Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has struck an independent tone in recent weeks, distancing himself from the hard left, progressive wing of his party — which helped put him in office.

The one-time progressive stalwart, enthusiastically endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has explicitly declared he no longer adheres to the label and is simply a Democrat, citing his stances on immigration and Israel as key breaking points with the left wing of his own party.

Fetterman spoke with the New York Times for an article published Thursday about the break and made clear he not only has no regrets, but he blames the progressive movement from breaking with him and what he calls his common sense approach to issues.

The Pennsylvania Democrat known for his gym shorts and hoodies, told the Times that as the left continues to demand “purity tests” he gave up on calling himself a progressive.

“It’s just a place where I’m not. I don’t feel like I’ve left the label; it’s just more that it’s left me,” Fetterman told the Times, adding, “I’m not critical if someone is a progressive. I believe different things.”

The Times noted that Fetterman’s break from the progressive movement, which has come under intense fire from many over some recent pro-Palestinian protests that have involved violence, anti-Semitic rhetoric, or property damage, has stunned many of his former critics on the right. “What multiverse is this?” the Times quoted hard-right website Breitbart of posting on their social media while sharing Fetterman’s recent appearance on CNN with Jake Tapper, in which he accused TikTok of “warping” young Americans’ minds to be anti-Israel.

Fetterman spoke to the Times about his support for Israel, saying, “I do find it confusing where the very left progressives in America don’t seem to want to support really the only progressive nation in the region that really embraces the same kind of values I would expect we would want as a society.”

On immigration, Fetterman said, “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have a secured border.”

“I would never put Dreamers in harm’s way, or support any kind of cruelty or mass expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people. But it’s a reasonable conversation to talk about the border,” he concluded.

He briefly discussed his health and the stroke that almost took his life, noting, “What I have found out over the last couple years is that the right, and now the left, are hoping that I die.”

“There are ones that are rooting for another blood clot. They have both now been wishing that I die,” he added, making clear he now sees harsh critics in both parties.

The post Fetterman Slams The Left’s ‘Purity Tests’ And Questions How They Can Abandon Israel: ‘The Only Progressive Nation In the Region’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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