President Donald Trump “specializes in shocking” so the national discussion is focused on him and “we’re not talking about voters,” according to Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg.
In an interview to be aired Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” the mayor of South Bend, Ind., said although “some things are complicated” in politics and ethics, Trump’s remarks about accepting “dirt” from foreign nations is not.
“A foreign, a hostile foreign power successfully attacked our democracy in the last election, and there's no indication that they're going to back off from trying to do it in the next election,” he said. “That's why it's shocking to hear the president say what he said. Then again, he specializes in shocking us so that we can't talk about anything else.”
“He needs us talking about him so that we're not talking about voters, because when we talk about voters, we win,” Buttigieg added.
Buttigieg also weighed in on Saudi Arabia relations, saying the United States should “consider putting the brakes” on its relationship.
“I believe that when you see things like the killing, the execution and torture of dissidents, that is wrong on either side of the Gulf,” he said, referring to the October 2018 slaying of journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
“And this should be a factor in the way we deal with Saudi Arabia. We have a close relationship in many regards. We should consider putting the brakes on that relationship at a moment when, again, our values are being called into question because the president seems to think that a pending arms deal is more important than speaking up about the fact that an American resident, a journalist, was killed and dismembered.”