‘The View’: Sunny Hostin & John Fetterman Have Fiery Exchange Over Shutdown Vote (VIDEO)

Things got very intense on The View when Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman appeared on Tuesday’s (November 11) episode to talk about his new memoir, Unfettered, and got into a fiery exchange with Sunny Hostin over his decision to side with the Republicans in the Senate on the continuing resolution to reopen the government.

Fetterman first explained his decision in response to a question from Alyssa Farah Griffin, noting that he had been against using a shutdown as a political tool for months and pointing out the costs of it — lost SNAP benefits for low-income Americans, travel interruptions as TSA and FAA agents are going unpaid, and more.

Though Fetterman declined to answer Griffin’s question about whether he continues to have confidence in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, that portion of the Q&A was mostly civil. Then came Hostin’s question, which was delivered with the cadence of a former prosecutor grilling a witness.

“Well, Senator Bernie Sanders said the vote was a ‘horrific mistake.’ Governor Gavin Newsom called it ‘pathetic,’ and ‘a surrender.’ Poll after poll found more Americans on both sides of the aisle blaming Republicans — even Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed the GOP. As you mentioned, Democrats had big wins last week, so you had momentum. Why give in now? Why bring a butter knife to a gun fight? Are you willing to gamble that the GOP will negotiate on health care in good faith once the government reopens, because if that gamble is wrong, half a million Pennsylvanians that you represent, their healthcare costs will skyrocket if you are wrong, and I believe you are wrong,” she said with escalating tension throughout her mini-speech.

Fetterman was, as he might call, unfettered, and responded with his own bit of causticity.

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“Well, first of all, MTG is quite literally the last person in America that I’m going to take advice or to get my leadership and values from. And now, if Democrats are celebrating crazy pants like that, then that’s on them. And I don’t need and I don’t need a lecture from — whether it’s Bernie or the governor in California — because they are representing very deep blue kinds of populations,” he said.

He went on to say that “extremism” is the reason his home state of Pennsylvania swung back to Donald Trump in the 2024 election and said, “I would like to, rather than cite MTG, I’m going to cite one of the new governor-elect, saying that my election is not a green light to continue the shutdown, because I promise you, this isn’t a political game. It is viewed like that by many of us. But the reality is 42 million Americans now are not sure where their next meal is going to come from… or people that haven’t been paid for five weeks now.”

“I don’t need a lecture, whether it’s from Bernie or the Governor in California.” Sen. @JohnFetterman reacts to critics in his own party for joining seven other Democrats with the GOP on a Senate vote to reopen the government. pic.twitter.com/8d6WjeXsRu

— The View (@TheView) November 11, 2025

After returning from a commercial break, Fetterman got the chance to talk about the substance of the book, in which he reveals his former struggles with deep depression and suicidal ideations. “I think it’s an important conversation to have,” he explained of his reasoning for writing about that experience. “After winning the biggest election in my cycle, that’s actually when the depression really took control of my life. And then the really bad part of depression is the conversation you start to have with yourself, to take yourself out…. I beg people, stay in this game.” He went on to reveal that he is now “lucky enough to be really free from most of that” in his own life, adding, “I know that it may not be a big political winner to talk about these things, but I do think it’s an important one to have because a lo tof people are suffering and may not be able to talk about it.”

The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or dial 988. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.