Podcaster Joe Rogan pressed Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman on Saturday over how the Democratic Party has weaponized immigration politics in recent years.
Rogan spoke to Fetterman about a wide variety of political topics ranging from how Donald Trump won in 2016 to how immigration stands as a key issue in the election today. Many Democrats often cite a bipartisan border bill that was struck down in late May, arguing Republicans don't want to solve the issue, while many Republicans respond that the bill made too many compromises on immigration that ultimately made it a non-starter.
Fetterman paraphrased a politician from decades ago who suggested that both Republicans and Democrats don't actually want to solve the ongoing immigration crisis, arguing he was vindicated by how Republicans in 2024 "had an opportunity to do a comprehensive border-bipartisan-and that went down because Trump, he declared that that's a bad deal after it was negotiated with the other side."
The podcast host, however, recalled that the deal made many concessions that Republicans concerned about the border found to be unacceptable.
"But didn't that deal also involve amnesty?" Rogan asked.
"It did, yeah," Fetterman said.
"And didn't that deal also involve a significant number of illegal aliens being allowed into the country every year, I think it was 2 million people?" Rogan asked.
"It, uh, well, yeah," Fetterman replied.
Rogan continued, noting that ultimately, "it was still the same sort of situation and their fear is exactly what I talked about. That these people will be moved to swing states and that that will be used to essentially rig those states and turn them blue forever."
Fetterman responded that he is not sure that's the case.
"I think it's really like it's important that we have to have an honest conversation-" Fetterman began.
TRUMP APPEARED ON JOE ROGAN'S PODCAST FOR NEARLY THREE HOURS: HERE ARE THE TOP MOMENTS
Rogan said that it seemed "logical" that if enough people came in illegally and settled in swing states, got on a path to citizenship, then "you could essentially rig those states."
"Undeniably, immigration is changing our nation," Fetterman said. "I haven't spent a lot of time in Texas but it's very clear that immigration has remade Texas and I think it's generally, it's a good thing."
