Pete Buttigieg in Interviews during 2017-2019
On Families & Children:
Not going to take family values lectures from Rush Limbaugh
Q: Rush Limbaugh described you as a 37-year-old gay guy who loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage.
BUTTIGIEG: Well, I love my husband. I'm faithful to my husband. On stage, we usually just go for a hug, but I love him very much. And I'm not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.
Source: CNN "State of the Union" on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 16, 2020
On War & Peace:
Would use force, but need to think of the consequences
I would never hesitate to use force if it was necessary in order to protect American lives. The question is, was it necessary, and was it better than the alternative? When you're dealing with the Middle East, you need to think about the next and
the next and the next move. This is not checkers. I'm not sure any of us really believe that this president and the people around him is really going through all of the consequences of what could happen next.
Source: CNN SOTU 2020 interview of presidential hopefuls
Jan 5, 2020
On Abortion:
Federal government should protect reproductive freedom
When asked about the Hyde amendment, which prohibits women from using government health insurance to get an abortion and could lead to abortions being˙outlawed under "Medicare for all,"˙Buttigieg˙said he supported repeal. "I think the federal government
has become too much of a pressure against women's reproductive freedoms, and we need to make sure that even though a lot of decisions are being made in the states, we have that leadership from the top of the federal government," Buttigieg said.
Source: Indianapolis Star on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 6, 2019
On Drugs:
Marijuana is personal responsibility issue; move to legalize
Buttigieg says the U.S. should be working towards legalizing recreational marijuana, because of all the problems associated with current marijuana policy. This should be more of a personal responsibility issue, he argues. "You look at rates of
incarceration, you look at the racial disparity that is attached to whether somebody is likely to experience incarceration as a consequence of a non-violent drug offense and all of it points us in the same direction," Buttigieg said.
Source: Indianapolis Star on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 6, 2019
On Government Reform:
Citizens United was a disaster for our democracy
Buttigieg says the Citizens United Supreme Court case that opened the doors for corporations, nonprofits and unions to contribute to campaigns should be overturned.He says dollars have begun to out weigh people. He personally has returned money from
Washington lobbyists and has sworn off taking money from the fossil fuel industry or certain political action committees. "Citizens United was a disaster for our democracy," he told CSPAN2.
Source: Indianapolis Star on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 6, 2019
On Immigration:
Most Americans are immigrants or their descendants
Buttigieg thinks the country needs comprehensive immigration reform, but hasn't said what that will entail. He thinks current policy at the southern border, including building the wall and˙separating families is bad policy.˙ "I'm here because of
immigration," he said in a Scripps College town hall. "My father immigrated to this country and that's why I'm here. And most of us, unless we're descended from the first nations have that in our story, either came here or were brought here."
Source: Indianapolis Star on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 6, 2019
On War & Peace:
Be more judicious when committing troops
Buttigieg thinks there should be a higher standard for committing American troops overseas. He's criticized the threat of sending ground troops to places such as˙Venezuela or Syria, though he would support targeted military action in Syria. "There has
to be a pathway to ending endless war." He thinks America is losing credibility overseas and should re-establish itself as a world leader through diplomacy. The current policy of America˙first, he has said, is leaving America isolated.
Source: Indianapolis Star on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 6, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Problem about me being gay means problem with my creator
[On Buttigieg's status as openly gay]: "That's the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand," Buttigieg said: "That if you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me--your quarrel, sir, is with my creator."Pete
Buttigieg was campaigning to be re-elected mayor, when he came out as gay in 2015--a first for his state, which was then governed by Mike Pence, a self-described religious conservative. At the time, Pence, who has a history of anti-LGBTQ positions,
spoke warmly of Buttigieg after his announcement about his sexuality. This was despite the fact that Buttigieg had criticized Pence's support of a controversial religious liberty law that some groups said would give legal cover to discrimination.
"If
me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade," Buttigieg said while speaking at an LGBTQ event this week, making a direct appeal to the same religious beliefs that Pence has said support his social conservative.
