Can Democrats and Republicans Still Be Friends? Fetterman & McCormick Say Yes

**Michael Smerconish** (0:00)
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**Michael Smerconish** (0:54)
Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast for Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:58)
Happy Semi-Quincentennial. I hope you have a great July 4th weekend. Really do. Celebrate the country. Enjoy yourself. Be safe. Stay out of the heat.
I'm not delivering a live television program on CNN on Saturday, but I am immensely proud of what we've already recorded. It's a special July 4th program, and you're about to hear one element of it.
The story is this. On Sunday, I went down to DC. I've already told you that on Sunday night, I watched Bill Maher receive the Mark Twain Prize at the Kennedy Center, where I'd never visited before. Exciting night to be there.
Enjoy Bill Maher very, very much. I thought he was a suitable recipient, and I've told you the whole backstory of those who roasted him and how you'll get to watch it on Netflix in about a month. So then, spent the night in DC., spent time with Dan in studio on Monday, and then I had to hustle back to Philadelphia because waiting for me in Philadelphia when I got off the train were United States Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick. And I sat with them and conducted an interview in what I think is the greatest locale to enjoy Independence Hall, besides Independence Hall in Philadelphia itself. And that is the National Museum of American Jewish History, which is now called the Whitesman, the Whitesman National Museum of American Jewish History. I had been there on a shoot with Wolf Blitzer a year or two ago. I don't remember one of the elections, frankly, maybe more than two years ago. And it's a balcony that just looks right down on Independence Hall. And I suggested this location and was able to line up both Fetterman and McCormick at the same time. And there we were, the three of us, on a nice weather day, looking down at Independence Hall, talking about America at 250 And the reason I wanted to conduct this interview is that I don't need to tell you that my home state, Pennsylvania, the only state that I've known as my residence, is the most contested and purple-ish state in the country. And here we've got Fetterman, a Democrat, McCormick, a Republican. They've run hard. They disagree plenty.
But polarization has not consumed them. And they have forged a friendship. They treat each other with dignity. They treat each other with respect. I can give you an illustration of how this bears fruit. I mentioned that I walked through the Great American State Fair on the National Mall last weekend when I was in DC. And I was disappointed and embarrassed, actually, because there was not Pennsylvania representation. And I don't know the whole backstory. All that I know is that when it came to the attention of the two of them, they worked it out. They built a private coalition quickly of the Farm Bureau, the Chamber, the manufacturers, and so forth, just to make sure that we had a booth, like all the other states. So you're about to hear this conversation we had about civility, about working together. The story that I asked Dave McCormick to tell about how when Fetterman was having his health problems, he was the one who publicly came out and said nice things. There's a little bit of mingling in all of this. I just think it's uplifting and shows that it can be done. The two of them in the most contested state in the country getting along, one a D, one an R, so let me air it, then we'll come back and we will discuss. Play it, Dan. Thank you both for being here. So incredible, 250 years ago, right here, 56 men, they were all men, willing to risk being hanged to sign on that important document. What would they think today?