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.
