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Pete Buttigieg: Stealth Assassin

There are a few things to notice about Pete Buttigieg's verbal skill (skill that seems to be unmatched right now, unless maybe we're talking about Michelle Obama).

One thing I'll call: "I come not to praise Caesar but to bury him...." This is when you subtly do the thing you claim not to be doing. 

Buttigieg says, "There's an old parlor game where you try to find daylight between a candidate and his running mate....and we could play that all night....We could ask why Pence, an evangelical Christian, has yoked himself to a man caught with a porn star.....We could ask about the immigration policy Pence once called unconstitutional....But I think the American people really just want to talk about being sure they have adequate health care coverage...." 

It may be that some think that Americans just really want to talk about health care coverage--but, in his heart, Buttigieg knows that we are indeed interested in the Christ-loving zombie yoked to a man caught with a porn star....and Buttigieg has craftily ensured that the words "porn star" *do* pop up in his statement....

The other trick: smart re-branding. 

Asked why he thought Trump was resisting a virtual debate, Buttigieg said, "I don't know WHY Trump is afraid of a virtual debate." 

Brilliantly, Buttigieg has answered the question he *wanted* to be asked. It's he, Buttigieg, who has inserted the word "afraid." (And, of course, Buttigieg has made plain that the reason Trump is resisting the virtual debate is that he is scared.) 

Buttigieg--despite his apparent mystification--then says exactly why Trump is afraid. "He is afraid because his campaign is failing so badly. And, you know, we wouldn't be quite so worried about coronavirus protocols if Trump weren't contagious with a deadly disease.....Why would you want to appear in public, in those conditions, if you cared about other people? Maybe Trump doesn't care about other people....."

These are wonderful clips.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pete+buttigieg+fox+news&oq=pete+buttigieg+fox+news&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.4679j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
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