Pete Buttigieg beats Fox News hosts at their own game – and cooly eviscerates Donald Trump and Mike Pence for good measure
Pete Buttigieg has earned a reputation for his Fox News appearances. (Fox News)
Pete Buttigieg appeared on Fox News twice to call out Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s hypocrisy in spite of conservative news anchors’ attempts to trip him.
The former presidential candidate, who recently helped Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris prepare for the vice presidential debate by impersonating Pence, made several appearances on the news channel favoured by Trump voters.
Although seemingly walking straight into the lion’s den, Pete Buttigieg repeatedly managed to outsmart the Fox News anchors.
When host Martha McCallum asked him how Harris could “justify” having supported Medicare for All when running her own presidential campaign, then changing her stance since becoming Biden’s running mate, Buttigieg seized the moment to point out Pence’s hypocrisy.
He said: “Well, there’s a classic parlour game of trying to find a little bit of daylight between running mates.
“If people want to play that game, we could look into why an evangelical Christian like Mike Pence wants to be on a ticket with a president caught with a porn star. Or how he feels about the immigration policy he called unconstitutional before he decided to team up with Donald Trump.
“If folks want to play that game, we could do it all night.”
He moved on to highlight Trump’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic, adding: “I think what most Americans want to hear about is, are our families going to be better protected than they have been by this president who’s failed to secure America in the face of one of the most dangerous things ever to happen to our country?”
His flawless response was followed by a moment of silence from the two Fox News hosts.
The pause after Mayor Pete finished them off is a thing of beauty. pic.twitter.com/iY7kl8cEJC
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 8, 2020
Pete Buttigieg tells Fox News it’s ‘too bad’ Donald Trump is ‘afraid’ of a virtual debate.
Pete Buttigieg appeared again in a separate Fox News segment, this time to discuss Donald Trump’s insistence that he wouldn’t “waste his time” on the planned October 15 presidential debate after it was made virtual in the wake of his COVID-19 diagnosis.
Trump told Fox News by phone: “They’re trying to protect Biden, everybody is. I think I’m better to a point where… I feel perfect.
“I’m the leader, and I can’t be like Biden and hang out in a basement every day.”
But Buttigieg told host Brian Kilmeade: “Well, it’s too bad, I don’t know why the president’s afraid to participate in a debate.
“All of us have had to get used to a virtual format. Parents are having to deal with e-learning, which is not what we’re used to. We’re having to take meetings over Zoom. It’s not something I think most of us enjoy, but it’s a safety measure.
“I think part of why the US is badly behind the rest of the developed world on dealing with the pandemic is because every time there’s been a choice between doing something in a way that’s more safe or less safe, this president seems to push for less safe.
“I think it’s also probably a reflection of the weakness of his campaign… and it’s too bad, because I think the more the American people can hear two candidates side by side, even if it’s virtual, the better.
“Of course, the only reason we’re here in the first place is that the president of the United States is still contagious with a deadly disease.”
Pete Buttigieg is on a campaign to calmly eviscerate every Fox host before Election Day pic.twitter.com/QhRdjRf64b— Tim Hogan (@timjhogan) October 8, 2020
“I don’t know why you’d want to be in another room with other people if you were contagious with a deadly disease and you care about other people,” said Buttigieg, before musing: “Maybe the president doesn’t care about other people.”
