Pete Buttigieg Faces Left-Wing Backlash Over Resurfaced 2011 Clip

Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg is facing a left-wing backlash over a resurfaced 2011 clip that shows him talking about challenges faced by minority students.

The video shows Buttigieg, then a South Bend, Indiana, mayoral candidate, saying that “there are a lot of kids especially from lower-income minority neighborhoods who literally just haven’t seen it work, there isn’t somebody they know personally who testifies to the value of education.”

WATCH:

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A writer at The Root called Buttigieg “a lying motherfucker” in response to the video.

“This is not a misunderstanding. This is not a misstatement. Pete Buttigieg went to the best educational institutions America has to offer and he—more than anyone on the goddamned planet—knows that everything he just said is a baldfaced lie,” Michael Harriot wrote in a Monday article, which was widely shared among left-wing journalists.

The writer said Buttigieg’s answer “proves men like him are more willing to perpetuate the fantastic narrative of negro neighborhoods needing more role models and briefcase-carriers than make the people in power stare into the sun and see the blinding light of racism.”

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“While I obviously think that the characterization of me personally is unfair, I do understand the concern,” Buttigieg, who has consistently struggled with black voters, told a reporter, when asked about the article’s characterization of him.

The article’s popularity led the hashtag “#PeteButtigiegIsALyingMF” to surge into Twitter’s national trending topics.

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Some conservatives defended Buttigieg against the attacks. The Washington Examiner’s Eddie Scarry described the The Root article as “nonsense.”

“Buttigieg didn’t lie about education; he gave a perspective that’s actually backed by substantial data,” added commentator Ben Shapiro. “But for Democrats, pointing out that educational outcome disparities are not entirely the result of systemic racism is political suicide.”