The dust is finally settling on the field of last night’s debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, and politicians, celebrities and everyday Joes are all taking to social media to give their two cents on the matter. One of those voices belongs to Pete Buttigieg, former Democratic presidential candidate and current United States Secretary of Transportation.
Buttigieg has always been an anti-Trump crusader, and this time proved no different. The Harvard and Oxford attending Rhodes Scholar, who was also deployed to Afghanistan for the U.S. Navy Reserve, chose his words very carefully when providing his thoughts on the debate.
Pitting Kamala against Trump, he said that she had “substance” over the former president’s “bluster.” He said that Kamala showed “optimism” over Trump’s “negativity.”
“And yes, a new generation over the same, old, tired show,” he said. “She crushed it tonight.” Other tweets during the debate had a similar tone.
“All night he talked about himself and about her,” he said. “She, by contrast, talked about you. Because that’s who she works for.” Another one talked about Harris and her claim that more manufacturing jobs were lost during Trump’s time in office than were gained.
“She’s right: Trump lost manufacturing jobs. It’s part of why the United Auto Workers are for Harris.” He retweeted Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz’s take as well: “To be clear I was gonna tweet positive stuff about Kamala regardless but this is legitimately a drubbing.”
Other gems include saying Trump was “doubling down on the crazy uncle vibe,” calling out the former president for not saying he wants Ukraine to win the war, or even pretending to do so, and for referring to the January 6 rioters as “we.”
Harris and Buttigieg have a special relationship when it comes to debating. He famously played the part of the former vice president to help her prepare for the debate with Mike Pence.
“I had the peculiar assignment of trying to inhabit the mind of Mike Pence for about a week,” he said at the time. “That is a very kind of weird, challenging headspace.” He’s also close with Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, who he headlined a Fire Island fundraiser with that raised $321, 000. The trio have also reportedly gotten close over being parents.
Buttigieg has seemingly upped his attacks on the former president recently. When Trump made some eye-raising remarks about child care a few days ago, the transportation secretary said that he couldn’t tell if Trump “even understood the question.”