Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg seemed to be quite upset by the recent claims coming in that he only paid a visit to the crash site of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, due to the fact that former President Donald Trump did it before him.
Buttigieg spoke out in detail on a large selection of topics alongside CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere, but the topic that ended up drawing the vast majority of attention was the events surround the East Palestine derailment — and while the former mayor did concede a few issues with the event, he argued that most of the critics were not at all being fair enough to him.
Admitting that he should probably have gone to the site of the derailment — which ended up being followed by a horrific crash, a toxic chemical spill, and a failed attempt at a controlled burn — at a much earlier point than he actually did (which only took place multiple weeks after the actual crash), Buttigieg ended up being upset by the idea that he only showed up after somehow being goaded into the appearance after Trump popped up with a number of trucks laden with clean drinking water for the people with other supplies.
“That’s bulls***,” stated Buttigieg. “We were already going to go.”
Buttigieg labeled Trump’s visit as “somewhat maddening – to see someone who did a lot try to gut not just rail safety regulations, but the EPA, which is the number one thing standing between that community and a total loss of accountability for Norfolk Southern and then show up giving out bottled water and campaign swag?”
Buttigieg also issued a response to the large number of criticisms targeting his footwear — marking those complaints as outright “maddening” as well.
Serious question – does @SecretaryPete think these are work boots? pic.twitter.com/ldp08TiEwW
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) February 23, 2023
“Who cares what shoes I was wearing, when I was there to draw attention to an agenda that will save lives on our railroads?” he questioned.
The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, went on to lash out at his critics — seemingly suggesting that they were the ones who were actually out of touch.
“It’s really rich to see some of these folks – the former president, these Fox hosts – who are literally lifelong card-carrying members of the East Coast elite, whose top economic policy priority has always been tax cuts for the wealthy, and who wouldn’t know their way around a T.J. Maxx if their life depended on it, to be presenting themselves as if they genuinely care about the forgotten middle of the country,” openly complained Buttigieg. “You think Tucker Carlson knows the difference between a T.J. Maxx and a Kohl’s?”