By Rich Larson
Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke to a capacity crowd – some 900 people – on Tuesday night in Skinner Chapel on the campus of Carleton College as a part of the school’s “Engaging Across Viewpoints” lecture series.
Buttigieg, who previously served as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and was a Democratic presidential candidate in 2024, answered questions posed to him by Carleton President Alison Byerly, and from selected members of the audience. Even while charming the crowd with stories of his middle school English teacher who was a Carleton alumnus and, “wouldn’t let anyone forget it,” and a quick anecdote about his daughter asking if Taylor Swift was real, Buttigeig presented himself as a serious person who is deeply concerned about the United States and the direction the country is headed. Asked for his reaction to the federal Operation Metro Surge, which brought thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE) agents to Minnesota, with tragic results, Buttigeig said that he sees a political force in America right now that revolves around an ideology of control, and is “against anything independent in American Life.” That, he said, should be “profoundly upsetting to all Americans.”
Discussing his frequent appearances on FOX News, he talked about the need today for constructive dialogue in the American media and American life.
“I can’t blame somebody for disliking my point of view,” he said, “if they’ve never heard me discuss it.”
While discussing his own party, Buttigeig introduced the main theme of his overall message, saying his fear is that the Democrats will win back control of the Federal Government and then fail to acknowledge, as he put it, “how much has to change.”
Bringing faint echoes of the Biden “Build Back Better” plan, Mr. Buttigieg talked about how the government and the American Political System was not working for all Americans long before President Trump won his first election. For example, he said, rebuilding the Department of Education would be an opportunity to create programs built around modern, 21st Century issues, rather than the model that was developed when the Department of Education was first founded in 1980.
Despite being asked several times by President Byerly and members of the audience if he would run for president in 2028, Buttigieg declined to give a definitive response. He did, however, say that he feels the next President of the United States will face a moment of upheaval and opportunity, and reiterated his belief that political institutions should not be rebuilt, but built differently and better.
Rich Larson is the owner and General Manager of KYMN Radio. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
