4.6 β’ 7.7K Ratings
ποΈ 3 September 2020
β±οΈ 60 minutes
ποΈ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Chasten Buttigieg rose to national prominence in 2019 as the husband of presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. He quickly gained attention for his role as the only LGBTQ+ spouse on the campaign trail and his witty Twitter account. He spoke with David about growing up in a conservative small town in Michigan, the importance of family, the unexpected challenges he faced on the campaign trail, and what seeing a gay man running for president would have meant to him as a child. A teacher and thespian, Chasten recently took on the role of author as well, writing his memoir I Have Something to Tell You.
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0:00.0 | Music |
0:06.0 | And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with your host David Axelrod. |
0:20.0 | A lot's been said about the trajectory of Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay candidate to run for president, from small town mayor to top tiered contender. |
0:28.0 | But there was a related story, and that was the emergence of Pete's husband Chaston, as perhaps the most followed spouse on social media. |
0:35.0 | His often witty, fairy human observations made him a star. |
0:39.0 | And now Chaston, a teacher on hiatus, has written a memoir called, I Have Something to Tell You About His Own Journey and A Spouse's Life on the Campaign Trail. |
0:48.0 | I sat down with Chaston Buttigieg earlier this week. Here's that conversation. |
0:59.0 | Chaston of all the candidate spouses, I think you sparked the greatest interest in following certainly on social media. |
1:11.0 | Were you surprised by that? Were you surprised to find yourself, you know, six months earlier, you're a classroom teacher, and now you're like a social media figure? |
1:22.0 | I was surprised. Yeah, I often I sort of felt like an imposter in that arena. I didn't really feel like I was supposed to be there, and I was surprised that people were paying attention and wanted to hear what I had to say. |
1:34.0 | Some of it is your style, which is funny and personal, but a lot of it is your own story. So I want to ask you about that. |
1:41.0 | So tell me about the Gleismans. You come from a kind of typical working class family from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Tell me how they got there. |
1:52.0 | My grandfather's family is from the UP. My family lives in northern, lower Michigan. So they all call us trolls because we live south of the bridge. |
2:02.0 | But they're a very insular, dedicated family grew up with, you know, family reunions every summer family is deep into tradition, religious family. |
2:17.0 | And for a while there, it was quite rare for anyone to leave home. And most of our family still lives up here in Traverse City. |
2:26.0 | But yeah, my mother's father found his way back to Traverse City because he worked in the Coast Guard. And this is where the family settled down. |
2:34.0 | And where would your mom's family come from? That's my mom's family. |
2:38.0 | Oh, that's your mom's. Who was your dad's family? |
2:40.0 | I don't know too much about my dad's family. I think he had one grandmother who was Polish. I think there's some French Canadian in there on my mom's side. |
2:50.0 | I've always wanted to do one of those, it was like a 23 in me or whatever to see what it would say. But I've never gotten around to it. |
2:58.0 | It's easier on Pete's side. It's just a multi. |
3:02.0 | Yeah, we know where they're from. |
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