Pete Buttigieg Is The VP Man For The Post-Trump Era
VP now, president later?
Of all the potential vice president candidates in consideration, Pete Buttigieg has shown peak precision killing it on all the cable news shows he has been on this last week and a half.
I don’t hear his name much in the VP shortlists, which seem to most often highlight Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, and Tim Waltz, but in this digital age of wild west communication Buttigieg cuts through the noise and stays laser-focused on the point, which he articulates clearly and compassionately. And his Midwest background will likely help Harris with Blue Wall voters.
Boomer pundits in the media worry about the demographic concerns of his being gay, but, with a Gen X female candidate who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, the demographic novelty is a little overshadowed by the excitement of millions of Gen Z and Millennial voters who aren’t homophobic and are relieved by Democrats offering a generation shift away from the Boomers, particularly the brain-melted, Fox News-addicted MAGA variety of Boomer.
And speaking of that exact demographic of voter, no Democrat over the last four years has more effectively gone into the lion’s den of Fox News and explained liberal policy and Democratic action more clearly and rationally to those MAGA Boomers than Buttigieg, and pierced through their decades of pavlovian conditioning to distrust and hate anything Democrats do. For years I have insisted Democrats MUST go on Fox because they lose the debate for Fox viewers when they don’t show up, and no one shows up more prepared and amped for rationalism than Buttigieg.
I encourage everyone to take a moment, go to YouTube, and search for a few videos of Buttigieg on Fox News defending the Biden Administration’s record, or giving Congressional testimony as Transportation Secretary and scolding Republicans taking credit for all the Biden projects they voted against, or explaining why Republican policies hurt so many people. Sorry if it turns into an hour-long political masterclass.
And it’s not just TV talent, Buttigieg is no vacuous camera whore with no governing talent like so many of the young Republican stars — J.D. Vance, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert — his work in the Department of Transportation is fostering a revolution in the US battery industry, protecting the US electric vehicle industry against China, and sparking a revolution toward high-speed rail that has been preposterously delayed in this country. He is also managing a renaissance in funding of green technology and infrastructural innovation that is intentionally designed to give a massive boost to some of America’s most struggling communities with re-investment, unions jobs, and hope for a better future.
Pete Buttigeg, and the Biden Administration as a whole, have proved liberal, Democratic policy works, and the benefits are disproportionately going toward the rural and exurban conservative voters who don’t even vote for Democrats.
Briefly contrast this with Donald Trump, who famously didn’t want the federal government to get too involved with a national COVID response at first because it was initially disproportionately affecting liberal states and big blue cities.
An even better example of Buttigieg’s executive talent is he won Iowa (a state not necessarily famous for its ahead-of-its-time LGBTQ+ stances) on the 2020 caucus night, and was second place in New Hampshire just 1% behind Bernie Sanders. He went from probably last place as the unknown mayor of the 5th biggest city in Indiana to beating the former VP and future 46th President in both contests, and deservedly earned a cabinet position because of his Obama-level natural talent. I mean, damn, Buttigieg is a smart, capable, focused guy.
The other potential VP candidates are solid too, and offer electoral, demographic, perspective, and experiential advantages of their own, but Buttigieg, with his calm demeanor, polished professionalism, empathy, and passion for vigorously competent governance makes him the man for a post-Trump era.
Even better is the contrast with Republican Masculinity™ that Buttigieg represents. A veteran who conducted intelligence missions outside the Green Zone in Afghanistan, and speaks a bunch of languages, and has two young kids in a strong, loving marriage, and is genuinely committed to public service. Has there ever been a transportation secretary in American history more enthusiastic than Buttigieg? That’s more alpha male masculinity than the Trump family’s men, and all the Republican members of Congress showboating self-conscious projections while obsessing over weird and ludicrous ways to control and oppress women.
Buttigieg’s contrast with Trump is about as stark as can be: young, smart, caring, competent. He is the antithesis of Trump, and a calming antidote to the cultural shittiness of the Christo-fascist MAGA movement that is Trumpism. And, let me add one more time, no one in US politics is better at communication than Buttigieg. I'm not sure there's anything better for Harris's candidacy than Buttigieg campaigning for her every day on TV for the next three months.
I’m convinced a Harris-Buttigieg ticket could win big, and finally convince Republicans Trump is a loser who has proved Lindsey Graham’s prophecy that he would destroy the GOP, and, once and for all, toss Donald Trump into the dumpster of American history.
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He is no doubt the most qualified for the job. But this is 'Merica and not sure the ignorance can see past truth anymore. Plus he is so very good at the job he does in transportation, he still has much more work to do there to bring us into the 21st century. It is certainly a difficult and complicated choice to pick the right candidate for this position for this election. But whomever runs, I will work hard to be sure they are elected.
I like Buttigieg and think his time is coming either this year or in the future. I will actually watch Faux when he’s on because he takes no bullshit or interruptions from the bobble heads.