Buttigieg slams Trump on child care

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared Sunday to go after former President Trump for recent comments he made about child care.

“And as we saw when Donald Trump was asked about child care the other day, it wasn’t clear whether he even understood the question,” Buttigieg said Sunday on CNN’s “State of The Union” with anchor Dana Bash.

The Transportation secretary seemed to be referring to comments made Thursday by the former president at the Economic Club of New York. When asked if he would commit “to prioritizing legislation to make child care affordable,” the former president responded for two minutes and did not discuss any specific legislation he would propose. He said tariffs would cover child care costs.

“I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, because child care is child care, you have to have it in this country. You have to have it,” Trump said. “But when you talk about those numbers compared to the type of numbers I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to, but they’ll get used to it very quickly.”

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates noted in a Friday interview that economists on all sides of politics have stated that tariffs would increase the price of goods, including ones required for child care.

“If you have any idea what the hell that answer means, you’re a better detective than I am, because these tariffs that he wants to apply across the board would amount to a $4,000 tax increase on working families,” Bates said.

Buttigieg said in his CNN interview that Harris “has a plan for expanding the Child Tax Credit, making sure that we have paid family leave in this country, two things we would have right now if Republicans weren’t blocking them.”

“Pete Boot-edge-edge is beclowning himself and lowering himself– not that he could get any lower– because he’s a perennial loser who is desperate for relevancy. The joke is on him, because nobody takes him seriously and he’s the laughingstock of politics,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in an email to The Hill.

Updated at 2:26 pm.