Pete Buttigieg Admits to Failed Response to Train Derailment While Also Firing Back at Critics

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg admitted to making a misstep with his response to the Ohio train derailment back in February. Recently, in an exclusive interview with CNN, Buttigieg took responsibility for his response, but also shot back at the critics. “It’s really rich to see some of these folks–the former president, these Fox hosts–who are literally lifelong, card-carrying members of the East Coast elite, whose top economic policy priority has always been tax cuts for the wealthy, and who wouldn’t know their way around a T.J. Maxx if their life depended on it, to be presenting themselves as if they genuinely care about the forgotten middle of the country,” Buttigieg told CNN. “You think Tucker Carlson knows the difference between a T.J. Maxx and a Kohl’s?”

The derailment of the Norfolk Southern train occurred on February 3. According to The New York Times, 20 of the approximately 150 train cars were carrying hazardous chemicals. The train company burned off some of the spilled chemicals to avoid an explosion that could have made the situation much worse. Norfolk Southern also claims to have given monetary aid to the local residents and businesses and has made promises to clean up the area.

A few weeks after the incident, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) penned a letter to President Biden calling for Buttigieg’s resignation. “For two years, Secretary Buttigieg downplayed and ignored crisis after crisis, while prioritizing topics of little relevance to our nation’s transportation system,” the Senator said in his letter. “It is painfully clear to the American people that Secretary Buttigieg has little regard for the duties of the Secretary of Transportation.”

According to The Advocate, Donald Trump, Jr. went on the conservative Newsmax network shortly after that to criticize Buttigieg’s response and accused him of only getting his job because of his sexual orientation. “Peter has no business in that position, but he’s the guy who had no business running for president,” says the younger Donald Trump in his homophobic rant. “But they let him do that because he was gay, and they checked off a box, and then he didn’t win, but, well, he’s the gay guy, so we’ve got to give him something; let’s make him Transportation Secretary. What does he know about it? Nothing. His failure, after failure, after failure are truly affecting the American people.”

According to CNN, Buttigieg did visit the site of the derailment in February, but only after intense criticism. In his previously-mentioned interview with CNN, Buttigieg admitted that a symbolic visit like this was necessary earlier on. “Sometimes people need policy work, and sometimes people need performative work,” he admitted in the CNN interview “And to get to this level, you’ve got to be ready to serve up both.”

Still, it’s unusual for a Secretary of Transportation to come under this much scrutiny. But then again, Buttigieg is a unique lightning rod, having been a former presidential candidate and being openly gay. In the CNN interview, it is mentioned that nobody who has run for president before and won the Iowa caucuses has ever taken such a low-level cabinet position.

It’s not even the case that all the criticism was even about his response. Buttigieg came under fire for the shoes he wore on his visit to East Palestine. Abigail Monroe, a spokesperson for Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), mocked Buttigieg’s shoes in a pair of tweets that had vague homophobic undertones. “Lol are those dress shoes?” she writes in the first tweet, then adds in another tweet minutes later, “Serious question – does @SecretaryPete think these are work boots?”

In the CNN interview, Buttigieg called this criticism “maddening,” saying “Who cares what shoes I was wearing when I was there to draw attention to an agenda that will save lives on our railroads?”