Mayor Pete: The badge has a history, you know

Mayor Pete Buttigieg was asked about his problem with black voters. He has no support from black voters at all in national polling. None. He appeared on Fox News Sunday and when asked about this problem, given how much Democrat candidates rely on black voters to win elections, the conversation with host Chris Wallace turned to his troubles in his own city.

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In short, Buttigieg blames the police for his public relations problem in South Bend. He quickly threw them under the bus with a particularly nasty comment revealing little true respect for law enforcement. “The badge has a history and even the best human being ever to put on the uniform is burdened by that history and by what’s happening around the country,” To hear that sentence, a person would be led to believe that bad cops far outweigh good cops when the opposite is true. No wonder the man has a problem in his hometown. He believes white cops are racists.

Buttigieg told Fox’s Chris Wallace that a “wall of mistrust” exists between the police and African Americans.

“It is not unique to South Bend but we are working through the pain of that issue in South Bend,” he added.

Buttigieg said the disconnect “has to do with deeper issues of systemic racism as a country,” citing other disparities such as doctors being less likely to take black patients’ pain seriously and black applicants having less of a chance of getting a call back for a job than a white applicant with equal qualifications.

I’ve written about Mayor Pete and his troubles governing South Bend, Indiana, particularly his problems with the police department in the aftermath of a white cop shooting a black man, more than once. It is surprising to me that Buttigieg is still having such trouble getting out of his self-inflicted mess. The police officer in the middle of the police shooting controversy has resigned. He is a 19 year veteran of the police force.

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Six percent of South Bend police are African-Americans. The population of African-Americans in South Bend is 26%. Mayor Pete takes responsibility for not being able to increase the number of minority police recruits. Perhaps he may want to look at his own quotes, his words, about police to get an idea on where to start with some problem-solving measures. If Buttigieg can blame President Trump for mass shooting violence, as he has done, then shouldn’t Democrat voters hold Mayor Pete responsible for the troubles in his city? During the Fox News Sunday interview, he even brought up the trope that Trump praised white supremacists in Charlottesville.

“This is terrorism and we have to name it as such,” Buttigieg said, specifically calling it “white nationalist terrorism” in a conversation with host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

“We need to acknowledge that this is a problem.” Buttigieg said, claiming that white nationalism has been “condoned at the highest levels” in Washington.

“Right now you see it being echoed by the White House and there is a measure of responsibility that you just can’t get away from,” he said. Buttigieg cited President Trump’s comment that there were “very fine people” on both sides after a deadly attack at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

Buttigieg doesn’t exactly want to repeal the Second Amendment, he just wants some restrictions, you see. He took the predictable swipe at the NRA, too. Mayor Pete’s rhetoric is not distinguishable from other Democrats running for president. Like others, he now refers to the NRA as a mouthpiece for “gun corporations”, whatever that means.

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Addressing gun safety, Buttigieg asserted that there is a need for tougher gun laws to help prevent future mass shootings in the “only country in the world with more guns than people.” He said “most gun owners” are in favor of universal background checks, and accused the National Rifle Association of not having the American people in mind when fighting stricter regulation.

“The NRA no longer speaks for gun owners, it speaks for gun corporations,” he said.

The Democratic candidate stopped short of calling for repealing the Second Amendment, but indicated that it should not be used so broadly as to prevent the government from protecting Americans.

“We cannot allow the Second Amendment to be a death sentence for thousands of Americans a year,” he said.

Buttigieg shortchanges police and he isn’t really a big fan of the Second Amendment. It really isn’t a mystery why his police force doesn’t have a great relationship with him, now is it?

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