LEMON DROP | The Brutal Truth Pete Buttigieg's Consultants Won't Tell Him
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Why is Pete Buttigieg still called 'Mayo Pete' and what does that nickname mean?
So when you do this, sometimes you have to critique or criticize people that you really like, people that you think could do a good job. Maybe they're not doing a good job, but whatever it is. Just remember, you know, we were very critical of Gavin Newsom, his podcast, when he was not challenging people like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon. And so when the news came out about Pete Buttigieg getting 0% of the black vote, I thought that I would write something to explain why that might be happening. and how he could improve it. So just so you know, before you come at me, this is something that is meant to be constructive criticism. Not everybody sees it that way, so you're free to do whatever you want.
But this is on my sub stack that I wrote about it, and it's called What Shall It Profit Pete? meaning Pete Buttigieg, because he went from zero support from Mayo Pete, I don't know if you guys remember that, from the previous campaign, from Mayo Pete to zero support. The brutal truth Pete Buttigieg's consultants won't tell him. And I write this because it's by me and also Peter Rothplatz on my team. I write this because I don't want him to make the same mistakes that Kamala Harris's team made in 2024. Back in 2019, as a Democratic primary was just warming up, Pete Buttigieg was given a name that he has never managed to escape, and that's Mayo Pete, like mayonnaise. It did not come from political Twitter or gay Twitter or pundits with blue checks.
It came from black Twitter. You guys know Twitter. Black Twitter is a sharp, unruly, prophetic corner of the Internet where a joke is never just a joke but often a judgment. And from the very beginning, Black Twitter was not buying what Pete Buttigieg was selling. For whatever reasons, you can go back and look. This is all true stuff, okay? Some saw the audacity of a small city mayor vaulting from the presidency as naked ambition. Others found his politics timid, his instincts managerial. Many saw his cultural whiteness mayonnaise on TV. White bread. And yes, some rejected him because he's gay. Some rejected him because he's gay. Not all of them. Some people, doesn't really matter to them. But the rejection was never...
only about prejudice. It was about suspicion, a sense born of history that this country makes promises that it will not keep. Six years later, Pete Buttigieg is no longer the long-shot mayor. He is the former Secretary of Transportation, loyal to Joe Biden, praised for his polish, applauded as one of the party's strongest messengers, and he really is. He's very good at messaging. He's very good at going into conservative spaces and injecting some facts and some reality. He can joust with Fox anchors, he can charm MSNBC hosts, and he can glide through the endless rotation of podcasts. In early polls for 2028, his name rises. But the insurgent with a spark of danger has become a secretary whose answers sounded scrubbed and staged as I watched
And as many people watched, some of his answers sort of felt canned, as though every word had been pressed through consultants until there is nothing left but shine. Again, constructive criticism. That's how it seems. That shine hides a deeper problem for Pete Buttigieg. Again, in my opinion, okay? I'm just reading the tea leaves here. And just before you, again, I've been doing this since the 1990s. And so, you know, I've been there. Old people be knowing, as I say. Pete's strategy is too safe.
How did Black Twitter and historical skepticism shape Buttigieg's early reception in 2019?
Tone deaf. His advisor sent him to conservative and manosphere podcasts as if crossing into those spaces is still brave. It is not. I explain why, because those men do not live in a fact-based world. They will never vote for him. Most of them will never vote for him. They cannot sharpen him. On the other side, he gravitates towards Pod Save America, love it or leave it, and lily-white liberal streamers with the patina of old-school respectability. I'm not shading... Pod Save America or Love It or Leave It, I'm just telling you about the places that he goes and that you see him most often. Okay?
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
Why is Pete Buttigieg still called 'Mayo Pete' and what does that nickname mean?
0:13–3:59
2
How did Black Twitter and historical skepticism shape Buttigieg's early reception in 2019?
3:59–10:56
3
How has Buttigieg's career shift to Biden's cabinet affected his messaging and authenticity?
10:56–15:24
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Don Lemon Show
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