Pete Buttigieg

And then they started roughing up people who are citizens, but who are speaking up against the administration, that even if you feel safe now, in a country where that sort of thing can be done, where people can, you know, where even comedians could lose their jobs for criticizing the government, does any part of you wonder if that might ever come for you?

But that didn't mean it was okay, right?

But that didn't mean it was okay, right?

I guess what I'm telling you is if you take the amount of money that it costs to do a full-scale military deployment in an American city, and you just used it on improving funding for the police and mental health and a whole lot of other things, you probably get a pretty good result that way too.

I guess what I'm telling you is if you take the amount of money that it costs to do a full-scale military deployment in an American city, and you just used it on improving funding for the police and mental health and a whole lot of other things, you probably get a pretty good result that way too.

But I know there are a lot of people, and I have heard personal direct examples of people who are in some cases U.S.

But I know there are a lot of people, and I have heard personal direct examples of people who are in some cases U.S.

citizens or in other cases here illegally.

citizens or in other cases here illegally.

who no longer think it's even okay to go outside, who ask people to run errands for them because of the atmosphere that has been created in Washington, D.C.

who no longer think it's even okay to go outside, who ask people to run errands for them because of the atmosphere that has been created in Washington, D.C.

So it's definitely not safer for them.

So it's definitely not safer for them.

Yeah, and in the spirit of fairness, I should say this is the only time I've, outside of military, it's the only time I've ever worked in the federal government.

Yeah, and in the spirit of fairness, I should say this is the only time I've, outside of military, it's the only time I've ever worked in the federal government.

So I can't benchmark, you know, to compare one White House to another or one president to another.

So I can't benchmark, you know, to compare one White House to another or one president to another.

But I'll tell you what my experience was like.

But I'll tell you what my experience was like.

There's a high level of ambition trying to get big things done quickly, especially in the first two years when it felt like there was that opportunity to work with both houses of Congress to make it happen, including just a ton of energy going into, well, among other things, spending time with folks like Joe Manchin, trying to make sure that we held together that coalition to do things like the infrastructure law.