Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has gone viral with comments he made in response to criticism from failed former president Donald Trump, and he’s also drawing praise for perfectly countering the lies and bullshit the disgraced ex-president made during his visit to the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio on Thursday.
The back and forth between Buttigieg and Trump began when the one-term, twice-impeached former president was asked about his administration “pulling back rail regulations” which may have contributed to the derailment.
As he often does, Trump insisted, “I had nothing to do with it.” But the facts suggest otherwise, as Newsweek reports:
Speaking to investigative news outlet The Lever, Steven Ditmeyer, a former top official at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), said the “severity” of the accident was likely increased by the lack of Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP) brakes.
A rule was passed under President Barack Obama that made it a requirement for trains carrying hazardous flammable materials to have ECP brakes, but this was rescinded in 2017 by the Trump administration.
That led a reporter to ask Buttigieg about what Trump said when the Transportation Secretary was in East Palestine:
“You mentioned the national political figures decided to get involved, it sounds like you’re talking about Trump. And then you said, ‘I need your help.’ How can he help?”
Buttigieg responded:
“Well, one thing he could do is express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch. I heard him say he had ‘nothing to do with it,’ even though it was in his administration. So if he had nothing to do with it, and they did it in his administration against his will, maybe he could come out and say that, that he supports us moving in a different direction.”
The secretary continued:
“We’re not afraid to own our policies when it comes to raising the bar on regulation. And I’ve got to think that him indicating that this is something that everybody ,no matter how much you disagree on politics and presidential campaigns, can get behind – higher fines, tougher regulations on safety, Congress on tying our hands on breaking rules, all the other things that go with it that’d be a nice thing for him to do.”
In just 24 hours time, the video of Buttigieg’s remarks has been viewed nearly 2 million times, leading HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte to note:
“Never really understood why Republicans think picking fights with him is a good idea. He is hands down the Biden administration’s best communicator, he takes apart the criticism, turns them back on the critics, and does it all without sounding mad.”
Donald Trump fucked around and Pete Buttigieg helped him find out what a mistake that was.
