Pete Buttigieg: Trump Has ‘Done Nothing to Command My Respect’

Appearing Thursday on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time, 2020 White House contender and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said President Donald Trump has “done nothing to command my respect.”

.@chriscuomo: "Do you respect Pres. Trump?"@PeteButtigieg: "I respect the office of the presidency…He has done nothing to command my respect, I'll say that."

Cuomo: "Why?"

Buttigieg: "He doesn't respect his own presidency…at a deeper level I don't think he respects himself" pic.twitter.com/rZPBHYAf4p

— CNN (@CNN) November 8, 2019

A partial transcript is as follows: 

CHRISTOPHER CUOMO: You talk a lot about respect. Respect these competitors, even if they come at you and they say things, do you respect President Trump?

PETE BUTTIGIEG: I respect the office of the presidency.

CUOMO: The second part is what I’m talking about — the man.

BUTTIGIEG: He has done nothing to command my respect, I’ll say that.

CUOMO: Why?

BUTTIGIEG: Because he doesn’t respect his own presidency and frankly, at a deeper level, I don’t think he respects himself. I think he has created a sort of cartoon character, which is fine if you’re a reality T.V. star where you’re playing a part — even if that part is yourself — but when you’re the President of the United States, lives depend on your integrity, on your wisdom, on your judgement, and I just don’t see it in this White House.

CUOMO: And in the man, you don’t see it?

BUTTIGIEG: I don’t see any integrity there. You look at him and there is just a sense that he would do anything. This is a guy who’s shown no evidence of any principle other than that of advancing himself and that is so costly right now.