Elite Pete Buttigieg Claims He Was ‘Shaped by the American Heartland’

Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg claimed Wednesday he was “shaped by the American Heartland” despite his elite upbringing and education.

“In the face of unprecedented challenges, we need a president whose vision was shaped by the American Heartland rather than the ineffective Washington politics we’ve come to know and expect,” he wrote on Twitter.

In the face of unprecedented challenges, we need a president whose vision was shaped by the American Heartland rather than the ineffective Washington politics we’ve come to know and expect.

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 29, 2020

Buttigieg was immediately mocked on social media for his elite pedigree.

The presidential aspirant was born as the only child of college professors who taught at the University of Notre Dame in the mostly Democrat city of South Bend, Indiana. He went to Harvard for college, was named a Rhodes scholar and went to Oxford for graduate studies. After college, Buttigieg took a position with the elite consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

After running and winning the job as mayor of South Bend Indiana, Buttigieg joined the Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer before coming out as gay and winning re-election with a clear majority.

But Buttigieg’s liberal elite background has not stopped him from claiming the mantle of a Democrat political figure in a Republican “red state.”

“If you want to talk about the capacity to win, try putting together a coalition to bring you back to the office with 80 percent of the vote as a gay dude in Mike Pence’s Indiana,” he boasted during the Democrat Presidential primary debate in December.

His opponent Amy Klobuchar reminded Buttigieg that when he actually ran a statewide race in 2010 for treasurer he lost by over 20 points.

“Mayor, if you had won in Indiana that would be one thing,” she replied. “You tried and you lost by 20 points.”