Fetterman mocks Trump’s “desperation” and criticizes GOP strategy on trans issues

 Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who represents the key swing state of Pennsylvania, on Sunday mocked former President Donald Trump’s lies about election fraud and criticized the Trump campaign’s attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on transgender issues.

“Desperation is the worst cologne,” Fetterman said to CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” referencing Trump’s election interference claims. “I’d like to remind everybody that Biden wrecked his sh*t by 80,000 votes, and now we’re going to be back in the same situation.”

Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020 by a little more than 81,000 votes.

Fetterman said he was confident Harris would win Pennsylvania but acknowledged that it would be a tight race and that there was “strong energy on both sides.” The Democratic senator also blasted recent pro-Trump ads attacking Harris’ stance on transgender rights, leaning into his own masculinity and sense of toughness.

“If your political capital comes from picking on trans kids or gay kids or anything like that, that’s — you’re just bankrupting throughout all of this,” Fetterman said. “My version of being … a man is, it’s like, ‘Hey, I like rib-eyes. I like Motorhead, and I’m never going to pick on trans kids and gay kids.’”

Over the first half of October, Trump and his allies poured more than $21 million into television ads attacking Harris over her past support of certain rights for transgender people, betting any voters still choosing between the two candidates could be swayed to take sides in a cultural fight that has torn apart statehouses and school boards in recent years.

Fetterman added, “It doesn’t make you a man to pick on trans or gay kids, it just makes you an a**hole.”