The five co-hosts of The View were in a full-on panic on Election Day morning, but Pete Buttigieg did his best to make them feel better.
“I feel good!” the former Democratic presidential candidate and current Biden campaign surrogate told them. “Things are definitely pointing in the right direction. But, like everyone else, I’m also very cautious about all this. We learned our lesson about never getting comfortable about results until they’re all the way through.”
Buttigieg warned viewers not to think there’s “anything nefarious going on” if we don’t have the full results on Election Night. “It means people are doing their jobs with integrity and making sure every vote gets counted,” he added. “I believe if everybody votes and every vote is counted, our side is going to win.”
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And he also made it clear that President Donald Trump “doesn't have the authority” to stop the vote count. “He can declare whatever he likes, but this is a democratic country and we count the votes,” Buttigieg said. “I am disturbed that they have this strategy where they're going to court in some of the states trying to stop some of those votes. By the way, we’re talking about military voters sending votes in the mail. We’re talking about all kinds of legitimate, valid voters. And this isn't a strategy you adopt if you think you're winning. So it's really a sign of desperation.”
Buttigieg’s unique ability to speak plainly about these issues—and even reach some Republican and independent voters—has been on full display in recent weeks as he has become something of a Democratic fixture on Fox News.
“You’ve been there quite a lot recently, including last night,” The View’s Ana Navarro noted. “And you never waver from your calm demeanor and the facts. The last time I was that calm was in 2014. Why do you keep going on there, and how do you stay so unflappable?”
“So here’s the way I think of it,” Buttigieg replied. “You know, most of the viewers of Fox News don’t agree with me politically and definitely the people controlling the content on that network, in my view, aren’t always being fair.”
“But I also know this,” he continued. “I can’t blame somebody for not supporting my perspective if they literally have never heard it. It’s my job to get that view in front of viewers who are tuning in in good faith.” One of the “good things coming out of our troubled political moment,” Buttigieg said, is that Republicans have shown a willingness to reject Trump and embrace Biden.
“We have to build some common ground here,” he added. “To me, finding common ground doesn’t mean watering down your values. It means taking other people seriously and sharing why you care so much.”
