'We have our own kind of ‘childless cat ladies’ situation': John Fetterman

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), discussing the beating his party took in his state with Semafor, highlighted what he sees as a liability for Democrats in this election, and going forward — something he sees as comparable to Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) when he attacked "childless cat ladies" and alienated huge swathes of the female electorate.

That specifically is with young men, whom, he argued, are given no indication by Democrats that the party values including them, and has an arrogant moniker of its own for them.

Fetterman spoke in particular of when he sat for an interview with Joe Rogan, the arch-"manosphere" podcaster who ultimately endorsed Donald Trump this cycle after backing Bernie Sanders in previous years. Whatever you might say about his opinions, Fetterman said, "He has created an incredibly impressive platform, and it would be pretty dumb to ignore that or to pretend it doesn’t exist" — or to ignore the people who listen to it.

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Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly was in talks to do an interview with Rogan, but Rogan pulled out of the deal because he wasn't willing to speak to her remotely.

"It also addresses an important kind of an issue, in my opinion, with the Democratic Party," said Fetterman. "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. They’re described as dopes, or gullible, or brutes. People were really shocked when the whole childless cat ladies thing dropped, and it is dumb. That violates the basic, basic rule of politics. Don’t subtract, do addition. I think that was part of the new coalition that really delivered a pretty crushing victory for Trump."

Fetterman speculated that Democrats' decision to make tech billionaire Elon Musk the enemy, as he built up a massive campaign operation to support Trump, may have cost them some votes too.

"He is incredibly compelling to a demographic in my state," said Fetterman. "He’s like Tony Stark. I thought it was just dumb to attack him or imply that he might be breaking the law with his $1 million checks, because, to me, that just projects weakness. And I promise you: Musk doesn’t give a shit."