Pete Buttigieg made a playful yet pointed remark about Donald Trump’s “small” size during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, following Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on 4 March.
The former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, who made history as the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve in a full-time cabinet position, took aim at Trump’s election numbers while discussing the address.
“Let’s remember, despite what you heard tonight, [Trump] came in with just under 50 per cent of the vote,” Buttigieg noted. “He won, I’m not disputing that. But the smallest popular vote margin since Nixon.”
He then added with a smirk, “I wonder how he feels about something that important being that small in his case.”
Colbert quickly quipped in response: “To be smaller than Tricky Dick gives one pause.”
A Familiar Theme
Buttigieg isn’t the first Democrat to poke fun at Trump’s obsession with being the “biggest.” During the 2024 Democratic National Convention, former President Barack Obama made a joke about Trump’s preoccupation with crowd sizes, suggesting that it wasn’t just about the crowds.
Trump’s Controversial Speech
During his address to Congress, Trump, flanked by Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson, touted his executive orders, many of which have reversed diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, as well as LGBTQ+ rights.
In a particularly bizarre claim, Trump falsely alleged that the government was spending millions to make mice transgender.
Buttigieg criticised the speech as confusing and disconnected from real issues affecting Americans.
“The State of the Union, I think, is really confused about why our leaders are talking about renaming things on a map instead of getting the price of eggs down,” he said. “Classic Trump, right?
“It was a lot of darkness, and it was a lot of dazzle, but there was very, very little about the things that most affect our lives.”
Buttigieg predicted that Trump’s lack of focus on everyday economic concerns would cost him voter support, adding that a “good chunk” of those who backed him believed he would improve their lives.
