Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg argued that his party needs to meet voters where they are instead of alienating them for holding somewhat different views.
After a decisive defeat in the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic Party’s leaders are sharply divided on the proper path forward. While some are doubling down on far-left identity-politics, others argue that the party needs to reach out more to moderates and the working class on everyday issues.
On Wednesday’s episode of his podcast “Flagrant,” comedian Andrew Schulz praised Buttigieg for being able to acknowledge how voters feel, “instead of this, like, finger-wagging approach, which is, ‘You’re stupid if you don’t agree with me.’”
As they discussed tariffs and the decline of American manufacturing, co-host Akaash Singh asked Buttigieg whether he is frustrated with the Democratic Party focusing on “identity politics” rather than “people who can’t afford to feed their families and are losing jobs.”
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“Yeah, especially because, like, there are a lot of people that I think Democrats are understood to care about, like low-income people, Black and Brown people are, like, disproportionately caught up in the economic pain when something like this happens,” Buttigieg answered. “And so, I do think my party needs to do a much better job, especially with the kind of finger-wagging that you’re talking about, I think we are like very prone to that.”
Buttigieg warned about how easy it is historically for people on either side of politics to “get this sense of, like, moral conviction, and you’re so sure of it that you start to think it makes it OK to be an a–hole.”
As they continued to talk about the importance of messaging, Buttigieg noted how “deep moral convictions” can be a challenge when reaching out to various voters.
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“I think to the finger-wagging point, so much of politics is about what people think you think of them or how you make people feel about themselves,” Buttigieg said. “This is a struggle, especially because I belong to a party that that has deep moral convictions and you could argue we take it too far, whatever, but, like, we are propelled by a lot of deep moral convictions. Whether we’re talking about an economy where we think that it’s too easy for the wealthy and too hard to work your way up, or whether we’re talking about a society where we’re worried about racial justice and marginalized groups.