Pete Buttigieg delivers bold message on Trump’s dictatorial policies: “That’s the hallmark of losing your grasp of freedom”

It’s perhaps not too controversial a statement to say that U.S. President Donald Trump is not everybody’s cup of tea. The 79-year-old has been elected to the White House on two separate occasions, although his approval rating is currently about 41 percent, which suggests there are plenty who are regretting their decision in the most recent presidential election.

We have, of course, lost count of the number of individuals Trump has gotten into a war of words with, and let’s not forget someone actually tried to take the president of the United States’ life a little over a year ago.

Among the Republican’s latest public foes are journalist Amanda Marcotte, the senior politics writer for Salon, and Hollywood megastar Jason Bateman, who hit out at Trump voters in a recent podcast appearance: “Do you think Trump would have gotten the same number of votes if the people who voted for him had access to or the curiosity to seek out and find the truth?”

We can now add former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to the list, although given the Democrat was appointed to his former post by Joe Biden, nobody will be surprised to hear he isn’t a huge fan of President Trump.

Pete Buttigieg’s unfilitered view on Trump administration

Appearing on Pod Save America, hosted by former Obama aides Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vietor and described as “a no-bullshit conversation about politics,” Buttigieg spoke about a whole host of topics over the course of just over an hour, including the future of the Democratic Party, JD Vance, artificial intelligence and Gaza.

But Buttigieg inevitably kicked off by sharing his views on Trump, describing the start to the president’s second term in the Oval Office as “not great.”

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, expanded by expressing his belief that many Trump backers have been taken aback by how the administration has acted in the last six months. “So many of the things that we worried about, that we feared, that we saw coming, we’re seeing even more than we would’ve guessed. It’s not just the things that the left worried about, or the liberals worried about, it’s things that traditional conservatives worried about.”

Donald Trump’s dictatorship? “The opposite of what America’s about”

Buttigieg then pulled no punches when asked about the notion of whether Trump has constructed a dictatorship in the United States, basing his argument on how high-profile institutions have seemingly been bullied into cooperating with the current administration.

“That’s definitely what they’re trying to do,” said the 43-year-old. “The biggest mark of success by the Trump administration in terms of trying to be that controlling isn’t what’s happening directly with the government, it’s what’s happening indirectly. It’s the self-editing we’re seeing happen at broadcasters, universities, and private firms. That’s the real hallmark of losing your grasp on freedom.

“It’s not just direct government interference with everyday private life,” Buttigieg continued. “It’s a society that begins to do things differently because they don’t want to run the risk of pissing off the government. No matter what your politics are, that’s so the opposite of what America is about.”

Buttigieg optimistic about the future of the U.S.

The Democrat does, however, hold optimism about a brighter future.

“I’m seeing a lot of people standing up to this, even with very little power in Washington.

“And the other big thing on my mind is that with all these institutions in our government and society being burned down, it presents a very important moment in our near future to rebuild them on better terms.”

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