What Pete Buttigieg Learned Playing JD Vance

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Government, News

4.6 • 11K Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2024

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

America has become increasingly polarized when it comes to trust. Voters who distrust the system — who see institutions as corrupt and are prone to conspiracy theories — have long existed on the far left and far right. But Donald Trump seems to have sparked a realignment, what the writer Matthew Yglesias calls “the crank realignment.” The G.O.P. is now the political home of the distrustful, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Trump endorsement was a clear sign of these changing times. In 2020, Pete Buttigieg wrote a book on trust in politics. And he’s been persistent in making the case — in speeches, on TV — for what he calls “a better kind of politics.” So I wanted to talk to him about his theory of politics. Why does he think so many Americans have lost trust in the government? What responsibility does the Democratic Party have here? And how does he believe trust can be restored? Note: I invited Buttigieg on the show in his personal capacity so we could discuss his thoughts on the election without violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits members of the government from campaigning in their official guise. This also means I wasn't able to ask Buttigieg many questions about his work as transportation secretary. But I think we still had a pretty fascinating conversation. Book Recommendations: Morning and Evening by Jon Fosse The Future Is History by Masha Gessen Mr. Churchill in the White House by Robert Schmuhl Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Elias Isquith and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Jonah Kessel, Elliot DeBruyn and Selcuk Karaoglan.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From New York Times opinion, this is the Ezra Klein Show. P putigge edge has had one of these fascinating rises in politics.
0:26.5	He went from being Mayor South Bend, Indiana, a small but noble town, to an unexpectedly
0:32.1	competitive presidential candidate winning Iowa in 2020
0:36.1	to Secretary of Transportation and now this year to the Democratic
0:41.4	parties acknowledged best of class
0:44.0	communicator, a guy who fearlessly strides into Fox News
0:48.0	humiliating anchors and being the person sort of able to deliver
0:51.5	what the Democratic Party is about, what even in some ways Vice President
0:54.5	Harris' campaign is about under duress.
0:58.6	So with an opportunity to sit down with him, I wanted to ask him a bunch of questions I have of the Democratic Party.
1:04.9	And they begin with a concept that he wrote a book about in 2020, which is Trust.
1:10.3	The Democratic Party has lost the trust of a lot of people once supported it,
1:14.0	and it is presided over endured a sorting of Americans by trust.
1:20.0	Donald Trump's Republican Party is a party full of people who don't trust the system,
1:25.1	don't trust the government, don't trust Democrats, but it's become much more than that.
1:30.1	So how does he think about trust and what does he think government has done to lose it?
1:35.9	What does he think Democrats have done to lose it and what can be done to gain it back?
1:41.2	I should say there is a rule, a law called the Hatch Act, that keeps members of the government
1:47.9	from campaigning in their official guise, which is fine. The strange thing about the Hatch Act though is it goes the other way
1:54.0	too. And so in order to talk with Budajaj more widely, I was not able to ask him. A number of questions
2:00.7	I would like to ask him about his work as transportation
2:03.4	secretary but given that we had I think a pretty fascinating conversation as always
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from New York Times Opinion, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of New York Times Opinion and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.