The field of Democratic presidential primary candidates heading into 2020 is only getting larger, but a few are rising above the fray anyway — like South Bend, Indiana’s Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who’s gone from underdog status to nationally rising star as exemplified via a surge in polling and attention. This weekend on NBC’s Meet the Press, he disassembled critics’ arguments against him on account of his age and lack of national governmental experience and at the same time, painted just how distinct his path would be from the mess President Donald Trump has dragged the United States into. It’s ironic for anyone to go after Buttigieg for supposed inexperience when all Trump had done before taking office was run a corrupt business!
The mayor told host Chuck Todd:
‘I would stack up my experience against anybody. I know it’s not as traditional — I haven’t been marinating in Washington here for a long time and I’m not part of that same establishment, but I would argue that being a mayor of a city of any size means that you have to deal with the kinds of issues that really hit Americans.. I think it’s about quality as well as about quantity in experience, but I think you can also see pretty clearly that I’m about as different from this president as it gets… [I can] change the channel from this mesmerizing horror show that’s going on in Washington right now.’
WATCH: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg defends his experience in his 2020 run for president. #MTP #IfItsSunday@PeteButtigieg: I can “change the channel from this mesmerizing horror show that’s going on in Washington right now.” pic.twitter.com/iiEAqeZetZ
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 7, 2019
Buttigieg has served as mayor of South Bend for about seven years at this point, assuming office back in 2012. During that time back in late 2013, he deployed to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer for about seven months, leaving city Controller Mark Neal as deputy mayor in charge of the city. The mayor noted this weekend that his military training and experience is another boost to his standing, and he would have the most military background of any president since George H.W. Bush should he win.
Before he even has the chance to think about winning against Trump, though, he’s got to take on the crowded field of Democratic presidential primary contenders that could still grow soon to include high-profile figures like former Vice President Joe Biden.
Buttigieg responded to Biden’s criticism of the redefinition of progressivism during his Meet the Press appearance this weekend, decrying the attention to “labels.” As he explained to Chuck Todd, again distinguishing himself and really the whole Democratic field from the endlessly belligerent, rambling Donald Trump:
‘There’s a lot more to this than an ideological analysis, especially with the ideology in our country so scrambled, having a president who doesn’t even have an ideology just a style undertaking a hostile takeover of the Republican Party while the Democratic Party has only been able to explain its ideological commitments by comparing itself to the Republicans for the better part of my lifetime.’
WATCH: Mayor @PeteButtigieg says “America is a capitalist society” but it’s got to be “democratic capitalism.” #MTP #IfItsSunday@PeteButtigieg: “If you want to see what happens when you have capitalism without democracy, you can see it very clearly in Russia.” pic.twitter.com/xBWOXxwWxv
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 7, 2019
Buttigieg will apparently have the opportunity to take his message to the debate stage for the Democratic primary, having successfully raised funds from 65,000 different people, which was one of the possible ways in. He’s still got to contend with frontrunners Sen. Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden — who again, hasn’t even formally announced a candidacy yet, although he’s at the top of many polls.
Featured Image via screenshot
