Pete Buttigieg slams Trump’s anti-DEI crusade

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on “The Breakfast Club” radio show Thursday to address the New York Post’s inflammatory claims that air traffic control upgrades were delayed because the Biden administration spent $80 billion on grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

“Obviously, I think that’s bullshit,” Buttigieg said. “We’re talking about transportation funding that they’re now getting rid of. So, Milwaukee, 6th Street: We funded a project—$34 million—to help make a set of improvements to a very dangerous street where there’ve been a lot of crashes, and that has divided the community.

He continued, “They’re also going to improve the sewer while they’re at it. I mean, this is bread-and-butter stuff that’s going to make the city better off. The Trump administration killed that grant because the application talked about ‘equity.’ It talked about one of the reasons for funding this project being that that neighborhood had been underinvested in.”

Buttigieg went on to call out exactly what the Trump administration means when it calls something “DEI.”

“When they talk about ‘DEI grants,’ often they’re talking about fixing roads and bridges that happened to go into a Black neighborhood or a low-income area,” he said.

Buttigieg continued to list a number of ways that the Trump administration’s racist application of “DEI” is unsafe for communities in need of infrastructure upgrades. He also noted that the NY Post article provided no evidence supporting its $80 billion claims.

Buttigieg, who has gained a reputation for excelling in new media forums, also pointed out that his replacement at the Department of Transportation, former reality TV star Sean Duffy, was previously an airline lobbyist—while Buttigieg was a more stringent regulator of the airline industry. 

There’s a stark difference between an administration that believes the government should make everyday Americans’ lives better and one that aims to deify the wealthy.