Pete Buttigieg was well-liked as Transportation Secretary during the Biden administration. Buttigieg demonstrated both seriousness and knowledge for the position. Importantly, Buttigieg took the nation’s transportation problems and declining infrastructure seriously.
As is the case with almost everyone Trump selects for his administration, the current president has chosen appointees and cabinet officials based on their loyalty to him rather than their qualifications and skills for the job.
Trump chose reality TV star and Fox News backbencher Sean Duffy to be transportation secretary. Duffy is a Trump loyalist and former House Republican who was best known for complaining about being underpaid.
Duffy had no legislative or oversight history in transportation as a member of Congress.
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By any measure, Duffy’s tenure as Secretary of Transportation was difficult. From fatal mid-air collisions to long TSA lines to skyrocketing jet fuel costs leading to increased airfares, trucking problems caused by tariffs/high fuel prices, and now the shuttering of Spirit Airlines, Duffy has not been a good Secretary of Transportation.
Duffy’s responded to all of these challenges by blaming Pete Buttigieg, and on CNN’s State Of The Union, Buttigieg responded.
CNN’s Dana Bash asked: “Now Secretary Duffy is criticizing you on social media. He’s making videos about you. He said that, quote, the ‘miserable radical left’ hates his road trip because they don’t want people to celebrate America. Your response?”
Buttigieg delivered a classic response.