In 2020, then-South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg became such a savage critic of then-President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign that I wrote a column with the headline “Make way for Slayer Pete. Buttigieg is the Biden’s campaign’s secret weapon.” The nickname caught on and eventually made its way to merchandise.
Someone needs to resurrect those Slayer Pete coffee mugs right about now, because if you substitute “Harris” for “Biden,” that column still stands.
As Vice President Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign, now-Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg, appearing on various news and talk shows as a private individual, almost instantly began proving once again that beneath his polite tone and mild-mannered mien lurks the heart of a political ninja warrior.
Everywhere you look, there’s Slayer Pete eviscerating the Trump campaign in no uncertain terms. On Sunday morning, he pushed back against Fox News anchor Shannon Bream’s attempt to soften the impact of Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices’ decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. “Trump demolished the right to choose in this country. Period.”
Overturning Roe was one of the few campaign promises Trump kept during his administration, Buttigieg said — the ultimate backhanded compliment.