NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript Interview with Pete Buttigieg
Interview
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CHUCK TODD:
And joining me now on behalf of the Biden campaign is former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg of Indiana. Mayor Buttigieg, welcome back to Meet the Press. Let me start with the following, sort of, assumption here, which is it certainly appears to me that the Democratic campaign coming out of this convention in some ways is very similar to the Democratic campaign that came out of 2016. It's a campaign that is focused on Donald Trump's character, Donald Trump the person, less on policies that the Democratic Party is going to be pushing. Why do you think you'll win a character campaign this time when the Democratic ticket did not win that campaign four years ago?
PETE BUTTIGIEG:
Well, it's simple. Donald Trump has been president for four years, and America is very obviously not better off than we were four years ago. Yes, this is about character. But it's also about the failed leadership of this president, the fact that our country is doing the worst of any developed nation when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus, that some of our economic numbers are the worst they've been since 1876. And for all that, all that disastrous leadership we're seeing now, also a very hopeful vision about where we could get to. I mean, the really amazing thing about watching the Democratic Convention last week was that we were also being put in touch with the kind of country we could be, the kind of country that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will lead us toward, where everyone has a place, where the big coalition that we're building can move us past this moment of chaos and cruelty. And I think all of that adds up to the simple fact that the center of gravity of the American people is very much on our side right now.
CHUCK TODD:
Well, look, where this ticket is right now and the messaging of it, here's what candidate Pete Buttigieg said about nine months ago. Take a listen.
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PETE BUTTIGIEG:
So this is no time to get caught up in reliving arguments from before. The less 2020 resembles 2016 in our party, the better. Vice President Biden has been talking about the idea that we can't afford to take a risk on somebody new. But I believe history has shown us that we can't afford to take the risk of falling back on the familiar.
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CHUCK TODD:
Well, I know one of your answers is going to be simply, "The voters spoke." And I get that. But do you believe your analysis in that time was wrong, that the voters know better?
PETE BUTTIGIEG:
Well, yeah, first of all, Joe Biden won the nomination and all of us who were competing against him, I think, are on the same page now. But also, think about how much the world has changed just in the few months since I was on the campaign trail as a candidate. And, you know, if you told me then that the stakes would have gone up through the course of 2020, I would have asked how that's even possible. And yet here we are, with a very clear choice between the kind of chaos and the failures that we're seeing that are really destroying any chance of a good future under this president and a chance for something completely different and so much better under a President Biden.
CHUCK TODD:
But this issue of not, sort of, putting forth more detailed policy prescriptions, that didn't happen four years ago, and there are --
PETE BUTTIGIEG:
Well --
CHUCK TODD:
-- some, some in the Democratic side that are concerned that not talking about some -- now, look, I get it. The more you talk policy, the harder it is to keep John Kasich in the tent. So what is that line that Democrats should walk this fall?
PETE BUTTIGIEG:
Well, let's be clear. I mean, the policies of the Democratic Party, the policies of Joe Biden are abundantly clear. If anybody wants to look up detail, you can find all kinds of it on the website at JoeBiden.com. But, you know, it's not the finer points of exactly how we're going to get to defeat climate change or exactly how we're going to deliver health care to every American. I mean, that's in the plan. Again, it's there in great detail. But the question we're about to settle in November is whether we're going to do those things. We have a president who's dismantling American health care, and Joe Biden who wants to expand it. We have a president who thinks that COVID is just going to magically disappear, something he told us would happen in April and keeps telling us from time to time will happen again. And on the other hand, we've got Joe Biden, who, you know, believes that questions of science and medicine ought to be settled by taking the advice of scientists and doctors on every major issue. The difference is so stark. It's almost punching us in the face. And so I think the policy differences are so clear. We also need to talk about the simple question of who we are going to be. This is not just a question of what the federal government is going to do. This is a question of who Americans are, what America is. And if you believe that America should be and is defined by democracy, if you believe that America has to be a country that makes room for everybody, the choice couldn't be clearer.
CHUCK TODD:
Look, I get the messaging you're trying to do. A lot of times though, the economy can speak -- can end up overpowering all of those other issues. The president in our poll leads Joe Biden on the economy by ten points. Does Joe Biden have to close that gap to win this election? Or do you think that the future of democracy issue that, that I think you guys have made a very compelling case about, can trump that?
PETE BUTTIGIEG:
Well, I think all of these issues are live, but let's look at the economy. Look, the president's not good at much, but he is very good at taking credit for having rode the tail end of the Obama-Biden economic recovery. But even pre-pandemic, we were having a lot of trouble, especially in my part of the country, the industrial Midwest. Manufacturing was going into a recession. Now, we are where we are. The economy is in such precarious shape. Unprecedented unemployment numbers, unbelievable pain that people are experiencing. And because of the inaction of this White House, that's likely to get worse as we go into the fall. So if they want to battle on the economy, let's have that battle. But let's also remember that our democracy, our national character, and our ability to fight a deadly pandemic are all on the line, not to mention the fact that the United States also needs to restore our credibility around the world, something that's very important both for our security and, in my view, for democracy and other shared priorities around the world.
CHUCK TODD:
Very quickly, as the former mayor of South Bend, I'm curious. I know you're a visiting fellow these days at the University of Notre Dame's campus. Do you think -- if you were the mayor right now, would you want classes to be in person, on campus? Would you want all those students coming into South Bend right now with this virus?
PETE BUTTIGIEG:
You know, the university worked out a plan that was closely coordinated with local health officials, but already they're adapting and adjusting because of the reality on the ground. Look, around the country, because there hasn't been leadership in Washington from the White House, individual universities, individual school districts, counties, and cities have been left to figure out their own game plans and are doing their best. But the reality is we will not fully be able to return to anything like normal until we have a national strategy, a real one, for testing and actual leadership from Washington. And I'm afraid we're unlikely to get that as long as Donald Trump is in office.
CHUCK TODD:
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, people are going to remember, the person who won the Iowa caucuses when this whole thing started. That actually did happen at the start of 2020. I know this year feels like an eternity --
PETE BUTTIGIEG:
Hard to believe it was this year.
CHUCK TODD:
It is unbelievable. Thanks for coming on and sharing the campaign's perspective. I appreciate it.
PETE BUTTIGIEG:
Same here. Great to be with you.
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