Source: People e-zine "LGBTQ History," on 2020 Presidential Hopefuls
Apr 9, 2019
On Principles & Values:
If I had been given a choice, I would have not been gay
Speaking at the LGBTQ Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch, Buttigieg said, "If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade," making a direct appeal to religious beliefs.Buttigieg spoke emotionally of his
journey toward accepting his sexuality. "If you had offered me a pill to me straight, I would have swallowed it before you could had time to get me a sip of water. It's a hard thing to think about now. It's hard to face the truth that there were times
in my life when if you had shown me exactly what it was inside me that made me gay, I would have cut it out with a knife."
What a loss that would have been for him, he said. "If I had had the chance to do that,
I would never have found my way to Chasten," he said referring to husband Chasten Buttigieg, whom he married in June. "Thank god there was no pill," he said. "Thank god there was no knife."
Source: People e-zine "LGBTQ History," on 2020 Presidential Hopefuls
Apr 9, 2019
On Abortion:
Abortion is moral question decided by woman, not government
In my view, this is a question that is almost unknowable. This is a moral question that's not going to be settled by science. And so the best way for it to be settled in practice is by the person who actually faces the choice. And when a woman is
facing this decision in her life, I think in terms of somebody besides her who can most be useful in that, the answer to that would be a doctor. Not a male government official imposing his interpretation of his religion.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
On Budget & Economy:
Government investment can help minority businesses
We're talking about generational poverty, generational dispossession that's a result of a combination of racist policies over the years and the effect that poverty and mass incarceration have. We're investing in neighborhoods that have been
historically disinvested in. We opened a small business resource center in an area that was not getting the kind of attention that it needed because we know that entrepreneurship will empower not just minority business owners, but minority employees.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Address racial divide by showing up & building trust
We worked hard on civil rights training, on implicit bias training. But also on getting our police officers to do foot patrols, to walk the neighborhoods. To show up not just when there's an emergency, but when there's a fun fair or a church event or a
block party. Whenever we've had a moment or an incident that has threatened to divide us racially in our city, we've made sure that we invest in the face time that it takes to reestablish trust.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
On Corporations:
Capitalism is good, but it must be subject to rules
America is a capitalist society. But it's got to be democratic capitalism. When you have capitalism capturing democracy, where powerful corporations are able to arrange the rules for their benefit, that's not real capitalism.
If you want to see what happens when you have capitalism without democracy, you can see it very clearly in Russia. It turns into crony capitalism. And that turns into oligarchy.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
On Gun Control:
Common sense gun control can work under Second Amendment
Q: Do you think the Second Amendment prevents gun control?A: We've already decided within the framework of the Second Amendment that we're going to draw a line somewhere, right? "Shall not be infringed" clearly doesn't mean that you're entitled
to a nuclear weapon. There are common sense limits that a thinking society can live by, while making sure that we honor the lifestyle of sporting and the idea that people should be equipped to defend themselves if they need to.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
On Immigration:
Problem isn't ICE; it's what they're ordered to do
We have worked very hard to be a welcoming city. People who are really important parts of our community are being torn apart from their families. This is not making us safer. When it comes to ICE, I don't care what the agency is called. I care what it
does. As long as you have an agency being ordered to tear families apart from one another or being ordered to make it harder to get on a path to citizenship, you're going to continue to have heartbreaking stories that are not helping anybody.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
On Budget & Economy:
We should support workers going through changes
It's not about stopping or reversing technology. It is about making sure that the tectonic social and economic changes can actually work for us. Our generation is likely to change careers more frequently than our parents changed job titles.
