Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) for his controversial anti-LGBTQ campaign advertisement while appearing on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash.
The ad in question juxtaposed images of former President Donald Trump’s affiliations with the LGBTQ community with unrelated shots of DeSantis portraying strength and sandwiched between random pictures of bare-chested bodybuilders.
Buttigieg referred to the use of such imagery as peculiar.
“Let’s set aside the oddity of trying to assert masculinity through a video intercutting images of you with greased, shirtless bodybuilders,” Buttigieg stated.
“Instead, I want to focus on the more substantial issue that always comes to mind when I encounter such matters in policy discussions — namely, who is it that you’re aiming to assist?
Who are you striving to improve the condition of? And what public policy challenges do you wake up in the morning eager to address?”
The secretary drew parallels between his recent visits to Kentucky and North Dakota, where he announced multiple infrastructure projects, and the governor’s contentious advertisement, criticized by various groups, including the largest LGBTQ Republican group in the U.S., the Log Cabin Republicans –
“These are the kinds of challenges most of us entered government, politics, and public service to tackle,” Buttigieg stated.
“I find it hard to comprehend the mindset of someone who wakes up in the morning, believing that they can validate their significance by striving to make life more difficult for a community already facing considerable vulnerabilities in America.”
Buttigieg, a contender in the Democratic primary in 2020 before his appointment in the Biden administration, is openly gay and has been wedded to his husband Chasten since 2018. The pair became adoptive parents to twin babies in August 2021.
Accusations of homophobia surfaced against DeSantis’s campaign after it tweeted a video showcasing Trump’s endorsement of the LGBTQ community, which sharply contrasted a compilation of the governor’s policies that critics have labeled as anti-gay.
Biden’s Transportation Secretary firmly stated, “Our administration’s focus is on accomplishing tasks and enhancing people’s lives.”
DeSantis’s new campaign video aired the same day he and Trump were in Philadelphia for a Moms for Liberty event.
A Trump supporter characterized his 44-year-old rival at the gathering as an ‘imitation.’
The video comprises a series of clips featuring a cheerful DeSantis, interspersed with visuals of Christian Bale as a serial killer from American Psycho, allusions to The Wolf of Wall Street, and scenes with Brad Pitt from the movie Troy.
