A Secret Radical In The Woodpile

In the upheaval of the botched Iowa caucuses, it was easy to miss the moment when Pete Buttigieg called on cheering supporters at his Des Moines victory party to applaud his husband, Chasten Glezman, “the future First Gentleman of the United States.”

It would be difficult to find a more “woke” publication than The New Yorker and on February 12, 2020, Masha Gessen explained, “As part of his campaign, and in developing his political persona, Buttigieg has repeatedly told a compelling story about his coming out. His is the story of someone who blended in and was therefore able—or, one might say, forced—to choose the circumstances and timing of his coming out. He chose to wait a long time: until after he graduated from college, after he had served in the military, after he had been elected mayor. He has made it clear that he feared if he had come out sooner, his political career might have suffered.”

“But he didn’t just wait until he was established in his political career. He also waited until after attitudes toward homosexuality had changed and same-sex marriage had become legal in more than half the states and was recognized by the federal government—all thanks to the courage and work of people who came out before Buttigieg did. Then, in 2015, he had the chutzpah to write an op-ed titled ‘Why Coming Out Matters,’ in which he praised himself for ‘putting something this personal on the pages of a newspaper.’”

In a recent CNN town hall, Buttigieg said he was not running to be the first gay president but hoped to inspire young people who question whether they fit in with their families or communities.

“We’ve got a long way to go when it comes to LGBTQ equality right now,” he said. “But I think the fact that I’m standing here, the fact that my husband is in the audience watching right now, is just an amazing example of that belief that, yes, yes — you belong. And this country has a place for you. If you are ready to build an American life defined by belonging,” he said, “this is our chance.”

Only 44% of Republican-leaning voters approved of same-sex marriage last year, while 75% of those who lean Democratic were in favor of it.

Whatever your thoughts are regarding the Oval Office being occupied by a gay president, consider another factor in your decision on Election Day 2020.

Buttigieg’s father Joseph was a Marxist professor at the University of Notre Dame who spoke fondly of The Communist Manifesto and dedicated his academic career to the work of Italian Communist Party founder Antonio Gramsci who was an associate of Vladimir Lenin.

Gramsci thought cultural change was critical to dismantling capitalism and endorsed Lenin’s “maximalist” politics and identified within the Leninist faction of the Italian communists. The elder Buttigieg went to Moscow in 1922 as the official representative of the Italian Communist Party and returned home to lead the resistance against Italy’s Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, on the orders of Lenin, while his new wife and children stayed in the USSR.

Lis Smith, Communications Adviser for Buttigieg, declined to comment on how his father influenced his political beliefs or his thoughts on Marxist thinkers such as Gramsci.

A self-described progressive, Mayor Pete has called for the abolishment of the Electoral College system, supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and thinks climate change is a national security threat.

In a February 2019 interview with MSNBC, Buttigieg did not condemn other Democrats who have been labeled socialists. Buttigieg said he believes socialism is “a word in American politics that has basically lost all meaning” and that it is used as a “kill switch” to prevent certain policies from passing.

The following month in another interview with MSNBC he said he considers himself a capitalist but that the “system needs changes.” Like other candidates, Buttigieg sees dangers in unbridled capitalism. He used Russia as an example of what capitalism looks like without democracy. He said it can quickly evolve into crony capitalism and then an oligarchy — a government controlled by a small group of wealthy business leaders and officials.

Mayor Pete is a “red diaper baby”.

Roger Simon (the good one) asks the salient question: “If you wanted to change today’s America, to bend it inexorably to socialism, scientific or not, would you choose Sanders’s conventional, in-your-face, ‘workers of the world unite’ method or a more subtle approach that involved slowly co-opting the institutions of our country, from the educational system to, sadly, religion?”

Simon continues, “I don’t think it takes a genius to say that the latter would be more effective—and ultimately scarier—given the way our advanced and affluent society functions. Sanders, even if he wins the nomination, would be too easily rejected with his fusty Eugene V. Debs style by the larger electorate, possibly disastrously.”

“The Democrats know this, as most of us do, and so are preparing to select a leader of the moderate lane. As of now, that’s between Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Buttigieg, with Joe Biden having faded quickly.”

“But no one seems to be asking seriously whether Buttigieg—who wrote an essay in praise of Sanders when Buttigieg was still in high school—is indeed moderate, let alone whether he’s a Gramscian like his dad.”

“Someone ought to do it now to avoid some highly unpleasant surprises later.”

When Fox News held a Town Hall with Buttigieg on January 26 he glaringly declared, “I’m not going to try to earn your vote by tricking you.”

Oh, hell yes, he is.