Mayor Pete Buttigieg sat down with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show on Thursday night to talk about where his campaign is at in this stage of the primary election cycle.
Colbert noted that Buttigieg’s polling seems to have plateaued around 5 percent nationally, in the “second tier” of candidates.
Quipped Buttigieg: “Some are saying it’s Tier 1B, just for the record.”
Replied Colbert: “How do you cut into it? In what ways do you think you can make an impression in a debate? Where do you go in? What’s your strategy?”
Said Buttigieg: “Now that it’s starting to winnow down, people are starting to look for the contrasts. And it will be important for me to convey how I’m different from the others. I like the others, I appreciate the others, I admire the others but I’m not like the others. It’s not just a matter of style, it’s also a matter of approach… “It’s why I’m not making the same promises that some of the candidates to my left are. I share the goals and believe that we can do it in a way that will bring Americans together.”
Buttigieg then explained his differences on Medicare for All and universal healthcare, and how he’s more oriented in moving the country forward, and avoiding getting pigeonholed ideologically.
Buttigieg also talked about a kid who slapped him in the face, and how his religious faith factors into his campaign.
Buttigieg also talked about his strategy for ending the war in Afghanistan.
Said Buttigieg: “I think the important thing is to make sure that we have a deal that works for our interests that is enforceable. … At the end of the day, we’ve got to leave. And this is the one thing the left, the right, the Taliban, the Afghan government and the international community can all agree on is that we’re leaving. The question is, are we going to leave well, or are we going to leave poorly? And I think what we’ve gotta do is we gotta leave with whatever assurances we need on keeping the American homeland safe but without getting sucked into a generation of guaranteeing all that needs to go right with the Afghan government.”
