Shawn Duffy. What's up, man? You are the perfect person to answer this question. Support for Israel, denial of the sale of an American company to Japan, interest in increasing security along the Southern border. What's going on with Senator John Fetterman.

Let's call on Bob Menendez, Gold Bar Bob as well. He shouldn't be in the Senate. One more thing. Listen, it's interesting because I think what's happened over the course of the last maybe eight years, 10 years, we've seen Democrats only really be these far left-wing radical Democrats. This feels like it's more in the mold of a Bill Clinton-esque Democrat right now where he's actually doing what he thinks is right. He's not a conservative. He's not a Maga Republican. He's a Democrat who's trying to make some sense out of the craziness that we find right now in our world. I think, again, the the southern border, 80 % of Americans look at the southern border and think it's a huge problem. And it's refreshing that Federman will look at it as well and go, hey, this is a problem. We should probably come together and try to fix it. I'm not opposed to immigration. I don't want numbers that Republicans want for immigration. I'm not that low. But what's happening at our southern border is unacceptable, untenable, and we should work together to fix it. Wow, isn't that great? We can talk about taxes, we could talk about all kinds of issues we can talk about.

But as Americans, this one probably makes sense that we should fix. You know.

Sean, when I looked through the different issues where Fetterman has surprised, you're right. Listening to a Democrat take a bit more hawkish tone on immigration wouldn't have been a surprise in the 1990s. Listening to a Democrat be interested in job protection and trade protection would have seemed like a core component in the 1980s. For a Democrat to support Israel was really par for the course for most of the last half century. The only real surprise would be the one where Fetterman, to your point, was interested in some logical consistency when it came to George Santos and Bob Menendez, because it doesn't matter if you're center or far left, hypocrisy is never the greatest sin. Protect the team. That's the only one that really was surprising. The rest of the positions are what used to be normal Democrats. I feel like the reaction to John Federman says less about him and just more about the movement of the greater Democrat party.

More about the party as a whole. That's right. A lot of people have this conversation, well, let's say that the Republican party has become so extreme. I'm like, Really? Go back to Ronald Reagan. What's really changed on issues that Republicans care about, what, taxes? They've changed on maybe building a wall at the southern border because of Donald Trump. They've talked about, now there are free traders at all expense. And now they're like, well, maybe we should have some tariffs on countries that don't treat us well or our business as well. But beyond that, it's the same issues. They're still pro-life. They still want less government. It's Democrats who have moved to such extremes right now, whether it's on crime or on transgender issues or gay issues or border issues. I think this is one of these examples where he is a standard traditional Democrat that would get elected in the 1990s, in the mold of a Bill Clinton. We also can't forget this, Will, Pennsylvania is a purple state, and Federman is not a wall flower by any stretch. You can be a progressive liberal. Tammy Bold from Wisconsin. She's a voting record of a left-wing radical, but she doesn't get a lot of press.

You probably don't even know her name. People don't know who she is. People know Federman. And in a purple state like Pennsylvania, to walk this unique line, I think, is very interesting. And when you come, he comes from money, but he was a mayor of a working class community. And if you have friends in those communities and you go to a bar in that community and go to church or go to eat in that community, they'll tell you what they think. Yeah, we should protect American jobs. We should not have a foreign country by our our steel millage to be American owned. I think he gets a strong dose of that where he lives and probably the people he has a beer with when he goes out on a Friday night.

We're trying to make sense of John Federman. I think we're making headway into understanding a man who we thought was the male representative of the squad at some point. But I think we need to take just a moment to say this as well. It sounds cheap, but it's true. It sounds cheap because he's saying things that you and I might be more sympathetic toward. But he's also becoming at the same time, Sean, more coherent. He's making sense. I don't just mean with the content of what he has to say, but the quality, his ability to articulate what he has to say. He seems to be recovering from the stroke.

That's right.

There are people who are saying, Oh, maybe you should feel bad for anything you might have said. To that I say, I don't because there was no guarantee that John Federman was going to regain both his articulation, but also the clarity of his thinking. I don't think we could all become doctors and go, Well, we should extend some grace period during his stroke for his recovery. Some people never recover. But I think the point is, well, I don't think I should, or you should or anyone should have any great regrets that this man, when he was fairly incapacitated, was voted in in Pennsylvania, we do need to give credit to what seems to be a miraculous recovery in John Federman.