We've got to make it less of a disruptive event when those changes occur. It's why we need portable benefits. It's why the conversation about Medicare-for-all is so important. It's why we might need to look at guaranteed income for working people.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Climate security is priority, invest in renewables
We need our expectations of 21st century security to include the concept of climate security. We've got to make sure we are reducing carbon levels at least to the kinds of commitments that were in the Paris Accord, which we should
rejoin immediately when the new president takes office. More investments in renewables are going to be needed. We're going to have to contemplate a carbon tax. There are ways to do it that most Americans would be better off fiscally.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
On Foreign Policy:
Use diplomatic strategies in Venezuela, not military
The situation in Venezuela is highly disturbing. I think the Maduro regime has lost its legitimacy. That doesn't mean we carelessly threaten military force. To the extent that sanctions can be targeted and focused on trying to bring about free and fair
elections so that there can be self-determination by the Venezuelan people, that puts in a government that has legitimacy, then we should do our part not through force, but through the diplomatic toolkit to try to bring that outcome about.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
On Government Reform:
Make Supreme Court appointments less partisan
What we need to do is stop every vacancy from becoming this apocalyptic ideological battle. The proposal I've mentioned does expand the court to 15 but changes the structure. Only 10 of them are politically appointed by Democratic or
Republican presidents. The other five can only be seated by unanimous consent of the remaining 10. Whichever particular mechanism is best, the point is we need to begin the debate on what it will take to make sure our Supreme Court is less political.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
On Health Care:
Public option is step towards universal care
You take some flavor of Medicare, you make it available on the exchange as a kind of public option, and you invite people to buy into it. We've also just got to broaden access to it until everyone has health care.
I refuse to accept that when citizens of just about every developed nation in the world enjoy this, that we should settle for less.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
On Jobs:
Consider guaranteed income, perhaps redefine work
There's an experiment in Stockton where they're distributing payments to people to make sure that that income floor is lifted. There are too many Americans who couldn't find even $400 in an emergency to get them through that. I'm not yet sure
that that's the right way to go, but it's the sort of bold policy we should contemplate, especially if it's connected to work. Maybe we ought to broaden our definition of work. If you are taking care of a parent or raising a child, isn't that work?
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
On Principles & Values:
National service can unite Americans
There's something about serving which is that it brings you together with other Americans. We learned to trust each other with our lives, even though our politics in our lives back home were so different. And I think we need to get back to that.
I'm a big believer in expanding opportunities for national service. We need more of those experiences that can bring us together, even when we have nothing in common, except the fact that we're American.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
On War & Peace:
U.S. not the guarantor of peace in Afghanistan
There may need to be some residual intelligence or special operations capability to make sure there is never an attack against the United States. I'm encouraged to see the peace talks taking place in Doha. If the Taliban are really serious about being
ready to lay down their arms, that's a good sign. But I'm also concerned that the Afghan government seems to be an afterthought, because the peace needs to be sustainable. We can't be the guarantors of peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Green New Deal is a framework addressing climate & jobs
I think the elegance from a policy perspective of the concept of the
Green New Deal is, it matches a sense of urgency about that problem of climate change with a sense of opportunity around what the solutions might represent.
Obviously, the Green New Deal is more of a plan than it is a fully articulated set of policies. But the idea that we need to race toward that goal and that we
should do it in a way that enhances the economic justice and the level of economic opportunity in our country, I believe that's exactly the right direction to be going in.
Source: CNN 2019 "State of the Union" on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 10, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Freedom is personal, not about government regulation
Conservatives talk about freedom. They mean it, but they're often negligent about the extent to which things other than government make people unfree. You're not free if you have crushing medical debt. You're not free if you're being treated
differently because of who you are. What has really affected my personal freedom more: the fact that I don't have the freedom to pollute a river, or the fact that for part of my adult life, I didn't have the freedom to marry somebody I was in love with.
Source: Christian Science Monitor on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Jan 8, 2017
On Government Reform:
Created plan to ensure diversity in city government jobs
The city released a "Diversity and Inclusion Plan" that says too few women and minorities are employed as administrators and technicians and too few are police officers and firefighters. The plan seeks to promote diversity in three areas of city
government: workplace, workforce and community. "The focus areas include making sure we are driving quantity and quality of applicants for positions in the city; making sure that career development and promotion is based on performance," Buttigieg said.
Source: South Bend Tribune on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jul 9, 2016
On Civil Rights:
Came out as gay, to inspire others to judge character
Mayor Buttigieg wrote, "For a student struggling with her sexuality, it might be helpful for an openly gay mayor to send the message that her community will have a place for her. And for a conservative resident from a different generation, perhaps a
familiar face can be a reminder that we're all in this together." He hoped his coming-out story would help people judge each other "by the things that we ought to care about most, like the content of our character and the value of our contributions."
Source: Mic Network on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jun 16, 2015
Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021