Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) did not emerge from his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump with a promise that the Braddock Democrat would be named the “Pope of Greenland,” but Trump said Fetterman did earn his admiration for his commonsense approach to governing.
“It was a totally fascinating meeting. He’s a fascinating man, and his wife is lovely. They were both up, and I couldn’t be more impressed,” Trump said of Fetterman and his wife Gisele after the hourlong meeting at Mar-a-Lago.
“He’s a commonsense person. He’s not liberal or conservative. He’s just a commonsense person, which is beautiful,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner.
Fetterman had made the cheeky “Pope of Greenland” quip to Capitol Hill reporters on Thursday when they questioned why he accepted Trump’s invitation to meet the president-elect at his home in Mar-a-Lago.
He said later in a statement about the pending meeting, “President Trump invited me to meet, and I accepted. I’m the senator for all Pennsylvanians — not just Democrats in Pennsylvania,” adding, “I’ve been clear that no one is my gatekeeper. I will meet with and have a conversation with anyone if it helps me deliver for Pennsylvania and the nation.”
Without going into too much detail about their private conversation, Trump said that the topics addressed included the fate of U.S. Steel, support for Israel, shoring up the border, and the geopolitical benefits of acquiring Greenland.
Regarding U.S. Steel, Trump said they discussed how to make the company successful again through tariffs. “They’re going to make people that have steel mills do very well, and the people that work at those steel mills are going to do very well,” Trump said.
President Joe Biden blocked the more than $14 billion deal for U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel at the beginning of January, citing national security concerns after a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
In response several days later, U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to reverse Biden’s decision, alleging Biden acted unconstitutionally.
Fetterman and his family live in Braddock, Pennsylvania, across the street from one of the oldest steel mills in the country, the Edgar Thomson Works, which is part of U.S. Steel and has been an active mill since 1875.
Fetterman and Trump oppose the sale as it stands, citing their support of steelworkers union leadership who have expressed concerns that Nippon Steel’s latest proposal gives the U.S. government veto power over any possible reductions in U.S. Steel’s production capacity if they merged.
The steelworkers union has also expressed concern that the Nippon proposal does not commit to maintaining production over the long term.
Trump said they talked at length about expansionist plans from Greenland to the Panama Canal, with both of them agreeing it was an important discussion to have from a national security and economic standpoint.
“We had a great meeting. He was very impressive. His wife was with him, and she was really fantastic, too,” he said.
Trump also expressed his pleasure that U.S. special counsel Jack Smith had resigned. Smith led two federal cases against Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling classified documents. Both cases fizzled out.
“He’s a bad, bad guy. … He got beaten, and the whole thing is all of their witch hunts, their political witch hunts, are dead or dying,” he said, blaming the entire episode on politics. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”
Trump wondered what would have happened had he lost in November.
“You don’t know, maybe they would’ve stopped or maybe they would not have stopped. You really don’t know. But it certainly wouldn’t be nice like it is right now,” he said.
Overall, Trump said that in the time between his November win and next week’s inauguration, it has been refreshing to see the cooperation between the Republican Party and Democrats like Fetterman who are taking the lead in co-sponsoring items such as the Laken Riley Act.
On Thursday, the Laken Riley Act defeated the legislative filibuster during a procedural vote, earning more than 60 votes to advance it to a final vote.
“It’s been amazing, and there’s been cooperation within the Republicans and a lot of the Democrats. I will say that Sen. Fetterman was very impressive to me, really impressive,” he said.
Trump said he has been encouraged by the polling he has seen of the public’s views of his transition process. A recent CBS News-YouGov poll showed Trump’s incoming administration starts off with mostly goodwill from the public, with a majority of people overall either happy or at least satisfied that Trump won and either excited or optimistic about what he will do as president.
His handling of the presidential transition also got high approval from most people overall.
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Trump said his impression of Fetterman early on was that he was very liberal, but that impression started to change as he has watched the Pennsylvania senator navigate his support for Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, and, of course, after sitting down to meet him face to face and have a conversation.
“He really was impressive, and I’m glad I got to speak to him. And he loves Pennsylvania, and he loves our country,” characteristics Trump said he found moving.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
