Fetterman’s memoir slams Democrats for botched policies and Trump’s victory

Sloppy policies, ignoring reality and turning their backs on the voters who built the party are key ingredients that Sen. John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, says helped Democrats lose big last year.

In his memoir “Unfettered,” Fetterman reflected on the missteps of the Democratic Party and his colleagues that he said led to President Donald Trump’s victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris and sweeping change in Washington, DC.

Fetterman argued that the Democratic Party had lost touch with the working class, a key bloc of voters that at one time formed the backbone of the party.

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Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., at the U.S. Capitol during government shutdown votes, Oct. 16, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

In particular, it was attacks on men, whether through speeches or legislation, that helped turn the Democratic Party into an elitist organization too focused on “celebrity endorsements,” he said. In turn, those who voted for Trump perceived “Democrats as soft and slimy people, with an agenda built on ideals that were not grounded in the reality of the average person.”

“We have become the party of elites, a party that has lost touch with its base,” he writes. “Furthermore, the continued rhetoric and policies against men have not been without consequences.

“If men are forced to choose between choosing their party or keeping their balls, most men will choose their balls.”

Fetterman’s book, released Tuesday, comes at a particular inflection point for Democrats. The party has spent much of the year searching for a compelling message to both rebuild its brand with voters and build unity within its congressional ranks.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the majority of the caucus acted in concert during the shutdown following Obamacare subsidies. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

That happened with the government shutdown, when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the majority of the caucus acted in concert with demands that the government not reopen until the expiration of Obamacare subsidies was resolved.

Schumer’s failure to prevent a cohort of Senate Democrats, including Fetterman, from crossing the aisle to join Republicans has earned him heat from progressives in the House and outside the walls of Congress.

Although he often deviates from Schumer’s position, particularly throughout the shutdown, Fetterman has written sparingly about the Senate’s top Democrat. Instead, he is briefly mentioned when reflecting on Schumer’s 2023 decision to change the dress code in the Senate to accommodate Fetterman, whose standard attire is a baggy hoodie and basketball shorts.

But Schumer also gave in to this initiative in early 2024.

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President Donald Trump points as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, September 11, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

“Schumer was forced to reverse course and impose a dress code directed at me,” Fetterman wrote.

One policy area in particular where Fetterman felt Democrats had failed was immigration. He reiterated that while he was pro-immigration, he could not support Democrats’ reluctance to address the growing crisis at the southern border under former President Joe Biden.

He wrote that Democrats’ claim that “an open border is a compassionate policy” was not based in reality.

“It is chaos, both for these immigrants and for the citizens affected by the overwhelming number of people who need help,” he wrote.

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And, furthermore, this position likely played an important role in Trump and the Republican Party’s overall victories in 2024, Fetterman argued.

“Democrats were swearing up and down that the border was secure and telling their voters not to believe their own eyes,” he wrote. “I suspect that may have been the deciding factor in the 2024 election. You can’t tell people not to believe their own eyes and hope to win the election.”