I don’t think it’s even debatable anymore (or if it ever was, for that matter) that Pete Buttigieg was one of the worst Transportation Department secretaries this country has ever seen.
My RedState colleague Bob Hoge, for instance, has previously laid out some of the receipts from Buttigieg’s abysmal four-year tenure, noting how “he talked plenty about ‘racist roads,’ but couldn’t be bothered to visit East Palestine, Ohio, for weeks after a disastrous chemical spill; he oversaw an EV charging station project that burned through billions but produced a miniscule amount of stations; and he went on paternity leave during the height of the 2021 supply chain crisis.”
But though they should (heh), no one has to take our word for it. One needs only to listen to current DOT Secretary Sean Duffy to be reminded almost daily of the myriad wrongdoing and failures that occurred under Buttigieg’s watch.
SEE ALSO: Sen. Kennedy, DOT Sec. Duffy Nuke Democrat/Media Talking Points About ‘Fired’ ATC
The latest example happened on Friday with the following announcement:
My first action as Transportation Secretary was to launch a review of the Biden-Buttigieg fuel economy standards that made it harder to make and buy cars made in America.
Today, @USDOT is pleased to publish the rule explaining what the last administration did broke the law.
It was a backdoor way to force automakers and consumers to accept EVs. As a result, the cost of a new car shot up 15% in just 4 years!
Duffy is not so subtly doing something that, while not unique, is not something one routinely sees from current officials when they talk about prior administrations where the party in power was their political opposition.
While we sometimes see presidents reference previous presidents by name, often as a way to remind people that things are changing for the better and that the type of alleged failures seen in prior terms would be a thing of the past, more often than not the term “my predecessor” or something along those lines is used (though Donald Trump is obviously an exception to this rule).
This is true as well for other officials in an administration, where you don’t often hear them use the names of the department heads that were there before them in another administration, beyond terms like “predecessor” and “the previous defense secretary,” etc.
But Buttigieg is being floated as a possible 2028 presidential contender, rumors he has not tamped down on as he seemingly seeks to elevate his national profile in part by growing a beard and attempting a center-esque shift.
It is perhaps with that thought in mind that Duffy never fails to remind people that the failures of the Biden-Harris administration on the transportation front, which resulted in problems that Duffy had to hit the ground running to contend with after his confirmation, also were Buttigieg’s failures, considering he led the department.
That’s an inconvenient fact Buttigieg wants to erase by blaming the Trump administration. But Sean Duffy’s not letting him. This response, for instance, to Buttigieg’s criticisms of the FAA “firings” was a classic example:
Mayor Pete failed for four years to address the air traffic controller shortage and upgrade our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system.
[…]
Mayor Pete chose to use this amazing department—that is so critical to America’s success—as a slush fund for the green new scam and environmental justice nonsense. Not to mention that over 90% of the workforce under his leadership were working from home – including him. The building was empty!
When we finally get a full accounting of his mismanagement, I look forward to hearing from him.In the meantime, I will not rest until I return the Department of Transportation and its incredible employees to its mission of efficiency and safety.
This was another:
It’s simple yet brilliant. Where “Mayor Pete” keeps trying to lay the tracks for a possible 2028 run, Duffy derails him at every turn by saying Buttigieg’s name and laying out the facts. If Buttigieg does run and it goes about as well for him as it did during his 2020 bid, we might have Duffy in part to thank for it.
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