Once Again, Fetterman Breaks With Theatrics To Stand For American Values

Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) voiced his frustration on Wednesday after most of his party effectively sat on their hands during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, refusing to stand or even applaud issues he believes stretch across party lines.

Fetterman defended his own decision to applaud a number of key moments during Trump’s speech, saying he was always going to clap for the things he believed were worth applauding, regardless of the party of the person delivering the remarks.

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???? BREAKING: Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) says he was one of the Democrats to stand up for Iryna Zarutska and Erika Kirk at Trump’s State of the Union

“Even Erika Kirk. Can’t we just be more kind to a WIDOW? How can’t we acknowledge that?” ????

“I clapped for the family that lost… pic.twitter.com/VMCMIBY8VC

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 25, 2026

Fetterman noted that most of the Democrats in the chamber on Tuesday evening — those who did not attend an alternate event or boycott the evening’s festivities altogether — had chosen not to stand or applaud during Trump’s remarks, even when he discussed issues both parties wanted addressed.

“I clapped for a lot of those things … like I stood up and I clapped to recognize the family that lost their daughter, the Ukrainian girl that was stabbed to death in North Carolina,” Fetterman explained. “And I stood up, and I clapped for that political prisoner from Venezuela, you know, how you can’t celebrate those kinds of things. I also celebrated all the veterans that were in the audience as well.”

Fetterman went on to say that even when things got political, he still stood and applauded when he felt it was appropriate to do so.

“Like Erika Kirk, I stood up, and then I clapped for her … can’t we just be more kind to a widow?” Fetterman asked, noting that Kirk had just lost her husband — murdered Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — very recently, and still had young children to care for. “How we can’t just acknowledge that?”

“I’m always going to stand up and clap for things I agree with, like striking the Iranian sites,” he continued. “And if I don’t agree with it or whatever, I’m certainly not going to yell and scream and disrupt the whole thing.”