You make a great point. If you listen to his speech now compared to four months ago, even that difference in time, it is remarkable the recovery that he's had. And I think it's interesting, Will. So Democrats, they stick really close together. You don't get too many people going too far away from their center. You see more Republicans do it. Whether it was John McCain, they loved him. Oh, he's a Maverick, or Susan Collins, they vote far more left than Democrats do to the right. Federman has been an example of one of those Democrats. Not many from West Virginia or Senator Manchin, another. But they don't have that many over the course of the last 10, 15 years that actually stray away from that center focus that the party has on issues. And Federman has been one. And again, we're supposed to celebrate Republicans who vote Democrat. Well, you know what? I don't like that. I'm going to celebrate a Democrat who's going to vote with some common sense on issues that truly affect the country. It's pretty cool. I don't know what you think, Will, about this, the US deal issue? I get torn both ways on that.

I don't know if it's a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. I'm a free enterprise guy. And if someone comes in from Japan and offers more than an American country was going to offer, a company was going to offer, I'm like, That's free enterprise kindy we've had its finest. Shouldn't we let the highest bidder win? But I also want those... The jobs are going to stay in America, but I also want the companies owned in America, too. I've been torn. I don't know how I'd even come down on this. As long as it wasn't China, that would be really clear for me. But Federman obviously has taken Pennsylvania, right? I mean, he's the heart of steel. I don't know what you think about what he's saying and what we should actually do.

If I'm being completely honest, like you, I'm torn because I believe in free enterprise. Actually, I believe in the value of the shareholder. A shareholder is simply a property owner. There's someone who has invested some of their time and their hard earnings into owning something, and it's just fractional ownership when you're talking about stock. And the reason that somebody owns something is for the prospect of investment return. If you're a shareholder of US Steel today, which it spiked 25% after news that it was going to be bought by Nippon Steel, you're probably wondering why this senator is blocking your return on investment. But I'm torn. I don't think there's any reason to believe that the Japanese steel company was going to lay off American workers. They said they were going to leave the headquarters in Pittsburgh. I don't know what threat it represented to American workers, but I do think there's critical resources and critical companies that in the abstract, Sean, I do like in the hands of Americans. I do like in the hands of American ownership. But that's where I'm torn. Because at the same time, I think American investors should also be able to reap the benefits of their investment.

And again, I think it's nice to grapple with the issues because there's no clear cut answer. But obviously for Federman, it is clear because the politics of this are real because a steal is so big in Pennsylvania is like, No. By the way, the owners of US Steel did not consult with the Union. I think there was some requirement there where they should have, or at least Fetterman, that they would have liked that to happen. He's coming down, the union doesn't like it, so he doesn't like it either. But again, I'm torn as well as you are.

What do we make of this? Fetterman used to describe himself, Sean, as a progressive. Then recently he said, I'm not a progressive. I think it was your wife that said this, but I feel like it was a conversation with the three of us all included, and I think it was on air where she quoted you to you, where I think she said, You run the race that you're in. Is that how you explain him describing himself as a progressive before? When he's a Democratic primary, he called himself a progressive. And now that he's a Senator and he's in what, the first year or two of a sixth year term? He doesn't need that label anymore?

That's a really good question. Did you have to call himself a progressive to actually win the primary? Actually, that could be true. But he was the Lieutenant governor as well before he was the mayor. He was never the top guy. We never... In this, we look back to the mayor's position, but, Will, mayors don't really have an opportunity to lean that far left or that far right. There are some if they're going to be a sanctuary city or what they're doing with works projects. But I think that could be a good example of, I have to call myself a progressive. I have to win the primary. But still, he didn't really refute that during the campaign. And maybe you could say, did the general campaign against Memaras, you could say, Well, that would have been the perfect time to come and go, Hey, listen, I'm not a progressive. I'm a commonsense Democrat. He never did that. Now it's true, right? During the primary, he had the stroke. And so maybe he didn't have the wherewithal to make that pivot because now he's just trying to get his message out and it was challenging for him.

