Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is responding to the criticism that he received for his choice of footwear during his visit to East Palestine, Ohio.
Buttigieg visited the Ohio town two weeks ago in order to see the aftermath of the horrific train derailment that released toxic chemicals and put the health of the local residents at serious risk.
During his visit, he received heavy criticism from many on Twitter for wearing nice dress shoes to survey a muddy work site.
Not shocked at all by Mayor Pete wearing dress shoes to East Palestine. https://t.co/5fnNS6kIvn
— Tom Evans (@tomevans74) February 23, 2023
The Buttigieg says while in his polished saddle brown dress shoes https://t.co/hWelhDv83O
— ? InfoSec Coydog ? (@NativeIndianDog) February 23, 2023
Now, Buttigieg is responding to criticism of his seemingly out-of-touch attitude during his visit, and needless to say, he is none too pleased about the criticism that he is receiving.
According to CNN, Buttigieg accused Trump and conservative media pundits like Tucker Carlson of feigning sympathy for the residents of East Palestine for political clout.
“It’s really rich to see some of these folks – the former president, these Fox hosts – who are literally lifelong card-carrying members of the East Coast elite, whose top economic policy priority has always been tax cuts for the wealthy, and who wouldn’t know their way around a T.J. Maxx if their life depended on it, to be presenting themselves as if they genuinely care about the forgotten middle of the country,” the Transportation Secretary told CNN. “You think Tucker Carlson knows the difference between a T.J. Maxx and a Kohl’s?”
Buttigieg also said that Trump’s visit the day before his own was “somewhat maddening” and repeated the debunked claim that Trump’s deregulation of railways led to the disaster in East Palestine.
He then responded to the criticism of his footwear, saying, “Who cares what shoes I was wearing, when I was there to draw attention to an agenda that will save lives on our railroads?”
It is obvious that Buttigieg does not understand where the criticism of him is coming from. This is not about his inappropriate choice of footwear, but rather about his whole attitude toward the catastrophe.
Since the train derailment, he has shown little real concern for the residents of East Palestine. It took him a week to even mention the situation in East Palestine and three weeks for him to visit.
Of course, his visit only came after Donald Trump visited the town himself and handed out water to the residents.
Instead of taking responsibility and trying to fix the problem, Buttigieg and the Biden administration went after Trump and blamed him for the disaster, despite the fact that it happened on their watch.
President Trump literally has “boots on the ground” in East Palestine, OH today! ??? pic.twitter.com/09dYRslGhB
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) February 22, 2023
The dress shoes only serve to confirm what we already knew, Buttigieg is out of touch with the residents of East Palestine. Trump may be an East Coast billionaire, but at least he knew to wear boots to the work site.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.