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Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., sounded off on “lefties” in his own party who are warming to socialism or communism, recounting a past discussion with people who lived under communist rule in the 20th century.
Asked about a new Gallup poll showing 66% of Democrats view socialism favorably while only 42% view capitalism favorably, Fetterman said it is an important question to raise.
“I literally was in a former communist nation. And I asked that — I said, ‘Some people in my party, some of the lefties are talking about socialism now. What do you think?’”
“He’s like, ‘that’s the worst thing ever – you’re going to need a reality check if you ever adopt any of those things. You know, like — you are morons.”
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Fetterman appeared to agree with the sentiments of the people he spoke with, later disclosing the country he had visited was Croatia.
Croatians told him, “Thank God we’re freed from that,” and that they are “mystified why [America] is having that conversation.”
The comments came as the Democratic Party’s mainstream has shifted left more recently, largely beginning with the rise of Vermont democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and the left-wing “Squad” in the House of Representatives.
President Donald Trump recently branded New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani a “Communist lunatic,” and a man in a Cuba shirt also disrupted a recent Mamdani event by shouting allegations he aligns with the ideology closely associated with Havana’s current regime.
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Sen. John Fetterman during the sixth installment of The Senate Project moderated by Fox News anchor Shannon Bream at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate on June 2, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)
Mamdani denied to NBC News that he is a communist, instead preferring “democratic socialist.”
In a clip from “The Faulkner Focus,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Seattle Democrat and prominent progressive, said the current economic system is “not working for the majority of Americans anymore.”
“This world that we’ve inherited is not sustainable to human life. And there has to be a better way of doing things.”
In Croatia, the current political system was preceded by Josip Tito’s oppressive communist regime, which ruled from World War II through the 1980s and swiftly crushed dissent.
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After Tito’s death in 1980, the country began to slowly democratize and by 1989, multi-party elections were held.
By contrast, its current prime minister is Andrej Plenković, who is considered a conservative, pro-NATO and pro-market leader.
Fox News Digital reached out to Fetterman for further comment.
