Thread by @Gwynnion

Since people want to talk context, there are actually a few different problems with what Buttigieg said.

The first is that, even as a gay man, he doesn't seem to appreciate why "don't vote for [Trump]" was the single most important thing you could do in 2016.

Clinton would have much rather run on issues and experience, where she was the clear winner, but she was NEVER allowed to by the media, Republicans, or even "progressives." Every policy argument and wonkish debate statement was drowned out by "but her e-mails!"

Inasmuch as the campaign was about personality over issues, it was blindingly obvious that Trump was a corrupt, mentally unstable liar in the pocket of some very bad people and many of his supporters were extremely deplorable. Clinton was so on point as to be prescient.

So Buttigieg is being disingenuous by implying that Clinton and Democrats framed the campaign that way as opposed to running on issues, when the difference between her and Trump, Democrats and Republicans, was and is so stark and obvious as to leave no doubts.

It doesn't help that Buttigieg not so subtly dogwhistles about voters in "the industrial midwest" and how Clinton / Democrats didn't speak to their "lived experience" to not so subtly imply that Clinton and Democrats are aloof from or opposed to the interests of "real Americans."

It's the same as Bernie complaining that Democrats can't talk to the white working class. It centers the concerns of these mostly white blue collar type voters who would be best served by Democratic policies but who reliably vote Republican. Can you guess the reason why?

Incidentally, if you're going to take a dig at personality driven politics you have to go after Sanders for running his campaign as a personality cult that persisted well after he was mathematically eliminated from competition. "I'm with her" is no worse than "feel the Bern."

As I said earlier, Buttigieg doesn't seem to appreciate how special and important Clinton's campaign was to so many women and how singling her out feeds into misogyny against her and supporters, as well as into tropes about her supposed power hungry narcissism.

Anyone with a pulse should know Clinton tried to run on issues and experience and faced a firestorm of misogyny and bullshit from both the left and right and that women are on our last nerve about this shit, so maybe using her as an example was a mistake, not to mention telling.

Furthermore, despite being gay, I don't get the sense that Buttigieg understands the existential nature of the threat Trump and Republicans pose to women and marginalized groups and why it's super fucking obvious why we don't want to make nice with them and their voters.

Not only are we sick of and extremely alert to sexism, even low key sexism, we're sick of being told we have to reach out to the "white working class" or the poor coal miners or those "industrial midwest" voters who backed Trump and are oh, so happy to slit our throats.

To be clear, I'm not calling Buttigieg a racist or misogynist, but he seems to be fundamentally naive about modern American politics. At best. And that alone is good reason for me not to support him even if some or even many of his stated ideas are indeed good.

That said, I don't trust anyone who doesn't see stopping Trump and Republicans as the single most important part of this election and who doesn't understand that's what Democrats and the Left want to hear. We want fighters, not mealy-mouthed platitudes.

Not to mention the fact we've heard Buttigieg's "political wisdom" about connecting with "ordinary voters" and their concerns and taking a vague but principled stand (so as not to alienate those white conservative voters) a million times before from white men.

So even taking Buttigieg at his best, his advice is stale, insipid, and frankly, given the diverse nature of the Democratic coalition and how their concerns are frequently trampled on in a vain effort to appeal to so-called white moderates, extremely naive and stupid.

Have Buttigieg's comments been blown out of proportion? Sure, because it's nothing Bernie, Biden, and other white male candidates haven't said before. But we didn't appreciate it then and we don't appreciate it now, nor do we enjoy being gaslighted about what he REALLY meant.