Buttigieg talks racial disparities in construction during communities conference
The transportation secretary said construction projects in minority towns have workers that don’t look like they came from the neighborhood.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg faced blow back on Monday after he didn't mention anything about the train derailment causing toxic chemicals to pollute the nearby area in Ohio, but found time to complain about the demographics of construction workers.
During the National Association of Counties Conference on Monday, Buttigieg said construction sites are not employing workers from local minority communities and are instead outsourcing to White people.
"We have heard way too many stories from generations past of infrastructure where you got a neighborhood, often a neighborhood of color, that finally sees the project come to them, but everyone in the hard hats on that project, doing the good paying jobs, don't look like they came from anywhere near the neighborhood," Buttigieg said.
Meanwhile, Buttigieg, despite his role overseeing transportation in the U.S., reportedly failed to mention a train derailment resulting in a massive cloud containing vinyl chloride, a dangerous colorless gas that has contaminated the area.
Then-Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks to Fox News during a stop in New Hampshire
Commentators across Twitter slammed the Transportation Secretary for prioritizing woke politics when there is a disaster in the continental U.S. which some compared to the nuclear Chernobyl disaster of 1986 in the USSR.
X Strategies LLC Senior Digital Strategist Greg Price shared a clip from the conference and tweeted, "Buttigieg made no mention of the Ohio train derailment while speaking at a conference this morning but did find the time to say that there are too many white people who work construction."
Former "The View" cohost Meghan McCain tweeted, "People are being poisoned because of a toxic train derailment in Ohio and the Secretary of transportation has absolutely nothing to say about it!"
Former congressional candidate Joe Kent tweeted, "Nothing to see here, just Pete doing the old number 1 out of the Biden crisis playbook- ignore major crisis, divert with woke gibberish."
Conservative pundit Matt Walsh tweeted, "Not only is this an insane priority at a time like this, it also shows that this dumbass knows absolutely nothing about the construction business. Half of the industry is comprised of racial minorities. Hispanics in particular. This is a widely known fact."
"’Diversity’ is the death of everything. That’s what it is. It’s a virus that will slowly walk through every single thing and kill it. Reject ‘inclusion’. Embrace exclusion," conservative radio talk show host Jesse Kelly said.
A black plume and fireball rise over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk and Southern trains Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. ( (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller mocked Buttigieg for his "personal love" of transportation.
"Trains were supposed to be his thing," Miller wrote.
The House Judiciary GOP responded with a brief statement, "Unbelievable."
Radio host Paul Zeise tweeted a scorching condemnation of Buttigieg’s performance.
"He has been a disaster in this job and at this point it isn’t even opinion," he wrote. "I’m shocked that a mayor of a Midwest city with a population of barely 100,000 would be in over his head in dealing with the nations transportation issues. Shocked I say!"
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg prepares to give a live interview to the news media outside of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 13, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
Former Republican congressional candidate David Giglio slammed Buttigieg, suggesting his readiness to engage on cultural agendas and claiming he avoids serious issues.
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"When the topic of racist highways or white construction crews comes up, Secretary @PeteButtigieg is an open book. But, when an ecological disaster takes place in Ohio he is MIA," he wrote. "Are there any members of @JoeBiden’s cabinet who are serious about doing their jobs?"
The official Chicks on the Right account tweeted, "What an absolute clown."
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