Buttigieg Slams Trump for Indoor Rally on Fox: ‘What a Dim View He Has of the Intelligence of His Own Supporters’

Pete Buttigieg appeared on Fox News Wednesday night and slammed President Donald Trump for the recent indoor rally he held with thousands of his own supporters.

Buttigieg first spoke with Martha MacCallum about a coronavirus vaccine timeline, saying, “My hope is that this will be an area of free from political interference. Of course, I’m worried about that.”

MacCallum asked why and he said, “Because of this president’s track record of intervening politically in parts of the American government that are supposed to be free of politics.”

MacCallum noted previous statements from top officials and said the last thing any leader would want to do is put out something that would be unsafe to the general public. She asked Buttigieg about the concerns raised by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris about trusting the president on a vaccine.

Buttigieg said being concerned about Trump’s track record is completely justified and added, “Usually when he says this will be ready by that date, usually it doesn’t happen. That’s where there’s a lack of confidence.”

MacCallum then pointed to the difference in how Trump and Biden are campaigning, given Trump’s massive rallies and how he’s holding more events than the former vice president.

“Do the American people sort of need to see that the former vice president can handle the very tough demanding schedule of what it takes to be the president of the United States?” she asked.

Buttigieg said the campaign trail is tough and said there’s no question Biden’s up to it, before saying the key difference between the two candidates is that Biden is “never going to stuff his supporters into a room without masks in an indoor space over the objections of local public health officials.”

“When you do that, you show a level of fundamental disrespect for your own supporters,” he continued. “Think about how low an opinion the Trump campaign must have of Trump supporters even back to Tulsa where they made people go into the event, sign waiver…”

“Who made someone? Those people went in of their own accord,” MacCallum jumped in. “They were not made to go in there. You can criticize allowing it or hosting it, but to say they were made to go in there and they were stuffed in there I don’t think is accurate.”

Buttigieg said it’s about “respect for the health and safety of the people attending the event” and that “if you lead people to danger, you bear responsibility for that.”

“You know how you can tell what a dim view he has of the intelligence of his own supporters? Something that they were made to do was sign waivers saying they wouldn’t see him if they got sick and died. Think about what that says for the respect he has,” he added.

You can watch above, via Fox News.