Audio · 2026-06-10 · 43m · 6 moments

Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick: Bipartisanship, Money in DC, Datacenters, Graham Platner

(0:00) PA Senators Fetterman and McCormick join the Besties (0:33) Bipartisanship in 2026, rejecting extremism (6:37) All-time unpopularity in the Senate, the filibuster question, tribalism (13:33) Fixing wealth concentration in the US (19:51) Graham Platner, why extremism wins primaries, and what it means for the future (28:12) How AI and energy are playing a part in PA's blue collar boom, dark money funding misinformation (41:05) Insane level of money in politics, fixing the broken ✦ AI generated

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GUEST John Fetterman GUEST Dave McCormick

timeline · colored by role

Context◆

The only way forward is to reject extremism and find common ground across party lines, because shutting down the government is wrong for the Commonwealth and the nation.

Fetterman and McCormick open by describing their bipartisan working relationship and commitment to finding common ground, rejecting extremism in favor of country-over-party governance.

transcript

John Fetterman: In this situation, we both agree that shutting our government down is wrong for our Commonwealth and for our nation. So we're looking for ways to find common ground. And when we disagree, we — if we disagree, but when we can agree, we agree. Our votes are about country over party at this point.

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Claim

Democrats must stop treating AI and data centers as a scourge — calling for a moratorium on data centers is a China-first policy, because if America doesn't build the AI chassis, China will.

Fetterman argues that Democratic calls for a moratorium on data centers effectively help China win the AI race. He frames AI as an incredible opportunity and refuses to let his party become Luddites, insisting America must build the AI infrastructure rather than cede it to China.

transcript

John Fetterman: And AI is really, really important. And it will sometimes will put me at odds where the direction that the Democratic Party seems to be moving in that now. So now, moratorium for data centers. For me, that's a China first kinds of policy for that. I'm going to continue to push back that. I'm not going to describe that as a scourge. I'm going to describe that as an incredible new opportunity. [...] I'm not terrified by AI. Am I concerned about it? A 100% right now. And now Mythos and other concerns about mass hacking and weaponizing it that way. You know, that's coming. And now I think that should belong to America. You know, that, you know, America should build that chassis. And now that's why if we turn my party into where AI is the scourge or the cancer, I refuse to reject that because it's going to transform the world. Now it can come from us or it can come from China. Whose side are you going to be in? And a lot of the people that oppose that, now a lot of that opposition is funded by a lot of these groups that are aligned with CCP. So that's part of the danger right now.

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Claim

The Senate is at an all-time low in approval and Democrats were wrong about the filibuster — eliminating it would turn the Senate into a smaller version of the House and destroy minority rights, which would have profound implications for governance.

Fetterman admits Democrats were completely wrong about eliminating the filibuster, thanking Manchin and Sinema for blocking that move. He now considers defending the filibuster a hill he would die on, arguing it forces bipartisan cooperation and protects minority rights.

transcript

John Fetterman: The entire Democratic Party, including myself, we were so wrong about the filibuster. In my cycle in 2020, every single Democrat identified we have to eliminate the filibuster. Seems like it makes sense now. And thank God, thank God we had people that stood there, whether it's Senator Manchin or Senator Sinema, history has vindicated their wisdom to do that thing. And now Democrats, we all wanted to get rid of it in 22. And 2025, we love it. And now it forces people to work together with both sides. Now, if you turn the Senate into a smaller version of the House and majority, now that would have profound, profound implications for now. So now someone that'd be the first person to announce, hey, I was so wrong about that. Oh, that's one of the kinds of hill I would die on now to defend the filibuster, how important it is to the Senate, but also Senate for the minority rights, whoever that happens to be in that time, you know, that's what's so critical, what the filibuster is to governance here.

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Claim◆

We are going to lose capitalism unless we find ways to address wealth concentration — giving people opportunity through school choice and invest accounts that get money out of government and into people's hands is part of the answer.

Fetterman and McCormick acknowledge wealth concentration as a huge, growing problem. McCormick argues that capitalism itself is at risk unless opportunity is spread, proposing Invest America accounts and school choice as market-based solutions that give people opportunity without more government control.

transcript

Dave McCormick: No, it's a huge problem. And I don't think I listened carefully last night. I mean, I just want to tell you, that is a huge, huge problem that's growing. That median income in Pennsylvania is $52,000 a year. When you guys say AI or AI anxiety, I mean, these folks, they've been down this road once before when a bunch of smart, rich people said, we got the answer, it's called globalization. And what happened in my hometown is there was a mill of 2,000 people that got gutted. It's now 100 people. So there's enormous anxiety, but it's because there's no path to getting ahead. And everybody in this room, the last 10 years has been the greatest 10 years in the history of humanity for those who have assets. So do you have a plan? Yeah, well, there's got to be- And what is it? There's got to be a number of plans. Well, do you have a plan? Because it's not just going to be me, it's going to be us. Because right now, listen, I am a beneficiary of capitalism. I have been wildly fortunate because of capitalism. But we are going to lose capitalism unless we find a combination of ways to address it. So what are the ways? The Invest America accounts is a perfect way, right, where you are building opportunity for the next generation. The school choice provision in the Working Families Tax Cut Act, $1,700, everybody in this room can give $1,700 every year. Billions of dollars that are going to go into school choice for making sure everybody has equality of opportunity. If you don't do that at maximum scale, and this moment leaves the majority of Americans behind, we're not going to be able to get anything done.

