At a CNN town hall in Austin, Texas Sunday night, Democratic presidential candidate Peter Buttigieg tore into Vice President Mike Pence for supporting President Donald Trump despite being an evangelical Christian.
Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana and the only millennial seeking the nation's highest office, told Jake Tapper that he used to think Pence "believed in our institutions and was not personally corrupt."
But this changed when Pence decided to join Trump's presidential ticket, becoming one of Trump's most faithful footsoldiers.
Buttigieg contrasted his own beliefs with Pence's fundamentalist "interpretation of scripture," the basis of Pence's opposition to topics like gay rights and pre/extramarital sex:
"My understanding of scripture is that it is about protecting the stranger, and the prisoner, and the poor person... has a lot more to do with sexuality and a certain degree of rectitude."
And therein lies Pence's hypocrisy, Buttigieg said:
"How could he allow himself to become the cheerleader of the porn star presidency. Is it that he stopped believing in scripture when he started believing in Donald Trump?"
Watch below:
No offense to porn stars, but the nickname is perfect.
What a perfect dig at Pence.
Buttigieg may not yet be a household name, but his town hall on Sunday certainly made a splash.
People are taking him seriously as a presidential contender.
Could Buttigieg be a dark horse candidate?
Buttigieg's shade mirrors a piece in The Atlantic from last year in which the vice president is taken to task for his religious hypocrisy.
"No many can serve two masters, the Bible teaches, but Mike Pence is giving it his all," wrote McKay Coppins. "In Pence, Trump has found an obedient deputy whose willingness to suffer indignity and humiliation at the pleasure of the president appears boundless."
Amen.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram