Fetterman: If you want Trump to fail, you're "rooting against the nation"

Driving the news: "I'm not rooting against him," Fetterman said of Trump on ABC's "This Week." "If you're rooting against the president, you are rooting against the nation. And, and I'm not ever going to be where I want a president to fail," he added. "So, country first."

• After Fetterman praised Trump for his "undeniable" political talent and said he never believed that his platform was about fascism, ABC's Jonathan Karl noted that Vice President Harris described her presidential rival as a fascist.
• "That's her prerogative," Fetterman replied. "But it's not a word that I would use. Because you put a lot of Democrats, especially in my state, that I know, and I happen to love people that are going to vote for Trump, and they are not fascist," Fetterman said.
• "And also fascism, that's not a word that regular people use. I think people are going to decide who is the candidate that's going to protect and project, you know, my version of the American way of life, and that's what happened."

Zoom in: Among the nominees Fetterman has met with are defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth and Trump loyalist Kash Patel, whom the president-elect wants to lead the FBI.

• Patel has previously threatened to go after MAGA enemies, but Fetterman told Karl that from his conversations with Trump's FBI pick "that's never going to happen."
• Fetterman told Karl he had been telling Trump critics to "chill out," adding: "He hasn't even taken office yet."

Go deeper: Fetterman on an island as he reaches out to MAGA