Buttigieg accuses Right of turning on inherently American companies in name of culture war
Julia Johnson
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Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg criticized the Right in an interview published Thursday, accusing them of turning against what he characterized as inherently American companies and brands.
“You can only put yourself on the wrong side of so many red, white, and blue American institutions, and the question becomes, is this about you?” he asked.
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His comments came during a profile-style interview with Wired.
Asked about some of the companies which have drawn the ire of conservatives and the example of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) labeling Coca-Cola as “woke coke” in 2021 after it spoke out against a law that would firm up requirements for absentee voting in Georgia, Buttigieg said, “there’s something delicious about the way that [Ted] Cruz and the rest of them have positioned themselves on one side of the fence. And Netflix, Coca-Cola, Disney, and Bud Light are on the other side. Along with most of America.”
These companies have faced backlash from Americans recently when they have promoted gender ideology. Bud Light is currently experiencing an extended drop in sales after a controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Several politicians and celebrities came out against the brand after the partnership was revealed.
“Sometimes the military — the military, of all institutions — comes under attack from the far Right. On ideological grounds. Yet another front in the culture war,” he noted.
The military has become an area of concern for conservatives as it has implemented controversial diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and training. These also come at a time during which the military is struggling to increase recruitment numbers.
“You could add [the Pentagon] that to the list: Bud Light, Coke, football, Disney … and the Army,” he said of the companies currently targeted by Republicans.
According to the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who also ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, the majority of American people and business leaders have a consensus: “We have certain commitments around democracy and inclusion that are really elemental to the whole system.”
Buttigieg further explained that “Fears about masculinity are a way into the fear of displacement.”
He added that “The politicization of masculinity is code for ‘Nothing in your life has to change.’ The problem is, of course, lots of things have to change. Either because there was something wrong with the old way — or because, even as the old way seemed perfectly fine, it’s not an option.”
He related this philosophy to climate change, describing, “If you can’t face that change, you might retreat to the default place of masculinity. Maybe that’s why someone characterized electric vehicles as emasculating. I think it was Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
But, for the secretary, “a car is a car.”
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In some ways, he said, electric cars are actually better.
“Clearly, we have a chance to rewrite some of these easy gender tropes,” he said. “My life happens to cut across them. I like drinking beer, lifting weights, splitting wood. I’m also gay and I like playing piano. I do a lot of the caregiving for our toddlers and other things that supposedly aren’t masculine.”