Pete Buttigieg: Trump was doing reality TV while I was packing my bags for Afghanistan

During a live-streamed interview with The Washington Post this Thursday, South Bend, Indiana Mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg took aim at President Trump, saying he used his “privilege” to fake a disability and avoid serving in Vietnam.

The Post’s Robert Costa asked Buttigieg if he thinks Trump should have served in Vietnam. According to Buttigieg, it’s not about whether or not Trump should have served, it’s about the way Trump avoided service.

“I have a pretty dim view of his decision to use his privileged status to fake a disability in order to avoid serving in Vietnam,” Buttigieg, who is an Afghanistan War veteran, replied.

“You believe he faked a disability? Costa asked.

“Do you believe he has a disability? Yeah — at least not that one,” Buttigied said, referring to Trump’s infamous “bone spurs” excuse to avoid the draft.

Earlier in the interview, Buttigieg was asked how he’d deal with Trump in a debate scenario where the President would likely throw insults and jabs at him.

“What he’s gonna do — and I have a fair amount of familiarity with bullies; I’m gay, I’m from Indiana, I get it — is he’s gonna try to get your attention, he’s gonna try to get under your skin, he’s gonna try to distract us,” Buttigieg said. “The challenge in confronting Trump is that there are certain things that he does that you have to respond to, just morally. When he lies, you gotta correct the lie. … When he does something wrong, you gotta point to it, but it can’t be about him.”

“I don’t have a problem standing up to somebody who was working on season 7 of Celebrity Apprentice when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan,” he continued. “But at the end of the day, it’s not about him.”

Watch a segment of the interview below, via C-SPAN:

Featured image: screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.