He doesn’t hold any punches

The speaker was referring to John Fetterman, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania and currently running for the U.S. Senate.

“He’s a straight shooter,” said Mr. Fischer, 61. “I mean, he tells you what he is going to do, he doesn’t hold any punches, he doesn’t play games. We support the positions that he supports.”

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/10/01/fetterman-oz-pennsylvania-senate-race-pittsburgh-strip-district-rally/stories/202210010048?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1664652523

This is a congruent conflation of “not pull any punches” and “not hold back”, both meaning to speak very bluntly and directly. A big thanks to me for spotting this in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.