I wrote earlier about how the visit of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was not going well. He refused to answer questions from reporters, and his press secretary had the temerity to claim reporters wanting him to respond was “too aggressive.” The citizens indicated that they were upset that he was coming so late to the table.
Now, there are more remarks from Buttigieg during his visit–and they only made matters worse.
First, if you’re talking about the town that has been hammered so hard by this, don’t mispronounce the name. It tends to add to the sense that you don’t care about the place and the people enough to get it right.
Buttigieg was asked if he should have said something sooner and arrived sooner. He claimed that he was trying to strike the right “balance” and that yes, he should have said something sooner since he cared.
He said he was torn between his desire to be involved versus following the norm.
What? How about just doing the right thing and being concerned, as opposed to acting like an elite who doesn’t give a darn? Is that how he explains not showing up there for almost three weeks? Had Trump not gone and helped highlight the situation, would Buttigieg even have gone?
All the people there want is for people to come, care, and help out. That’s exactly what Trump did. Meanwhile, Buttigieg showed up, empty-handed, claiming he wasn’t there for the politics–but then immediately attacked Trump and blamed him for what happened on Buttigieg and Biden’s watch.
That was a pretty slimy effort–to blame Trump–when the facts so far don’t support that any deregulation that happened under Trump had anything to do with the derailment. Reports are now that the derailment was due to an overheated bearing.
So, on top of everything else, here’s Pete trying to mislead people about what happened. It happened on your watch, Pete, Trump hasn’t been in office in two years. And Trump wasn’t standing in your way, preventing you from responding to what happened. Trump also didn’t make Joe Biden go to Ukraine and not East Palestine. It’s disgusting how Buttigieg wouldn’t take responsibility for his actions and those of Joe Biden.
Buttigieg had another moment that summed him up in one sentence, as he ranted about “misinformation.” Criticism of him and Biden is now “misinformation.”
“Sorry, I lost my train of thought,” he said, in an ironic Freudian slip.
What a way to comment on a train derailment. He’s lost more than that, as has the Biden team over their reaction to all this.
He finished by calling on people to do what he should have done right after the derailment happened — show up and care.
Lecturing Americans — who have shown concern — for the Biden administration’s own failings is a pretty bad look.
