I’m guessing there are burn kits strategically placed in the Fox News studio. So often has Pete Buttigieg dropped by the conservative propaganda network to grill his anchors that it seems like a workplace safety issue. The transport minister’s latest foray into this hostile work environment came yesterday and it went down like a scorched earth.
Calm but blunt, respectful but assertive, Buttigieg gave a masterclass in how to respond to Trump’s remarks. Long one of the best communicators in the Biden camp — and certainly one of the best at talking to the half of the country who didn’t vote for Biden and are most likely to turn to Fox News — Buttigieg has that je ne sais quoi that speaks to the heartland voters.
This is, of course, because he is one of them. Pete Buttigieg grew up in Indiana. His husband is from Michigan. A married gay couple from the Episcopal Church, they adopted two children, whom Pitt then took paternity leave to care for. Healthy and well-fed, Pete and Private are as thoroughly American as if Wally Cleaver had grown up to marry Opie Taylor.
Which is surely why the Biden administration used him as Frank Capra to fight Rupert Murdoch-hired Lenny Riefenstahl. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Mayor-Secretary Pitt defended a tweet from her husband that mentioned Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh protesting being protested outside a Washington, DC, Morton’s Steakhouse. “Sounds like he just wanted some privacy to make his own eating decisions,” Private Buttigieg tweeted late last week in response to the story. Cavanaugh left the restaurant through the back door to avoid having to come face-to-face with the protesters.
While noting that public servants “must always be free from violence, harassment and intimidation”, Pete Buttigieg also acknowledged that public servants – because of the position they hold – cannot expect to be free from “criticism or peaceful protest — people exercising their First Amendment Rights.” Pointing out that Cavanaugh, who recently ruled that there is no constitutional right to abortion, did not even confront the protesters, Buttigieg also acknowledged the anger of people whose rights were taken away by the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
Pete’s ability to remain poised, articulate and on message despite host Mike Emanuel’s attempts to interrupt makes him among the best communicators and most valuable assets this administration has. Part of that is Pete’s natural ability. He has this gentle but authoritative suburban dad aura, something he had even before he was a suburban dad. No doubt much of this comes from experience as well; as a small-town mayor, Pete has faced more public criticism firsthand than most politicians and almost all Supreme Court justices. In a conservative state like Indiana, he also had to learn how to make his case to right-wing voters in a way that few blue-state politicians ever needed to learn.
Because of this, he understands how important it is for them to communicate in a language they understand. There is a reason he acknowledges the law and order concerns before turning to the constitutional rights argument. He’s not trying to dismiss conservatives’ concerns—he’s trying to alleviate them.
What really makes the Buttigiegs so effective at getting right, though, is who Pete and Chaste Buttigieg are—and what they stand for. Simply put, they are living the gay American dream, and that scares the Republicans. Far from the stereotypical villains that the political right has taken to repainting LGBT Americans, Pete and Chasten represent reality. And this reality is threatening to those who want to use our very existence as a problem, just as they have done in the past.
Pete throws a wrench in the plan. Unlike 2004, when Republicans were able to use gay marriage to woo evangelical voters and help George W. Bush sail to re-election, 2022 is a more accepting world (despite Fox News’ best efforts). Pete and Chasten lived without a basic freedom – the right to marry whomever they chose – for most of their lives and had to fight, privately if not publicly, to be themselves. Now Clarence Thomas is salivating at the prospect of taking away equal marriage rights, just as he, Cavanaugh and their compatriots did with abortion rights.
Pete reminds us all what’s at stake. His calm, reasonable demeanor means he can’t be fired uncontrollably. His “dude” persona is one that suburban and rural Americans recognize and respond to warmly because it reminds them of their own sons and brothers and nephews and neighbors. Even the brightest red hat would probably admit that Pete Buttigieg seems like a good guy – a good father – who means well, and many of them even like to hear what he has to say.
They have to, or it’s hard to imagine Fox News continuing to turn it on again. It’s a network that doesn’t even pretend to be objective. Getting repeated invitations back on the air means you’re doing something right — if not with Fox News executives, then with viewers. This is good news for us on the left, because Trumpism can only succeed if its supporters stop listening to what people like Pitt have to say.
With the recent spate of anti-trans laws, “Don’t Say Gay” bills, and attacks on drag queen classes across the country, the right has once again begun to paint LGBT Americans as a threat to “American values.” Politically aware gay men who also look like they stepped out of a Hallmark movie casting call should scare the Republican Party because they are helping to expose the lies that we are all a bunch of deviants bent on destroying the American family.
It shouldn’t be, of course. You don’t have to look like Pete and Chasten, talk like them, or be white and rich like them to get the attention of half the country. But that’s the sad reality. And while it’s not exactly the kind of progress we want, it’s progress if they help make our way to voters who would otherwise disenfranchise us.
After all, you can credibly look at Pete and Chasten Buttigieg in their blue pants and conservative button-downs and conclude they’re J-Crew models, but you can’t look at them and credibly assume they’re a threat to the faith, a flag. and freedom. They’re just the boys next door.
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