Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Donald Trump and JD Vance are competing in an “Olympics of lying.”
Buttigieg made the remarks about the Republican presidential and vice-presidential nominees on the last day of the 2024 games in Paris. He was responding to claims made by the team about Kamala Harris’ pick for vice president on the Democrat ticket, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
It is interesting that Buttigieg is accusing the Trump camp of lying, as many Americans believe it is Walz who has been telling fibs. Critics accuse Walz of “stolen valor,” meaning they believe he has exaggerated or lied about his military service. Walz is under fire for statements that left the impression that he had fought in battle on the ground during his military deployments in the past, when that is not the case. Walz has claimed he retired as a “Command Sergeant Major,” but that is not true. Walz was demoted from that rank as it was conditional on being deployed to Iraq, but Walz resigned his service before he could be deployed.
But that does not bother Buttigieg as much as Trump and Vance talking about it, apparently. On CNN’s program State of the Union, the secretary blasted Republican Ohio Senator Vance. Buttigieg claimed that while Vance presents himself as precise and as someone who pays attention to detail, that Vance is “running with” Trump, whom Buttigieg claims told 162 lies in a recent press conference. He cited “fact checkers” for this figure.
Buttigieg appears to be trying to distract from the substance of the allegations against Walz—indeed, he seems uninterested in whether they are true—by painting Vance as some kind of bad sport for pointing it out. He called Vance a veteran who “wants to go out and disparage another veteran,” which Buttigieg said “just goes against everything” he was taught in the military himself. He did not have any comment on whether Walz’s dishonest was in any way dishonorable.
He is also implying, incorrectly, that Walz is under fire for only instance of what he calls misspeaking in 2018. But there is evidence that Walz has misrepresented his military service on multiple occasions.
Other prominent leftist figures also seem to believe Vance is committing a bigger sin by pointing out Walz’s alleged fabrications than Walz himself is guilty of. Independent politician and former wrestler Jesse Ventura called Vance’s remarks “despicable.”
