Pete Buttigieg stunned during interview with Charlemagne Tha God

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg was stunned by Charlamagne Tha God on Friday after the host of The Breakfast Club told him black Americans are skeptical of the Democratic Party.

“You know, Pete, a lot of black people feel like the Democrats haven’t kept their promises since they took office,” Charlamagne Buttigieg said on Friday’s edition of the hit radio show.

“For real?” replied the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Yes,” replied the host. “Reverend Al [Sharpton] said that a million times.”

“Look, I see, because the job isn’t done,” Buttigieg said. “But the reason I said ‘Really?’ We just passed one of the largest infrastructure laws in American history. It was a promise — and it wasn’t just a promise the Biden-Harris administration or the Democrats made in 2020 — it’s a promise that every president and congress since me, in some way, shape, or form, has made been grown up. We actually did it.”

“But they’re big, wide things,” Charlamagne said. “And that’s great, but I’m talking about things you fought for, like the George Floyd Policing Act.”

Charlamagne also raised the issue of GOP-backed electoral reform legislation that has been passed in states like Florida, Georgia and Texas and has drawn the wrath of Democrats.

“The only strategy the Democrats are going to have is, ‘We’ve got to go out there and vote en masse to fight this,'” the host said. “It’s not a strategy. Hope is not a strategy.”

“This work needs to be done and is unacceptable where we are right now,” Buttigieg agreed, before blaming state and local politicians.

“In this country, a lot of power and a lot of decisions actually rest at the state level — what happens in our schools, even the way our elections are run, that’s what happens at that level,” the secretary said.

Later in the interview, the host expressed frustration at the lack of progress on a stripped-down version of President Biden’s “Build Back Better” social spending agenda.

“It just feels like Democrats are taking so long to fix things, but Republicans are quick to fix things,” Charlamagne said. “They take bold moves to do what they want, fast and furious, but the Democrats are slow. Why? I do not get it.”

“It’s always faster to break things than to fix them or build them, but we build,” said Buttigieg. “And yes, that takes time and that makes us impatient and that can frustrate us, but that’s what we came here for.”

Charlamagne Tha God, real name Lenard Larry McKelvey, was a hard-line critic of Biden and the White House from the left. In May 2020, then-candidate Biden blurted out near the end of an interview in which Charlamagne had challenged the former vice president over his record of race relations: “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re pro-me or pro-Trump, then you aren’t.” black.”

Biden later apologized for the comment, calling it “chevalier” and insisting he “never, never, ever took the African American community for granted.”

Late last year, during an interview on his Comedy Central show, Vice President Kamala Harris lashed out at the host: “Tha God’s Honest Truth.”

“I want to know who the real president of this country is — is it Joe Biden or Joe Manchin?” Charlamagne asked, referring to the West Virginia senator’s opposition to the multi-trillion-dollar version of “Build Back Better.” “-law.

‘Come on, Charlamagne,’ she said, speaking over the host. “No, no, no, no, it’s Joe Biden.”

“And don’t start talking like a Republican and asking if he’s president or not. … And it’s Joe Biden,” she added testily. “It’s Joe Biden and I’m Vice President and my name is Kamala Harris.”

In an interview days later, Harris said the exchange was rooted in “frustration.”