Pete Buttigieg in Cedar Rapids: ‘The American people bow to no king’

CEDAR RAPIDS — In a crowded Veterans Memorial Building in downtown Cedar Rapids, “Mayor” Pete Buttigieg told more than 1,600 people that America is facing its “most profound test in generations.”

“We are being tested on nothing less than whether the United States of America is, in fact, the freedom-loving people that we believe and know ourselves to be,” the former U.S. secretary of transportation said Tuesday evening during what was billed as a town hall centering veterans’ voices on the impact of Trump administration policies and actions in its first 100-plus days.

“I want to be clear,” Buttigieg said. “That is not an academic concern. It's one that comes into our everyday lives.”

Citing a “parade of horribles” that have come out of the White House so far this year, Buttigieg drew among his largest cheers of the night to the assertion that “the American people bow to no king.”

“We've never been a perfect democracy,” he said. “But democracy is the most important thing about our country, and our country is the most important democracy in the world.”

And, Buttigieg said, he wouldn't be back in Iowa — where he won the Democratic presidential caucuses five years ago — if he didn’t believe “that at the end of the day, the vast majority of people in this country understand what makes America America.”

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‘Do it again’

Throughout the event — which was livestreamed, attracting another 40,000 virtually — audience members shouted comments like “We love you Pete” and “Do it again” in reference to his caucus win.

Although Buttigieg hasn’t announced plans to run for president in 2028, he’s among a handful of Democratic leaders viewed as potential contenders to be speaking in battleground states this month in what some media outlets have quipped a shadow presidential primary.

Both Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — who also ran as the Democratic 2024 vice presidential nominee — are headed to South Carolina, while Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., is attending a town hall Saturday in Pennsylvania.

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“I can't help but notice that I'm not an elected official or running for anything, and I'm here,” Buttigieg said, referencing criticism of Republicans who’ve avoided holding public town halls since President Donald Trump took office. “I can't help but notice a lot of people who are elected officials aren’t.”

After sharing both his concerns and hope for the nation and its people — especially those who have served in the military, as he did as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan, or continue to serve — Buttigieg took questions from the audience, including one on what the Democrats need to do to rebuild trust.

“I think the most important thing is that we connect everything we believe, everything we say, everything we do, to everyday life,” he said. “I'm convinced the only reason we have politics, the only reason politics is worth being involved in, is because of how every decision that happens in a big white building in Washington, D.C. finds its way into our everyday lives.

“We’ve got to meet people where they are.”

Like on podcasts.

“A three-hour podcast was not on my bingo card until a few weeks ago,” he said. “But I’m going to be doing more of those.” He was referring to his appearance last month on Andrew Schultz’s podcast, Flagrant, which lasted three hours.

‘Cruelly slashing important research’

Among audience members who stood up to ask questions was former University of Iowa women’s basketball player Ava Jones, who in February announced she’s battling stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma.

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“What are the impacts of slashing research funding on educational institutions, and what can be done about it for people that do not have as great of cancer care as I have?” Jones asked.

Buttigieg started by thanking Jones “for reminding us that research is not just some abstract idea.”

“I imagine you just picked up a whole bunch of people rooting for you in your recovery,” he said, stressing the importance of federal funding in backing not only cancer research but the kinds of research that have advanced technology and knowledge that have improved the everyday lives of Americans for generations.

“There’s a lot to be proud of in the advancements that have been funded by the American taxpayer,” he said. “Because it makes everyday life better, because it makes everyday life possible.”

Buttigieg said the entire human species has benefited from America-based research.

“Obviously we're against randomly and cruelly slashing important research programs,” he said. “So let's be clear that this is a country that believes in science, believes in the potential of modern medicine, and believes that it not only needs to be researched but developed and then made available.”

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‘We are less secure’

Buttigieg in airing criticisms with the current administration also referenced reproductive rights — garnering a lengthy standing ovation.

“We will not rest until we have restored freedoms, like a woman's right to choose,” he said, moving into national security as Trump says he may accept a gift from Qatar.

“We are less secure as a country, there’s no doubt about it,” Buttigieg said. “If the leader of the United States of America, the most powerful member of the human species, is considering taking a $400 million jumbo jet as a gift from the foreign government — that makes us less secure.

“If the Secretary of Defense can randomly text highly sensitive classified information to some dude on his phone, we are less secure.”

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Before Buttigieg’s remarks, local veterans talked about the impact of recent administrative actions on their lives — including Ben Davis, a retired Army officer who post-service bought The Marion Chocolate Shop and now is struggling from Trump’s tariff policies.

“As small business owners, we either have to pass all of our costs on to you, our customers, or we have to eat it,” Davis said — acknowledging his product is a novelty rather than necessity. “If we end up eating the price, what that does is it doesn't allow me to sign one of our daughters up for volleyball camps, or our other daughter up for camps at Theatre Cedar Rapids — to be part of this community.

“It stops us from reinvesting our money as a small-business owner into this community.”

In the big picture, Davis said, it could derail his shot at living the American dream — which was born while he was serving it.

“We’re having a really hard time.”

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com