Buttigieg says Trump’s attacks on Walz are ‘pretty mushy and lazy’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg slammed recent attacks against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) by former President Trump as “mushy and lazy” on Friday, suggesting Trump’s heart may not be in the race anymore.

“It’s also pretty mushy and lazy for Donald Trump’s best attack to be, what was it, ‘He’s heavily into lotsa different worlds,’ like?” Buttigieg said on CNN’s “The Source” with anchor Kaitlan Collins.

At a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate Thursday, Trump said that Walz is “Heavy into the transgender world, heavy into lots of different worlds having to do with safety.”

“Sometimes you get the feeling that Trump’s heart isn’t in this anymore, the laziness of his attacks, not to mention the, again, lack of any coherent account of what he’s actually gonna do to make Americans’ lives better,” Buttigieg said.

Buttigieg was one of a few names floated as a possible running mate for Harris before she eventually selected Walz. He ran alongside her in the Democratic presidential primary back in 2020, and now they both have key roles in the Biden administration as the vice president and head of the Department of Transportation.

Harris, whose campaign has garnered large amounts of enthusiasm and energy from Democrats, announced Walz as her running mate on Tuesday. In the last week, she has done several rallies with large crowds.

When asked if he fears Harris’ crowd sizes at the Mar-a-Lago press conference, Trump gave an exasperated answer.

“Oh, give me a break,” Trump said. “Listen, I had 107,000 people in New Jersey, you didn’t report it. I’m so glad you asked. What did she have yesterday, 2,000 people?”

The vice president is now neck and neck with the former president in an average of national polls from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, with Trump garnering 47.4 percent support to the vice president’s 47.2 percent.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign.