's 90 million that used to be this fearsome force of military in the entire region just been
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pulverized into irrelevance other than just creating kinds of chaos firing a drone there and now they can't they
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can't even in fight with with honor you know they they attack civilians they've
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massacred their own, you know, there there would be more uprising because they're terrified because they've had to
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witness as they've killed up to 35,000 of them uh last time. So, they've been
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held accountable as an American, hold them accountable and that's a good thing.
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>> Yeah. I think the question a lot of people are asking again is what does
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success look like? What's it defined as? How do we get out of this? And when do
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we walk away? And that uncertainty, I think, is what has a lot of folks saying, I don't know if this is going to
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become another Iraq war or Afghanistan type situation. That's what makes folks
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absolutely absurd. This is not a nation building thing. This is a destroying a terrible regime. Disarmament.
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Disarmament. You know, like if you live in Europe, remember what you Yeah. Like if you would have disarmed the the
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German Nazi re regime before it it really started. I mean like have you forgot the lessons of history when you
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have a regime that is committed to destroying you know the nations in the region and now like why is it wrong to
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hold them accountable? And now >> critics >> critics critics are attacking well it
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costs us a billion dollars. It's like well you know not stopping Iran would be
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a hell of a lot more expensive in lives and economic impact. Uh so that's that's
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the thing you know clearly if you even consider of the lessons from history of disarming a dangerous toxic regime the
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way they've done that. Why can't you be open to really participate but at least
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not just acknowledge that the world's made safer as a result? >> There's a lot of criticism from both
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sides of the aisle that perhaps the United States, President Trump were unduly influenced by Netanyahu and by
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the Israeli lobbyists in the United States. You know, maybe you can address that point. You've taken money from
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Apac. I know that you've kind of been that's been brought up before, but how
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do you react to the argument that many are making that Israel has undue influence on our politics and our um our
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kind of uh global actions? >> Well, that that plays into the to the anti-semitism and the tropes and it's
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like pulling all the strings and they're behind. It's just that's just part of
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the grow. It's become more and more acceptable as a Democrat to say these things, you know, and it's like like
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Tucker Carlson and and Fuentes and these these people, you know, like no one claims them. No one claims them, you
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know. I promise you, no one at least I sit around wondering what those are the kind of vids and their opinions on
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Israel or anything at that point. Same parts of my party as well too. Now, if you if you want to normalize that a Nazi
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tattoo is kind of like a one-off, it's no not a big deal. Or if you think Israel engaged in a genocide, you know,
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that how ignorant that is to the actually what defines a genocide is is um the exact opposite. They were in a
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just war, you know, and I remember where it started and remember what Hamas continued to do. send everybody home and
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there they would be the end of this. So, so that's that's part of this and now
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how anti-semitism out of control out of control, you know, on our college campuses and as well in in the world,
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even in S San Jose, you know, a a a Jew was beaten just having dinner. You know,
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you have people driving crashing into synagogue kind of like tree of life. But thankfully he was immediately killed by
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the security. They had security because they had to provide those because they knew that's always an everpresent kinds
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of risk there. Thank God. Thank God what that could have made uh possible without
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them. So that's that's where we are. And I don't listen to parts of whether it's
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my party or the extreme. And they're right. You know, I never turn to someone
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like Tucker Carlson for wisdom or their views on on this or anything, you know, honestly.
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>> Well, so let's talk about another controversial topic which we just hit on
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for a moment at the start of the show, which is the Save Act. 83% of Americans support voter ID for elections. The
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Senate scheduled to take up the Save Act supposedly or potentially this week. Uh
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you've said you don't support the Save Act in its current form. What do you
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think needs to be changed? Do you generally agree with the idea of using voter ID for elections?
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>> Well, the Republicans have never had any uh outreach or to engage. You know, they
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never said, "Hey, how can we rework it?" You know, what can we we offer, you
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know, and know make it, you know, real ID real ID to vote. Keep it simple, you know. So, like, yeah, why not? Why not?
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You know, like it's like that that that would I I am not outraged by providing
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ID to vote. 71% of Democrats are okay with that. 83 of Americans are okay with it. Make it that then. Yeah. And I'm I'm
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interested to really to have that conversation. Another thing that they continue to do, they try to smear uh
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voting uh voting by mail. That's absolutely safe. And the red states in America like Florida, Ohio and others,
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they rely on it. The more rural a state is, the they really use that too. So they've made it this uh Christmas uh
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tree of hanging all these these kinds of boutique and other issues. Now if you are serious and like hey
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ID to vote, you know, you might bring some actual Democrats on that. I'm not,
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you know, ah, I refuse the kind of extreme rhetoric about it's not Jim Crow. It is not trying to suppress
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Americans from voting. It's making it perhaps more secure um and have a serious conversation. And that's why I,
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you know, said I'm unwilling uh to support it in its current current form. >> And do you think there has been election
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fraud and to what extent? Uh well I mean in my experience as lieutenant governor uh in 2020 there was
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a lot of allegation that there was that and not one single remind people roughly
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57 out of Pennsylvania 67 counties are all deep deep red not one single one there was no fraud. There was no fraud.
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And now they we identified I think believe it was six six or seven in fact and now coincidentally they all happened
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to be Republicans that were voting for President Trump and mostly they used a dead relative to try to to to vote that
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and they were caught. So voter fraud in Pennsylvania it is absolutely secure. I can absolutely you know I've witnessed
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that. And now in Pennsylvania the Republicans drove that train of of voting by mail. That was their ID. That
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was what they demanded. And in return, we dropped the straight party voting by just push a button to vote straight down
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the entire ticket ticket uh voting. And now they had to turn their views because
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at that time the president decided that that's a terrible thing. So I mean, you
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know, two things must be true. It's not outrageous to show ID to vote, but voting by mail is an honorable, safe,
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and secure way that Republicans across our nation have been doing it and doing it some in the most secure ways as
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examples. >> Do you think there's non-citizen voting going on? One of the arguments that's
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made is that the Democrats opened the border, brought in a lot of non-citizens, gave them access to vote
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in some way, either mailing ballots without showing proof of citizenship or whatnot. And that really boosted
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Democrat votes across blue states. Is that fair or is that unfounded and just >> that's that's a great that's a great
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point and I am concerned about that you know hey is there an issue? So I just ran this uh that is the heritage the
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heritage found. Yeah, Heritage Heritage Foundation, you know, they said that at their database between 1999 to 2023,
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they identified 77 instances of non-citizens voting between 1999 and 2023. That's the Heritage Foundation,
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you know, that's the, you know, there. So, so for me, that that would identify
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that it doesn't seem that, you know, the Heritage Heritage Foundation doesn't
00:24:46
claim that 70 that there's more than 77. So that's why I'm saying if you're
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really serious and you want to have that, let's make it about ID, not all these other kinds of parts that this
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that uh it dilutes the core mission of like showing ID or making it more secure.
00:25:04
>> So why have Democrats been so opposed not just to this act but generally to
00:25:08
the idea of showing ID for voting? Many of the interviews and arguments that have been made by Democrat politicians
00:25:14
in media have brought in ideas that well not everyone has access to an idea. >> I am not one of those Democrat. I am not
00:25:21
one of those Democrats that they say that that's terrible. That's evil. >> Why are they saying that? Because if
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it's such a an obvious common sense uh action, 83% of voters support it. Why
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are so many in the party and this is where a lot of people have conspiracy theories that they're using it to
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harvest votes and and so on. Why are they opposing it? what is actually going on.
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>> I I I I I can't speak for them, but what I'm saying is like I refuse to I'll
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never tell 83% of Americans that it's awful and terrible to show ID to vote,
00:25:53
>> you know. Yeah. >> And I'm say I've said that publicly again and again and again. 71% of
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Democrats have no problem with it. And you want to know what really backed that up? Wisconsin. In April of 2025, they
00:26:08
had a ballot initiative to show ID to vote that passed nearly 2 to1. They also elected one of the most liberal members
00:26:19
of now the Supreme Court in that same election. It's not controversial to vest
00:26:24
majority of Americans. I'm never going to be in the business to tell 80 some
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percent of Americans that you're you're Jim Crow or you're trying to suppress
00:26:34
votes. Fair enough. Uh well, let's come back to the DHS point you made earlier.
00:26:39
You were one of the uh you were the only Democrat actually to vote to fund DHS, but you did say that agents in Minnesota
00:26:47
lost the plot. What's your red line on immigration enforcement? So, what should
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ICE be doing and what should ICE not be doing? >> There should never be a red line. Never
00:27:00
shut the government down. Just don't do that. We used to be the party that refuse to do those things. We were
00:27:08
outraged, outraged when Tuberville was jamming up some of the military uh promotions. Freak out. Freak out. you
00:27:18
know, but now here we're sh we shut the whole damn government down. I was one of
00:27:23
only two Democrats to push back on that last year and now I'm on the only one.
00:27:28
If it's wrong for them, then it should be wrong for us as as well too. >> But just to focus on ICE, I mean, ICE's
00:27:35
actions in Minnesota, where do you think ICE should be doing immigration enforcement and how versus what do you
00:27:41
think they shouldn't have been doing? Yeah, I for me, you know, hey, I was I
00:27:46
was the Democratic lead on Lake and Riley bill because that was a serious bill. They, you know, Katie Brit called
00:27:54
me up and saying, "Hey, what do you think?" And I'm like, "Yeah, 100%."
00:27:57
Yeah, let's let's work together on it. That that's a serious that's a serious e
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effort. Uh, and now I led that and enough Democrats broke closure on that. That's why it's a law in America right
00:28:09
now. You know, I'd like to think that my credentials on border security as a
00:28:14
Democrat is platinum, you know, uh, and I even I voted for Gnome, one of the few
00:28:19
Democrats that her I met with her, treated her with respect, you know, refused to use the kind of sexist and
00:28:26
gross terms like ice Barbie and those kinds of thing. Refused to do that. She absolutely lost the plot. I called for
00:28:34
her to resign. She became a mayorcus. I was a Democrat calling out that Morcus was a disaster without a doubt. You
00:28:41
know, we cannot this is unsustainable and this is uh damaging our nation and making it impossible to deliver an
00:28:48
American dream for any migrants at that point. >> Do you think that ISIS's mandate should
00:28:53
be to remove every illegal immigrant from this country or do you think that they should be going after just one
00:29:00
group and leave others and we have to legislate? What's the right way for ICE
00:29:04
to operate? No, you know, you have the vast majority of Americans secure our border. They've done that without a
00:29:12
doubt. And deport every criminal. They're they gun. And now, you know, Pennsylvania, that's our top industry is
00:29:23
is farming, agriculture, and constantly that's their issue. Labor, labor, labor. It's it's really
00:29:31
problematic. you know, targeting otherwise lawful migrants. I don't think that's what America really wants and
00:29:39
honestly that's not what America needs. You know, you know, we they are an important part of our economy and
00:29:46
finding a better way to address that. I'm Hey, I'm here for that conversation.
00:29:50
My wife was a dreamer. You know, I I would love to work with the other side. You know, I shouldn't punish a 2year-old
00:29:58
that was brought here. had no idea uh at that age, you know. So, I think they've
00:30:04
made, you know, important contributions to our nation. I'm a I'm a pro-democrat
00:30:10
uh I'm excuse me, I'm a pro-immigration Democrat, but I'm the also the only
00:30:13
Democrat to view shut our government down the way that's where we're at. And,
00:30:18
you know, I'm becoming the only very proud supporter of Israel. And I'm the
00:30:23
only Democrat that's saying destroying a regime, you know, that like Iran is a
00:30:28
good thing. >> So, >> do you think that that creates a bad incentive with the what people call
00:30:34
anchor babies where an immigrant comes to the United States, has a baby, and then stays and the baby has citizenship?
00:30:40
That seems to be one of the the the kind of big debate points right now. Well, I mean, for for me, I I I what
00:30:48
what I will say is is like if you secure a border, that makes those kinds of things more and more difficult or
00:30:55
unlikely to to happen. Now, I you know, back in 2023, you saw the numbers, 300,000 people showing up at the border.
00:31:05
You know, that's the side of Pittsburgh. I describe that in terms of Pennsylvania. That the size of
00:31:11
Pittsburgh is showing up at the border. That's unsustainable. You know, we have
00:31:15
to do something about it. You know, Mayor Arcus had to go. He's been a liability. That's why I described Gnome
00:31:21
and I called her to to go. >> What was why did why did President Biden open the border? What was the
00:31:27
motivation? What have you Democratic? >> I'll tell you that the truth is I was
00:31:31
shocked when when they dropped uh Article 42, you know, in my primary. It's like we all ran on that. That
00:31:38
wasn't controversial. I was stunned when they dropped that and you could see
00:31:43
this, you know, right up after that. >> Was it to reduce labor cost or to bring
00:31:48
in Democratic voters or what was the motivation do you think from the party? And you must speak to party leadership
00:31:54
that tells you why they're justified or were justified for doing that when they
00:31:58
did it. >> I I don't know, but I was I was alarmed and I was honest. It's like, you know,
00:32:05
for me, like for any politician, if you are telling the people their eyes that you're crazy, you're not right, you
00:32:12
lose, you know, and we were punished. We were punished in 24. The border was a serious serious failure as as Democrats.
00:32:20
So, it's like holding us accountable. And now, that's part of responsibility
00:32:25
to learn from from that situation. now. And I do hope and I do hope the Republicans learn from Minneapolis
00:32:33
doesn't help anybody that that doesn't, you know, doesn't help your cause, you
00:32:37
know, and it and people that absolutely uh the optics, whether that's the optics
00:32:44
or the kinds of tactics, any of that, you're not winning anybody over. >> Right. So, I want to switch gears to my
00:32:51
favorite topic, which is the the fiscal condition of the United States government. We have $40 trillion of debt
00:32:58
and we're going to have a $2 trillion deficit this year. A trillion dollars of
00:33:01
that is just interest on the existing debt. That number is getting bigger and bigger every year and a bunch of
00:33:06
programs are going to run out of money including social security which is projected to run out of money sometime
00:33:11
between call it five and 10 years from now. This is a classic debt death spiral problem. You know what is how much does
00:33:19
Congress pay attention to this problem? Is it something that's talked about?
00:33:22
Because a lot of the conversations seem to be about what the polls say so that people can get elected again the next
00:33:28
cycle versus looking at this big looming debt problem we're facing and how we're
00:33:33
going to address it. >> Yeah, debt's a huge concern for me. I mean, you know, I'm I'm old enough to
00:33:40
remember when a billion dollars meant something or that was a lot of money and now the trillions are becoming more
00:33:45
kinds of it's not kind of like social security. Social Security, for example,
00:33:51
now they just need to make some small small adjustments for actual on the actuarial kinds of things and that could
00:33:58
extend it well into the 20 uh the 2070s to the 2080s. Just small small kinds of things that would require real
00:34:08
leadership and that would require them to just put down the partisan guns and just stop attacking each other and find
00:34:14
a real solution for all of Americans. And now you'll never address debt until
00:34:19
you both sides agree. We're gonna stop tearing each other apart. We're gonna
00:34:24
find a way forward. You know, I hope I hope more Americans want my views of why just turn it into just uh uh
00:34:34
professional wrestling or do you really want to find a better way? And you know,
00:34:39
it's like uh effectively if you turn Washington DC as the Jerry Springer show, you know, you asked me earlier
00:34:48
what's the leader of the Democratic party right now, I would say it's TDS.
00:34:52
That that is that's driving the conversation. If he supports, you know, he could come out for ice cream and lazy
00:35:01
Sundays and now suddenly Democrats would hate it, we would want to vote it down.
00:35:05
>> Yeah. Well, there's there's also a lot of discussion right now about fraud in
00:35:08
the government. I don't know if you've seen these videos out of Minnesota and
00:35:11
this guy Nick Shirley doing them out of California. >> Yeah, let me say that. Let me say that.
00:35:16
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, absolutely. Like, why can't you celebrate any journalist or any, you know, activist
00:35:23
doing that? And what he, you know, uh, Governor Nuome put out a disgusting video implying that he's, you know, a
00:35:31
pedophile or he's that that like why, you know, like I mean, like that's like
00:35:36
kind of a smear, you know, like you can you may you want to disagree or but but to imply that someone someone in one of
00:35:44
the most gross kinds of terms like that, well, it's like, hey, shouldn't we agree
00:35:51
like you know, eliminate all the waste. If it exists under under my perfume, let's eliminate it. Let's call that what
00:35:59
it is. You know, I'm not going to call someone or imply that you're you're a
00:36:04
pedophile or you're, you know, going after kids in the gross ways. >> But what's crazy to me and so many other
00:36:11
people that have seen these videos is to then see reactions from leaders in the Democratic party saying, "We don't have
00:36:17
a problem. This is racist. This is whatever." And denouncing the reports of
00:36:21
this. But but when you see this fraud, it angers everyone. You're spending money as a taxpayer and then you're
00:36:27
giving the money away to fraudsters. It's >> It should. It should. It should. Yeah,
00:36:30
it should. It should. You should be angry. And you know, like fraud can happen on both sides, but when it's
00:36:38
identified, I don't care if it's in a Democratic state, like we should all
00:36:42
just acknowledge maybe there is a problem here. This is part of the thing. If you tell v voters that you're wrong
00:36:48
or you know, hey, it's no problem. there's nothing here then you lose and
00:36:52
know that you you want to turn that into if you want to turn that into um like the border you know with Democrats as in
00:36:59
2023 you know we do that at our own peril >> you're you're so rightly critical of so
00:37:05
many of these points John why are you still a Democrat >> it passed yeah so save just passed my
00:37:12
staffer just handed to me 51 >> Wow they went forward huh >> yeah it's going That's going forward to
00:37:21
debate. Yeah. Yeah. It goes to debate. >> Yeah. And so what do you think will
00:37:26
happen there? Will this last a couple days, a week? I mean, how's this process
00:37:30
going to go? >> I I have no idea. I I I am not going to pretend to know exactly how the next
00:37:36
couple days are going to look. >> The question I asked just before that was, you know, you're rightly critical
00:37:41
of so many of these positions that the Democratic Party leadership takes. Why are you still a Democrat? Have you
00:37:46
thought about switching parties? because I am a Democrat and it's not because I've changed. It's because
00:37:53
because you know parts of my party has changed right now and that's that's
00:37:59
where I'm at. I'm going to continue to be an independent voice. I'm going to
00:38:04
call balls and strikes. I'm always going to pick country over uh part of my base
00:38:13
or what they demand. One of the one of the clear rising themes right now in this country going
00:38:19
into the midterms and probably going into 28 for the presidential election cycle is the massive wealth inequality
00:38:26
in this country. Do you think we have massive wealth inequality and is it you know can you identify the origin? Where
00:38:32
is this coming from? >> I I don't I don't really know. Uh but I I don't hate billionaires. I don't make
00:38:40
them the problem. Now that with Democrats, we love billionaires if we're supporting our we're supporting our
00:38:46
causes or there's they're underwriting, you know, things that are near and dear
00:38:50
to us. In fact, we actually have a a billionaire as a Democratic governor, you know, that doesn't mean he's an
00:38:56
oligarch and trying to destroy America, you know. So, like, it's about trying to
00:39:01
be more honest and stop attacking each other and find what we can agree on. now, but we live in the kinds of
00:39:08
attention economy and just, you know, saying outlandish thing and making, you know, crazy statements, you know, yeah,
00:39:17
that drives the clicks, but that's not governments. That's not >> Well, it's it's on the ballot now in
00:39:23
California to pass a wealth tax and it starts as a one-time 5% tax for billionaires, but it gives the
00:39:30
legislature in California the ability to lower the threshold and make it every year if they wanted to. and change the
00:39:36
percentage. Ro and Bernie Sanders have talked about passing a national wealth tax. Do you think we are going to find
00:39:42
ourselves in that conversation in 2028 and we're going to have a national wealth tax where eventually, just like
00:39:47
we started with a 1% income tax, eventually everyone will pay a significant percentage of their net
00:39:52
worth every year to support government services? I mean, uh, Senator Sanders has never represented
00:40:03
more than a very small, you know, state, you know, like win a competitive state.
00:40:11
Uh, so you have your own ideas and, you know, like we'll see what really is required to to to
00:40:19
win, you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, so let me ask. He's also recently called for a moratorium on
00:40:25
building AI data centers. I work in Silicon Valley as do my >> China China loves it. China loves it.
00:40:32
>> China loves it. >> Yeah. Let's hand hand hand AI that race over to the Chinese.
00:40:38
>> Why do you think leaders in the party are supporting this idea? It's so
00:40:41
obvious what's going to happen if we do this. But um you know, do you think AI
00:40:46
is going to increase wealth disparity in this country? win a real, you know, competitive election, win one, then you
00:40:54
can lecture me or you can tell me, hey, what's the right direction? Otherwise, you know, like it's it's like
00:41:03
they are the they are the part of the party that's so hyperritical, you know,
00:41:06
and those kinds of excesses like defund the police and and uh abolish ICE and these outlandish kind of thing, you
00:41:16
know, they're the same part of the party now that loves the dude with the Nazi
00:41:20
tattoo on his chest, >> right? And then I I just want to cover agriculture real quick. I've heard
00:41:25
reports that the vast majority of US farms lost money. you're on the Senate ad committee, which is why I'm asking
00:41:29
this, and this is becoming, I think, a big national issue that the majority of US farmers lost money last year if not
00:41:36
for the federal government providing support payments, crop insurance, and would have been one-time bailouts. Do
00:41:42
you think we have a path to fixing agriculture in this country? And how do we get farmers back on track where they
00:41:46
can earn a living without requiring checks from the government? >> Farming is such a hard job. I absolutely
00:41:54
revere American farms, especially in Pennsylvania ones. Their job, you know, quite literally feeds us. I fully
00:42:03
support all of their efforts. You know, I was deeply troubled by many many of those tariffs. And also the ones that I
00:42:11
talked to, labor, labor, labor has made that very, very difficult. I you know we
00:42:16
should celebrate and support farmers because I know because I've visited enough farms to see how hard
00:42:23
backbreaking labor it is to just deliver food to your table. So that's part that's part of it and that's kind of
00:42:33
connected to things. Thankfully, we have the kinds of abundance in our nation for
00:42:38
our food and now why um that's why uh that's part of the immigration conversation. That's part of the tariffs
00:42:47
and that wherever like that. So, so the kinds of things that are hurting a lot of the people that are just almost
00:42:54
forming uh uniformly red parts of of my state. >> Yeah. And and and just to wrap up, I
00:43:02
mean, you you've said you want to save the Democratic party and not abandon it,
00:43:06
which you know, you repeated here today. You're a Democrat, but you know, with
00:43:10
only 22% approval rating among Pennsylvania Democrats, I mean, how do you carry this forward? And,
00:43:17
you know, what's the way to kind of bring this party out of the doldrums, if
00:43:22
you will, that there's a lack of leadership and a lack of moral clarity, as you call it? Well, as as I said
00:43:28
earlier, there was there was there was a poll out that was con was current to that and it has me around 5050. You
00:43:36
know, that that's more accurate. So, I'm not worried about 28. You know, we have
00:43:42
Iran, we have a lot of other things right now. So like I'm just I'm not I'm
00:43:48
not uh you know the parlor games about something you know like I've never felt
00:43:54
better of just voting my conscience voting country over party and just following the moral clarities and really
00:44:02
really important kinds of of of things like destroying Iran, securing Israel and standing uh with uh the Jewish
00:44:12
community and Israel after everything that they've been through and how close
00:44:17
how much more optimism of of real peace. You know, yes, that's there's a lot of
00:44:25
warfare now, but then I think that's a path for for more enduring peace. >> There's been a lot of genuine
00:44:30
speculation that you might run for president in 28. Is that on the table? >> I'm I uh you know, it's like about 28.
00:44:39
You know, I I don't know what what what America wants or the direction. You know, I'm following what I've just said.
00:44:46
That's the moral clarities and >> Well, thanks for speaking your voice.
00:44:50
Uh, Senator John Fedman, I appreciate you being with us on All In today. >> This has been great.
00:44:55
>> Thank you. I I love conversations uh with anyone's that's just a real
00:45:00
conversation. >> Yeah. >> Calling people names and saying outlandish thing um that doesn't make
00:45:06
anyone um I don't know like I refuse to engage it. So, thanks. >> It's it's it's a breath of fresh air,
00:45:13
honestly. and I really appreciate it. Thank you, John. I'm going all in.