Pete Buttigieg made a strong case for Democrats during an appearance on comedian Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant podcast Wednesday and carefully explained to the MAGA-friendly host just how many promises Donald Trump has broken.
And by the end of their conversation, it seemed as though he may have actually changed Schulz’s mind.
Buttigieg acknowledged to Schulz, who hosted Trump on the same podcast just before the 2024 election, that Republicans have successfully painted the Democratic Party as America’s villains. But he also painstakingly laid out how much more Democrats have done to help everyday people than Trump ever did during his first term.
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“Most of the stuff he said he was actually going to do, he didn’t actually do,” Buttigieg said on Wednesday.
The podcast appearance is the latest in a string of media hits for the former transportation secretary, popular Democratic surrogate, and potential 2028 presidential nominee who has urged the party to improve its anti-Trump attacks.
Buttigieg explained how former President Joe Biden passed a sweeping infrastructure bill, something Trump repeatedly promised to do during his first term. He also pointed out that Trump never completed construction on his long-promised wall along the Southern border.
“The biggest social policy commitment that they’ve made that they actually care about to the point that they actually went through and kept it was to get rid of the right to choose,” Buttigieg said, referencing the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which made abortion a federal right. “Economically, the biggest promise they’ve actually kept is tax cuts for the rich.”
Schulz, in turn, acknowledged the lack of policy progress, but he said where Republicans excelled was speaking more to their voters’ emotions.
“If you want to help them, say the thing that you think they need help with out loud directly and say that you’re going to do it and then endeavor to do it,” Schulz said. “We already expect you guys not to do it so the least you could do is f---ing lie to me. You don’t even lie to me!”
“Right now I don’t know—what is the platform?“ Schulz asked. ”The Republicans did an amazing job of making the Democratic platform feel like—this wasn’t it at all, this was completely wrong—but it made it feel like we’re going to let the school do whatever they want to your kids’ balls."
The episode also highlighted how effective Trump’s anti-Kamala Harris “they/them” campaign advertisement was in pigeon-holing Harris. Trump’s campaign chiefs boasted about the ad’s success after the election.
Buttigieg agreed, saying Republicans “talked about more about that than they talked about the economy.” But he said his focus would be to improve everyday American lives, which he claimed Republicans eager to pass new tax cuts for the ultra-rich will never do.
“I want you to have good public transit to get to where you’re going, and then when you get to that job, I want you to be paid well,” Buttigieg said. “If you’re about to have a kid, I want you to know that you’re going to have parental leave when you have that kid and if you don’t want to have a kid I want you to have the the right to choose whether to have a kid.”
Schulz said he agreed with Buttigieg’s ideals, but he felt that Democrats’ lack of action plans and emotional appeals contributed more to a Trump victory than Trump himself.
“It seems you know exactly what we’re feeling because that was beautiful,” Schulz added. “But I need the statements that are going to satisfy those feelings because that’s what gets people to sway over and that’s what they’re f---ing good at.”
Buttigieg agreed that Republicans were more effective in speaking to voters, though he categorized their platform more as a “bumper sticker” messaging.
“What’s a Democratic bumper sticker?” Schulz asked.
“I’m working on it,” Buttigieg quipped. “And I think people need to know that we see them and we don’t see them as the problem.”
For more, listen to Andrew Schulz talk about Trump, politics, and comedy on The Last Laugh podcast.
