Mayor Pete Buttigieg Strikes Back At Rush Limbaugh Over ‘Homophobic’ Attacks
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg responded to controversial comments made by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh — comments described by CNN writer Chelsea Jane as “homophobic,” per The Washington Post — during a CNN town hall Tuesday night, asserting that neither Limbaugh nor president Trump are qualified to “lecture anybody on family values.”
Limbaugh, a longtime radio host known for his controversial views on issues such as feminism and racial politics, drew bipartisan criticism for alleging on his show that American voters are “still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage president.” On Monday, he doubled down on his comments, insisting President Trump told him not to apologize for what he had said, according to The Washington Post.
“Hell, the president even called me about this! He said, ‘Rush, I just got to tell you something. Never apologize. Don’t ever apologize.'”
While Trump has previously indicated he would vote for a gay candidate, Buttigieg says he doesn’t take Trump at his word.
“Sorry, but one thing about my marriage is it’s never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse,” the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, told the audience, making a not-so-subtle reference to a $130,000 settlement that Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film star with whom Trump allegedly had an affair.
Like his fellow Democratic contenders, Buttigieg has been openly critical of Trump throughout his campaign, but his remarks on Tuesday mark his first attack against Trump’s personal life.
Trump’s support of Limbaugh comes after a recent interview on Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera’s podcast, in which he called Buttigieg’s White House bid “a sign of great progress.” The president said that he thinks it’s possible Americans might one day elect a gay candidate as president.
During the CNN town hall, a voter asked Buttigieg how he would handle homophobic rhetoric should he be nominated. Buttigieg explained that he decided to come out in South Bend in 2015 while serving as mayor there, when “it was tough sledding” for LGBTQ people in Republican-run Indiana. He was re-elected in November of that year.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Buttigieg — who married his husband, Chasten, in 2018 — admitted to CNN’s Dana Bash, “On stage we usually just go for a hug. But I love him very much, and I’m not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.”
In a Gallup poll released earlier this month, more than three in four Americans (78 percent) indicated that they would be willing to vote for a gay or lesbian contender if they were a “well-qualified” candidate for the presidency.
