Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg ripped President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday, calling its use of photos from a dignified transfer in fundraising emails and overall handling of the war in Iran “amateur hour.”
Buttigieg appeared on CNN’s State of the Union and raised concerns about the president and the Pentagon’s direction in the Iran war and how the Trump administration views United States’ service members who have died as a result of the war.
“This is clearly amateur hour at the Pentagon and in the White House, and again, the price is being paid by all of us,” Buttigieg said. “We saw campaign fundraising … emails where the … president’s political operation was raising money off of images of him in a dignified transfer. Any politician who does that has no business leading American troops in the war. If the president is willing to raise campaign funds over the bodies of America’s war dead, he is unfit to be the commander in chief.”
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Buttigieg was referring to a fundraising email paid for by Never Surrender Inc. and signed by Trump. The message featured a photo of the president at the dignified transfer of one of the troops killed by an Iranian strike in Kuwait. The photo was bordered by hyperlinks to donate.
Buttigieg also said the Trump administration is treating the war in Iran “like a video game.” The White House has shared videos of U.S. operations in Iran edited together with clips from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Wii Sports.
A Navy Reserves veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan, Buttigieg said the loss of U.S. troops is an added hardship to Americans in addition to affordability struggles.
“More than a dozen American families have now gotten that knock on the door, and the president has basically assured us there will be more where that came from,” Buttigieg said. “While they’re paying the ultimate price, every American is paying some price right now. Mortgage rates are up because of this war. Food is going to be more expensive because of this war … The price of gas that we’re paying at the pump is more expensive because of this war.”
At least 13 U.S. service members have died so far in the war with Iran. Seven died during attacks in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and six died during a refueling aircraft crash in Iraq.
Buttigieg has been viewed as a potential Democratic candidate for the presidential election in 2028. He has joined Democrats seeking a nomination in the midterm elections on the campaign trail, but said his joining is not related to a presidential run.
“I’m going where I think I can make myself useful to candidates and causes that I believe in. Obviously, 2028 will come, but right now, we’re in 2026, and we’ve got an amazing groundswell of support, but we’ve got to keep pushing on that,” Buttigieg said.
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Over the weekend, Buttigieg joined Shawn Harris, a Democrat candidate running for a seat left vacant after Marjorie Taylor Greene’s exit from the congressional district.
Harris is heading for an April runoff election against Trump-backed Clay Fuller.
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