Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Democratic presidential hopeful, has been nailing a recent string of appearances on Fox News. For example, he recently got personal about what the latest Supreme Court confirmation could mean for his marriage to his husband, Chasten Buttigieg. Since that clip went viral on social media, he’s had another standout back and forth, this time talking about Donald Trump’s recent rally in Omaha, Nebraska, where, as Daily Kos covered, a number of people were literally left miles from their cars in the cold.
Can such a rally possibly be helping Trump with voters? In the interview clip below, Buttigieg got right to the point about what impact he thinks Trump’s rallies will have on voters—and what he believes it says about the president’s values. Also below, an inspiring example of how Buttigieg handled a heckler at a recent event in Florida. The takeaway? The future needs to be all about unity.
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Here’s that Fox clip.
In speaking to host Martha MacCallum on Fox about which states both candidates are visiting in the days before the election, Buttigieg said: “I’m not even sure those visits from Donald Trump are really helping him.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” MacCallum said.
“Like, look in Omaha, where he left supporters out freezing in the cold. Which is a great metaphor for how he treated supporters more generally across the country.”
“In Arizona,” Buttigieg continued. “He got a bunch of people in a rally that has the potential to be a spreader event. Which kind of symbolizes his inability to lead us out of this pandemic.”
“Yeah, we’ve heard that line a lot,” MacCallum said. “You know, it’s fine. It may or may not be.”
“Because he doesn’t seem to care about the health and safety of his supporters,” Buttigieg continued. “So I don’t think these events are really helping him.”
Buttigieg’s also getting some social media attention for the way he handled a heckler at an event in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Wednesday. As covered by Out Magazine, Buttigieg was trying to rally LGBTQ voters to vote early in the particularly important state. During this outdoor event, a heckler in what appears to be a MAGA hat decided it was an appropriate time to chime in. Buttigieg really took the high road and stuck to his points about unity under Biden-Harris leadership.
“Wouldn't it be nice to have a president who will serve him just as enthusiastically as he will serve us?" Buttigieg said to the crowd in reference to the heckler. "Wouldn't it be nice to have a president who cares just as much about protecting the lives of those that protest us as those who stand at our side?"
A bit later, Buttigieg managed to get a nice dig in toward Trump, adding, "Don't you feel a little sorry for a president who finds it necessary to draw this kind of support?" He then reassured the heckler by saying, “It's okay, sir, because when Joe Biden is president you will be safer too!"
Here’s that clip.
After a bit more heckler disruption, and mentions of his recent Fox appearances, Buttigieg asked the relentless heckler if he could continue with his remarks for the event. Then he pivoted in a smooth move. He asked the heckler if he denounced white supremacy. The heckler said he did, and Buttigieg tied up the unity thread, saying the two of them agreed on something.
“That's a beginning point,” he stated. “See if you can get your president to do the same thing!" Zing!
Here’s that clip.
And here’s the full conversation between Buttigieg and MacMullen on YouTube.