This may be an unpopular take, but I just love Pennsylvania Democrat Senator John Fetterman right now.

What other Democrat would go on CNN and tell his party to stop calling President Donald Trump an "autocrat" and comparing him and other Republicans to Hitler? But that's exactly what Fetterman did in the wake of the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Fetterman obviously has a lot of mainstream Democratic views on taxes, unions, and other traditional Democrat policies.

But on a lot of the issues that matter most today, like immigration, Israel, and political violence, Fetterman is not afraid to break with his party and express a much less radical view than anyone else in his party, it seems.

"We have to turn the temperature down"

"I think you just don't ever, ever compare anyone to Hitler and those kinds of extreme things," Fetterman told Manu Raju. "Now, look what happened to Charlie Kirk. I mean, you know, the man was shot. Now, we have to turn the temperature down."

"We can't compare people to these kinds of figures in history. And this is not an autocrat. This is a product of a democratic election," Fetterman added.

It seemed like Raju couldn't believe what he was hearing. Just about every other Democrat on these political shows does nothing but call Trump and autocrat and a fascist and even "literal Hitler."

He sputtered a question about whether Fetterman thought Trump was "shattering norms" (by being tough on immigration and supporting Israel and cutting redundant government positions, apparently).

And Fetterman's response actually demonstrated common sense, something sorely lacking in the rest of his party right now.

"I'm saying he's definitely different, but that's what America voted for," Fetterman replied. "Again, I don't agree with many of these things, but that does not make him an autocrat."

A voice the left needs

I live in Pennsylvania, so Fetterman is one of my senators.

This was very scary to me after he was elected, because he had a stroke during the campaign and didn't seem to be able to talk articulately--and he was a Democrat and was very pro-shutdown during COVID-19.

I don't know what happened to him between 2020 and about 2023, but I may have to vote for him when re-election time comes if he continues to challenge Democrats to return to common sense the way he has for the last year or two.

It will be the first time in my life that I voted Democrat outside a few local elections, but I feel that he is a voice the left desperately needs, even though it will surely ignore him as much as possible as it self-destructs on its own hatred.