But maybe once you get to the Senate too, and it's a big job, right? There's only 100 senators, and you're you're grappling with the big issues of the day, and you really get a gut check. It's one thing to sit back like we are on a podcast and talk about issues and dissect them. It's something else to actually have the voting card or the voting thumb in the Senate, and to sit and look at what is the best thing for my country. And I'm looking at Pennsylvania as well as the Senator, but it's also Pennsylvania and America. And I think things happen then where it's easy to comment or easy to throw ideas out when you're running. However, when you actually have the responsibility of a vote and you think about your kids and your family and your community, those things do change. So I don't know what it was with him. Was it that he was never progressive? Or was it that as he's been in the Senate, by the way also, Will, you never have better information than you do when you're in the Congress. When I was a candidate, I thought I had a lot of good information.

You get all the information that you could ever want, and it's the right information when you're in Congress. And maybe the fact is he's getting different briefings, different information, different staffers that is making him think a different way about the issues that he's confronted with.

It's wild. I think you're absolutely right, by the way. We're in the information age and we're all a wash in information, but yet it's still the most valuable resource, good information. Hey, last thing, I think there's going to be… He's still going to surprise us to the left, I think. He's still going to show you at times, Oh, he is on the left. I don't know what that is, Sean. I'm sure he's on the left on abortion, but that should be one that should be absolutely zero surprise to anyone because it's a winning voting issue, what we're learning to be pretty far left on abortion. I'd be curious, Sean, where he would be on some of those culture issues like trans or race issues. Because here's why I wonder where he will surprise to the left. It's a testament to the value, as opposed to a congressman, of being in for six years. You have very little pressure of the next race and you can take positions that either A, you truly believe, or B, you just don't think that you'll lose on. As you point out, Pennsylvania is purple. He's not running again for another, what is it?

Five years? Four years? Five years? He doesn't have to worry about it for a while. He's in a purple state, and he might as well pivot to win elections in the long term. Even if he misses one or two, it's not going to hurt him by the time he gets there. I actually can't think of the issue where he will surprise us to the left right now. If he is this calculated and he's like, I'm going to win in Pennsylvania. He's not going to surprise us on trans issues. That's not a winner, a real winner in a purple state. I don't know. I just think this is something about the length of his term and where he could surprise us on issues.

You make a really good point. People's memories are short. Even in Congress, as you have a two-year term. The first six months, you start taking votes and you think that that's going to be on the ballot a year and a half later, and it never is. You can take votes in the first six months that you might not want to take in the last six months when you're up for election because people there's some grace and they forget and there's more relevant issues that come into play the six, four months before an election. Federman is five years away. So this is not an electoral play. No one's going to remember these votes five years from now. But you know what? They may remember that he didn't stand up and fight for US Steel. They might remember that he didn't stand up for the steel industry. And the Union there is still pretty big and still pretty powerful in Pennsylvania. But he is going to surprise us. He's not a moderate. Even to Joe Manchin, when he was, I'm not going to vote for Build Back Better when it was called Build Back Better. And eventually, he came around to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which had nothing to do with inflation.

It was all about this green energy stuff that actually mentioned we thought was opposed to. But in the end, he is the one that orchestrated the deal with the White House and gave us this massive green energy bill, green funding, massive debt, which has helped lead to more inflation. Before that vote, I thought he was the savior to kill Joe Biden's bill back better, and he didn't. He got right back on page and got in bed with his Democrat friends and allies. Really bad bill. Now he's not running for re-election. Maybe that's a consequence of a bill like that. So again, I think we're going to have a few surprises where he comes out and says some common sense things, Federman. But by and large, he'll be a reliable vote for Chuck Schumer in the Senate, a reliable Democrat. I think we can do this a year from now? Will, the list will be long of the stuff we're annoyed at, Federman, because again, he's still a lefty.

Right now, though, he's an interesting lefty. Yeah, he is. As are you, Sean Duffy. I wish you a merry Christmas, man. Thank you for breaking that down with us today.

Did you say I'm an interesting lefty?

No, just an interesting guy. I didn't.

Call you lefty. Thanks for the clarification. Will, I want to wish you a merry Christmas as well in Texas. There's no snow there. We don't have snow here either, but getting back. I know you're working this weekend. Have fun with your family. Enjoy and we'll see you probably after the first of the year.

All right. See you in 2024. Merry Christmas. Hey, it's Will Cain. Click here to subscribe to the Fox News channel on YouTube. It's the best way to get our latest interviews and highlights. And click to subscribe to the Will Cain podcast for full episodes right now.