The transportation secretary, one of several ambitious Democrats jockeying for prominence, gave advice in a speech but was coy about his own plans: “I know that I will make myself useful again later.”

Summary

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged Democrats to stay focused and avoid being consumed by outrage over Donald Trump’s return to prominence.

Speaking to young Democratic officials, he emphasized re-engaging with voters through personal connections rather than relying solely on social media, calling for a return to pre-digital campaign strategies.

Buttigieg also pledged to defend President Biden’s achievements, warning that Republicans, including Trump, might attempt to take credit for them.

He cautioned Democrats against being paralyzed by shock tactics and hinted at remaining active in politics, though he withheld specifics about his future.

  • @BMTea@lemmy.world
    29•15 hours ago

    Pete can help unmesmerise us by promising not to run in the next primaries and endorsing a working class, rule-of-law candidate.

      • @BMTea@lemmy.world
        14•11 hours ago

        He is a conformist and a party creature through-and-through. He’s fine if you had no real objecgion to the way Biden governed except for his age. If you found Biden to be disastrous on a moral and political level, and you view the current Democratic Party as unfit or unwilling to chart a better course, then Buttigieg is liostick on a pig.

      • @lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
        19•15 hours ago

        Not them. For me, Buttigieg was my 3rd preference in the 2020 primaries. I like him. I think he has a grasp of what must be done. Fun fact, he wrote an essay that won a contest with the JFK library back in 2000, essentially praising Bernie Sanders. I think he has his own method by which he achieves a similar outcome, possibly.

        That said he isn’t who comes to mind to win in 2028 because while I think he’s one of the best debaters, I’m not sure if he’s the most charismatic. In this popularity contest, charisma matters. He kind of suffers from Al Gore syndrome in that way.

        I won’t be one of those gatekeepers claiming a gay guy can’t win, though. That just amplifies the bigotry more, and we shouldn’t get in our own way.

      • @SGGeorwell@lemmy.world
        1•8 hours ago

        I don’t trust anybody who gets elected mayor of a small to medium-sized city in Indiana and immediately says, “well I’m ready to be President of the United States now”. It’s abnormally grandiose.

      • @NewDark
        5•13 hours ago

        McKinsey stooge that got caught fixing bread prices. He’s an unlikable charlatan neoliberal through and through.

    • themeatbridge
      -13•14 hours ago

      We’ve got 4 years to survive before the next election. Can you call the fuck down?

        • themeatbridge
          2•2 hours ago

          Now literally isn’t the time. You want Pete, or any politician, to commit to an election strategy and endorse a candidate now? It’s delusional.

  • @givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    -2•16 hours ago

    While I dont like Pete…

    If we’re looking for someone to sabotage an elected government, you can do a lot worse than a McKinsey man…

    https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/12/6/20998972/pete-buttigieg-mckinsey-fundraisers-elizabeth-warren

    Definitely don’t want to hand him the keys in 2028, but fighting fascism makes strange bedfellows

    But probably the least shady shit McKinsey gets up to, is getting paid a shit ton of money to tell CEOs that the right thing to do is layoffs and increase executive bonuses.

    It’s never the right answer, but it’s usually the one the executives paid to get, so they can say “this wasn’t our choice”.

    He’d make a great republican, but there is zero reason for him to ever have a position in the furtherest left option voters have.