Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a podcast released Saturday that attacking Vice President Harris for claiming she was hired because of her diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts “makes the Republican Party look bad.”
When asked about the attack, New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro said: The outlet’s “The Interview” podcastButtigieg argued they would likely backfire on Republicans.
“Well, I think these attacks have made the Republican Party look bad,” said Buttigieg, who is seen as a leading contender to be Harris’ running mate for the Democratic presidential nominee.
“And if you are someone [House Speaker] Mike Johnson [(R-La.)]”I think when the Speaker of the House, who is a very conservative person, is telling his members, ‘Hey, calm down,’ he’s essentially saying they’re embarrassing the party and he’s acknowledging that they’re diminishing the party’s chances by indulging in that kind of rhetoric.”
“And the fact that they can’t think of anything to do other than address issues of race and gender head on not only reveals the ugliest undercurrents in today’s Republican Party, but also shows a profound lack of imagination, because they can’t talk about how these things will make people’s lives better — in other words, they never will.” [former President] “It’s the Trump campaign or the Trump party.”
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Johnson said at a press conference that the upcoming election “will be about policies, not people”.
“This is not a personal issue about Kamala Harris,” the House speaker said of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “Her ethnicity and gender have absolutely nothing to do with this matter.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who previously called the vice president a “DEI hire,” said Wednesday that he regretted calling her that but “it’s true.”
