FROM NBC NEWS: Journalist and podcast host Katie Couric sparred with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., on Thursday’s episode of her podcast “Next Question,” debating President Donald Trump and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — prompting a heated response from the White House.
Throughout the episode, Couric appeared to press Fetterman to disavow both Trump and Kirk, but the Pennsylvania senator held his ground.
Couric questioned Fetterman about his previous assertion that Trump is not an autocrat because his presidency is “the product of a democratic election.” The podcast host argued that “history has shown that even leaders who come to power through elections can still govern in anti-democratic ways.”
Couric asked [Fetterman] whether he thought it was appropriate that Kirk’s body was flown home on Air Force Two, or if he should have been posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom. She added that some critics felt those honors from the Trump administration were “over the top in terms of mourning someone like Charlie Kirk.”
Couric then insisted that Kirk’s past rhetoric made the honor troublesome as some would label it “extreme.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung called the podcast host out in a post on X.
“This washed up idiot @katiecouric is an absolute ghoul. She tries to justify the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Disgusting people like Katie should be shamed and embarrassed forever,” Cheung wrote.
For his part, Fetterman said he didn’t agree with many of the things Kirk said, but he felt it was “entirely appropriate” to allow people to grieve and respect their space without taking “that opportunity to push an argument or to remind people that, ‘Hey, I don’t agree.’”
“A father of young children was shot in public because of his political views, and that’s a tragedy, and give people the space to grieve,” he added.
Fetterman told Couric that “extreme rhetoric makes it easier for extreme reactions or to justify them,” and Couric countered by saying Kirk’s rhetoric was considered to be “extreme.”
Fetterman told Couric that he is a “committed Democrat,” but he won’t “call people fascists or Nazis or compare people to Hitler,” saying such language is “part of why we lost our election last year.”
Watch the entire interview:
READ MORE AT NBC NEWS
The Dennis Michael Lynch Podcast archive is available below, with the most recent on top. Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the show by downloading The DML News App or go to Apple Podcasts.
