Bernie Sanders has been on an endorsement spree, and it keeps blowing up in his face.
First it was Graham Platner in Maine. Now it is Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
And John Fetterman just went on Fox News and told the 84-year-old socialist exactly what he thinks about all of it.
Fetterman Unloads on Sanders Over Two Disastrous Endorsements
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) sat down recently with Fox News’ Saturday in America co-host Kayleigh McEnany and did not hold back.
Fetterman told McEnany the 84-year-old socialist was sabotaging the Democrat Party’s chances of winning elections by supporting terrible candidates.
“Humble yourself, Bernie,” Fetterman said.
“You just pushed an accused rapist that imploded up in Maine, and now you’re pushing, essentially, a pro-Hamas candidate that’s been anti-American and deeply anti-Israel.”
That is a pretty brutal two-sentence summary of where Sanders’ endorsement record currently stands.
Platner suspended his campaign following a rape allegation, and Fetterman made clear what he thought of Sanders’ role in the whole fiasco. “Bernie Sanders needs to apologize to the voters of Maine and to everyone that donated to that train wreck of a campaign,” Fetterman said.
“He keeps pushing these communists and these awful anti-American people, so there’s plenty of those people that have to humble themselves. Humble yourself and stop pushing these kinds of people on people in my party,” the Pennsylvania Democrat added.
And Sanders had stood by Platner through a string of scandals before finally calling on him to step aside.
Fetterman condemned his colleagues in Congress and others who continued backing Platner after problematic internet comments he made years ago came to light, his admission that he once had a tattoo widely associated with a Nazi emblem, and allegations of sexually explicit texts and concerning behavior toward women.
A Maine woman he previously dated, Jenny Racicot, told Politico and CNN that Platner sexually assaulted her in 2021 — which Platner denied — leading the candidate to lose the support of top Democrats.
Fetterman had a blunt verdict on all of it.
“The trash took itself out tonight. And now, finally, people in Maine have a chance to really vote on someone that’s not a total piece of trash,” Fetterman said on Jesse Watters Primetime.
Now Sanders Is Backing a Michigan Candidate Who Won’t Say Israel Has a Right to Exist
The Platner disaster barely cooled before Sanders moved on to his next project: Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat running for Senate in Michigan.
Fetterman pointed out that El-Sayed “is a socialist that earned $700,000 last year,” that his wife “in private practice refuses to accept Medicaid,” and that “he’s a phony” who “has said incredibly anti-American things.”
But the Israel comments are what appear to have set Fetterman off the most.
El-Sayed has called Israel’s action in Gaza a genocide, wants to withdraw both offensive and defensive military aid to Israel, called the Israeli government “evil” like Hamas, and has rebuffed questions about whether Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state.
CNN pressed him on that directly. Three times.
El-Sayed responded, “I didn’t say that. I just said the question of Israel’s existence is not a question. I’m not going to play this gotcha game about whether or not it has a right to exist. The question, ultimately, is about whether or not we want a politics that dignifies equal rights.”
That is not an answer. That is a dodge dressed up as a principle.
El-Sayed has also enthusiastically campaigned with Hasan Piker at Michigan colleges, and has repeatedly declined opportunities to denounce the streamer’s past remarks, including those widely condemned as antisemitic or extremist.
Piker has been criticized for saying that “America deserved 9/11” and that he would “vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.” None of this has alienated his audience of more than 8 million followers across social media.
Fetterman said he was worried about a new Pew poll showing 44% of American Muslims support Hamas, and could not believe El-Sayed has not acknowledged the poll yet. “That’s not someone I could ever support,” Fetterman said. “These are the kind of candidates that Bernie keeps pushing.”
That Pew number is not a fringe finding. Some 44 percent of American Muslims indicated a “favorable” opinion of Hamas — far outstripping every other religious group surveyed — according to the poll, which surveyed 12,574 US adults from May 4-17, 2026.
And El-Sayed, who is Muslim, has yet to address it publicly.
What Bernie Sanders’ Endorsement Record Actually Tells You About the Democrat Party
Here is the thing about Fetterman’s criticism of Sanders: it is accurate, but it only tells part of the story.
Fetterman is positioning himself as the reasonable Democrat, the guy willing to call out his own party’s excesses. He does it almost exclusively on Fox News. He says things that sound sensible, then goes back to Washington and votes the full Democrat line — supporting abortion-on-demand, gun control, amnesty for illegal aliens, and transgender surgeries for children. He is up for re-election in Pennsylvania in 2028, a state that is trending red, and he is playing a very long game with the voters there. Do not mistake the performance for a conversion.
But that does not make his criticism of Sanders wrong.
Sanders is 84 years old and has spent his entire career pushing the Democrat Party toward socialism, government-run healthcare, and open hostility to American institutions. Sanders stood by Platner through a slew of controversies, including those that alleged Platner had a pattern of violence against women. He only called for Platner to drop out after a rape allegation became impossible to ignore. That is not moral leadership. That is damage control.
And now he is in Michigan, campaigning for a candidate who equates Israel with Hamas, refuses to say Israel has a right to exist, and buddies around with a streamer who said America deserved the September 11 attacks.
Fetterman reminded Democrats that El-Sayed “participated and was very involved in the no commitment vote during the campaign” when Kamala Harris was running for president. That movement worked to undermine the Democrat presidential ticket in a state that ended up going to Donald Trump. And now the same faction wants to run the show.
The Michigan Senate race matters. Republicans currently control the chamber 53-47, and flipping the Senate seat in left-leaning Maine is a key part of the Democrats’ path to retake the chamber. Michigan is a different kind of battleground — a state with a large Arab-American population, a fractured Democrat coalition, and a Republican Party that sees El-Sayed as a gift if he wins the primary.
More than a month before the August primary, the likely Republican Senate nominee had already posted a steady stream of videos attacking El-Sayed online, labeling him an extremist and highlighting positions that Republicans believe will alienate swing voters. Republicans have devoted far less attention to other candidates in the race, a sign that they increasingly view El-Sayed as the more plausible general-election opponent.
The broader question is what it means when a major American political party’s most prominent endorser keeps backing candidates like these. Platner came with a Nazi tattoo, a rape allegation, and a history of sending explicit messages to women. El-Sayed publicly equates Israel with Hamas, campaigns alongside someone who said America deserved September 11, and won’t answer a simple yes-or-no question about whether a US ally has a right to exist.
And Bernie Sanders looked at both of them and said: that is my guy.
Fetterman is right to call it out. The Democrat Party’s left wing is not just losing elections — it is actively recruiting candidates whose views are incompatible with the values of most Americans. The Islamification of American political life, where candidates can openly align with anti-American, anti-Israel positions and still receive the blessing of a major party’s leading progressive figure, is not a fringe problem. It is now the mainstream of what Sanders and his allies are building.
Republicans should be paying close attention to Michigan in August. The Democrat primary there may tell them everything they need to know about where that party is actually headed.
Sources: Mediaite; Breitbart; Fox News; The Hill; Washington Examiner; CBS News; The Forward; Algemeiner; Pew Research Center