Appearing Thursday on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time, 2020 White House contender and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said President Donald Trump has “done nothing to command my respect.”
A partial transcript is as follows:
CHRISTOPHER CUOMO: You talk a lot about respect. Respect these competitors, even if they come at you and they say things, do you respect President Trump?
PETE BUTTIGIEG: I respect the office of the presidency.
CUOMO: The second part is what I’m talking about — the man.
BUTTIGIEG: He has done nothing to command my respect, I’ll say that.
CUOMO: Why?
BUTTIGIEG: Because he doesn’t respect his own presidency and frankly, at a deeper level, I don’t think he respects himself. I think he has created a sort of cartoon character, which is fine if you’re a reality T.V. star where you’re playing a part — even if that part is yourself — but when you’re the President of the United States, lives depend on your integrity, on your wisdom, on your judgement, and I just don’t see it in this White House.
CUOMO: And in the man, you don’t see it?
BUTTIGIEG: I don’t see any integrity there. You look at him and there is just a sense that he would do anything. This is a guy who’s shown no evidence of any principle other than that of advancing himself and that is so costly right now.