If former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg could go back to 2020, what are some things he would change? That was the question posed to the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor during a recent interview with The Bulwark. And with 2028 likely on his mind, the Democrat was quick to bring up the disastrous school closure policies, saying he would “figure out a way to get the schools open sooner,” acknowledging the costs to a generation of children.
“For the love of God, figure out a way to get the schools open sooner,” Buttigieg answered. “We got very knee-jerk about this and the costs were not just politically, but in a profound way, I think for a generation, the costs were profound.”
“And I think anybody who was involved, who was, by the way, obviously doing their best to deal with the crisis that killed a million Americans, but I think most people involved would like to be able to have found a way to safely get more schools more open, more quickly," he added.
As HotAir’s Ed Morrissey points out, even though he’s being praised on the left for this answer, there is no political bravery in it.
Getting something so big and catastrophically wrong matters, just as the massive failure of "Defund the Police" does.
Good judgment when it counts matters. If Buttigieg had stepped up to the plate and, after reviewing the evidence in 2020, said, "This is wrong," he would deserve credit. Making a mistake in the midst of a crisis is understandable.
Acknowledging five years later that "mistakes were made" counts for nothing.
The entire Democratic Party and media worked hand in hand to not only suppress dissenting (and correct) viewpoints on this issue and many other pandemic-related ones, but those who spoke out were vilified personally and professionally.
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Buttigieg’s partner even sounded the alarm that policies to reopen the schools more quickly would get teachers killed.
Hey that's cool
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) May 28, 2025
Anyway, here's Chasten Buttigieg saying Trump would kill teachers by reopening schools in July 2020: https://t.co/3NGVMhRHfn pic.twitter.com/idL7v6mBUl
While Buttigieg is scoring some points among Democrats for changing his tune on this, his response didn't please everyone on the left. Enter Taylor Lorenz, who expressed support for Luigi Mangione and joy over Biden's cancer diagnosis.
“Pete saying he would have ‘opened the schools sooner’ in 2020 aka killing MORE vulnerable ppl faster, sacrificing teachers and educators (and kids!) lives to force them back into unventilated buildings w no protections,” the former New York Times and Washington Post writer said. “Disgusting how Dems have fully embraced far right eugenics.”
Pete Buttigieg told @BulwarkOnline that if he could do it over, he would’ve worked to get the schools open faster in 2020. In response, @TaylorLorenz denounced him as a eugenicist.
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) May 28, 2025
Meanwhile, @DavidZweig’s new book presents an avalanche of evidence indicating that school… pic.twitter.com/H5pkRNUr9U