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Anecdote

Graham Platner, a candidate with a Nazi tattoo who called an American soldier a 'dumb motherfucker that doesn't deserve to live,' should not be a viable candidate — his rise is a sign of how dangerously partisan things have become and how normal is being abandoned.

Fetterman expresses disbelief that Graham Platner — who has a Nazi tattoo, sexted a dozen women, and called an American soldier a 'dumb motherfucker that doesn't deserve to live' — is a viable candidate, calling it a bizarre and dangerous place for the country.

transcript

John Fetterman: Yeah, well, when I was a kid, if someone had a Nazi tattoo, you probably could call them a Nazi sympathizer, you know? And someone now, and now just yesterday we discovered that he was sexting with up to a dozen women, and now Democrats, now some are saying, well, what's the big problem? You know, they're constantly just ignoring a lot of these things. And now this is a guy that just a couple years ago described an American soldier in a firefight with the Taliban. Dumb motherfucker that doesn't deserve to live. That's his words. Who does that? Who lurks on there? And you know, he's really a tough guy behind a keyboard. And I can't, you know, explain other than that it's a backlash to how partisan things are. Someone like that should have been in this race right now. So here we are, a guy that was sexting up to a dozen women, he's getting a swallow on. And now we're kind of just, oh, what's the big deal? Why not confront that and just then call that out? And that's the danger if now, these kinds of views — could you imagine if either one of us described an American soldier as a dumb motherfucker that deserves to lie? Or he described our army as absolute trash, absolute trash. He described an American army as absolute trash. And that's a viable candidate now. And that's a bizarre place to live right now as a Democrat.

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Data◆

Data centers are an economic engine creating a blue collar boom in Pennsylvania — with secure welders and electricians making over $100K — and the opposition is driven by misinformation from China and outside forces, similar to what happened with fracking.

McCormick describes the enormous economic impact of data centers and energy projects in Pennsylvania — a 'rebirth' after 20 years of population loss. He notes that the most secure jobs are trades like welding and electrical work, paying over $100K, and argues misinformation from China and outside forces is driving opposition, similar to the fracking debate 15 years ago.

transcript

Dave McCormick: So just in the last 15, 16 months, and these are related, by the way. It's not just energy projects and data centers. It's US Steel and a next generation mill. It's Eli Lilly building a new plant. It's Hanwha and the Philadelphia shipyard. But they're coming in part because of the data centers and the energy projects. And so I've spent a lot of time with the trades lately. The most secure job in Pennsylvania right now is a secure welder. I mean, is a seasoned welder. An electrician. These, honestly, these folks are coming out, they're getting the training, they're in their late teens, early 20s. They're making more than 100 grand a year in these sites, and they can't build, they can't hire quick enough. They can't find enough people to meet the demand. And, you know, the data centers, I mean, I've looked closely at that. There's one, you know, coming in Berwick, Pennsylvania, right next to where I went to high school. The way to think about it is there's sort of four buckets of economic activity that comes, jobs that come. There's, of course, the deals that come with them, but there's the thousands of jobs to build the data centers and the energy that goes side by side. So these are five, 10,000 folks on the site. Then there's the hundreds of people to run the data centers. Then, of course, every three to four years, the hardware and everything in the data centers gets upgraded, which brings in hundreds, sometimes thousands of jobs. There's the energy that's going side by side. Then there's the restaurants, the hotels. I met with the trucking association the other day. They guess that it's about two logistics jobs for every one job in a data center. These things are economic engines. So once you get that covenant straight, people are willing to make the decision. And if a township supervisor or a county commissioner, no senator is going to tell them to do this. Has to come from the ground up in terms of making the decision. But once they decide to do that, it's a huge engine for their communities. If they decide not to do it, my point is, okay, where's your plan? What is the plan? In Pennsylvania, we've been losing people for 20 years. We can't get our kids to stay. This is like a rebirth. It's amazing what's happening, but we got to break through the misinformation.

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Highlight slides

Finding Common Ground Across Party Lines✦ from: The only way forward is to reject extremism and find common ground across party lines, because shutting down the government is wrong for the Commonwealth and the nation.The Agreement Principle✦ from: The only way forward is to reject extremism and find common ground across party lines, because shutting down the government is wrong for the Commonwealth and the nation.Wealth Concentration Threatens Capitalism✦ from: We are going to lose capitalism unless we find ways to address wealth concentration — giving people opportunity through school choice and invest accounts that get money out of government and into people's hands is part of the answer.Market-Based Solutions over Government Control✦ from: We are going to lose capitalism unless we find ways to address wealth concentration — giving people opportunity through school choice and invest accounts that get money out of government and into people's hands is part of the answer.Data Centers as Pennsylvania's Blue Collar Boom✦ from: Data centers are an economic engine creating a blue collar boom in Pennsylvania — with secure welders and electricians making over $100K — and the opposition is driven by misinformation from China and outside forces, similar to what happened with fracking.The Four Buckets of Economic Activity✦ from: Data centers are an economic engine creating a blue collar boom in Pennsylvania — with secure welders and electricians making over $100K — and the opposition is driven by misinformation from China and outside forces, similar to what happened with fracking.Opposition Driven by Misinformation, Not Facts✦ from: Data centers are an economic engine creating a blue collar boom in Pennsylvania — with secure welders and electricians making over $100K — and the opposition is driven by misinformation from China and outside forces, similar to what happened with fracking.

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