US Department of transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg interview on with Joe Kernen on CNBC didn’t go as well as he hoped.
The border is becoming a big campaign issue and Kernen questioned Buttigieg about it.
The CNBC host said that Democrats weren’t worried about the border until it became a campaign issue. Buttigieg dismissed the claim saying that what Kernen said was “literally not true.”
The Transportation Secretary went on to say that it was former Presiden Trump and Republicans who sabotaged border legislation.
Kernan added that the gaslighting from the Democrat party over the border is leading to “frustration” among the electorate who clearly remember Biden’s executive order ending Trump’s border policies.
That created a lot of crosstalk between the two.
Buttigieg tried to tout Biden’s “accomplishments” claiming that the GOP won’t work with him.
“It was especially disappointing to see what happened with the border, right? You got congressional GOP – talked about the border every chance they got, so you would think that they would be interested in addressing it,” Pete said. “Yet when a bipartisan bill – put together by one of the most conservative members of the Senate, and Democrats working, negotiating, making tough, tough decisions that both of their respective bases were going to have trouble with, came and hammered that out – it looked like there was going be a chance to do something with real resources at the border.”
Kernen said, “Every time we hear those talking points that suddenly it was Republicans who ruined the border — that’s why people get so frustrated. We know what President Biden said about inviting people in. We know that he got rid of the things that were keeping the border closed that President Trump had put in. We know that he got rid of all of those, so when you say it’s not his fault –”
Buttigieg cut in, denying the host’s view of things, “That’s literally not true. It’s literally not true.”
Kernen then added if Pete realized more than 7 million people have crossed the border under Biden’s leadership.
“But it is not true some of the other things that have been suggested,” Buttigieg whined. “This is part of the problem and why there’s a disconnect.”
Kernen added, “The reason that some of these numbers stay where they are is because it just seems like, instead of actually owning some of the issues that we have, instead of acknowledging that the president maybe has lost the step, the administration keeps saying don’t believe your lying eyes.”
“Respectfully, Joe, I think congressional Republicans are saying don’t believe your lying eyes, which is why they’re polling at about 15 percent right now,” Buttigieg shot back.
NEW: CNBC host Joe Kernen shreds Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg after he tries gaslighting the American people (once again) on the Biden border crisis.
This entire administration is a joke.
Kernen blasted the Biden administration for blaming Republicans for the… pic.twitter.com/TKzCSRlbLn
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 5, 2024