Fetterman on ‘The View’ says Trump was ‘kind,’ ‘cordial’ during Mar-a-Lago meeting

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said on Monday that President Trump was “kind” and “cordial” at a Mar-a-Lago meeting that sparked scrutiny about the Democratic senator’s approach to the new administration.

“Overall, it was a positive experience. I mean, he was kind, he was cordial. It wasn’t in any kind of theater. It wasn’t trying to get your picture taken to kind of put something out on social media. It was just, really, a conversation. We actually spoke for over an hour,” Fetterman told “The View.”

Fetterman met with Trump at his Palm Beach resort earlier this month, ahead of the inauguration, and Trump left with praise for the Pennsylvania senator.

“He’s a commonsense person. He’s not liberal or conservative. He’s just a commonsense person, which is beautiful,” Trump said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

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Fetterman’s open-minded approach to Trump and Capitol Hill Republicans has stirred speculation about the first-term senator’s motives, including questions about whether he was preparing to change parties.

But he told Semafor last week that talk about a potential party flip is “amateur-hour s‑‑‑.”

“If they think, ‘Oh, it’s going to be like a Manchin or a Sinema play,’ that’s just not true, and that’s not going to happen,” Fetterman said, referring to two former lawmakers — ex-Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — who entered office as Democrats but became independents before retiring from the chamber.

Asked about the optics of the trip, Fetterman told “The View” that “I think it’s pretty reasonable to have a conversation” and stressed that it’s part of his job to try to work with the president.

“There’s things I’m going to agree with, I’m going to disagree with, but I’m in the business of finding wins for Pennsylvania and for the nation and engaging the president,” Fetterman said.

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