Mayor Pete Buttigieg appeared deeply upset Monday recalling President Donald Trump’s United Nations speech.
“What was memorable and what hurt was seeing the faces of the world leaders watching the president speak, not as a Democrat but as an American, it hurt,” Buttigieg said with anguish in his voice.
The South Bend mayor spoke about Trump’s appearance at the world body during a discussion of American foreign policy and Israel during the annual J Street political conference.
Trump’s September speech urged his fellow leaders to focus on their own citizens and emphasized the importance of national sovereignty.
“The future does not belong to globalists, the future belongs to patriots, the future belongs to sovereign and independent nations,” he said at the time.
Buttigieg described the faces of the world leaders as having a “mixture of pity and contempt” for America and President Trump during the speech.
“I never again want to see an American leader looked on that way by the leaders of the world,” Buttigieg said.
Trump’s speech to the United Nations occurred over a month ago, but it clearly had an effect on the South Bend mayor who is running for president.
Buttigieg was also vocally critical of Trump’s decision to leave a United Nations panel on climate change to attend his panel on religious freedom.
“This is what the end of American global leadership looks like,” he wrote, sharing a photo of Trump leaving.
Buttigieg explained he would continue to honor the historic alliance with Israel, but try to push for better behavior.
“I think of a friendship where your friend is acting in a way that you think might hurt your relationship, might hurt them and might even hurt you and what you do in that situation is you put your arm around your friend, and you try to guide them toward a better place,” he said. “And I think that’s our responsibility with respect to these policies.”