During an interview aired on Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded to a question on why Democrats struggled in the 2024 elections and how to win back voters by stating that “We’ve never had more information coming at us. And yet, in my lifetime, in many ways, we’ve never been less informed.”
Co-host Geoff Bennett asked, “Why do you think Democrats struggled to gain traction in this last election? And what more needs to be done to win back voters and to go on the offensive on the issues that seemingly propelled Donald Trump back into the White House?”
Buttigieg responded that he can’t get into campaigns and elections in his federal capacity, but “in addition to continuing to do good work, we’ve got to recognize that credit doesn’t give itself out.”
He added, “And, look, we are in a — just a radically different information environment than we were in just a few years ago. We’ve never had more information coming at us. And yet, in my lifetime, in many ways, we’ve never been less informed. The editorial function of helping to separate fact from fiction, helping to establish one of the most important things that a citizen deserves to know, that function is on its back feet right now, in a world where some guy on the Internet can be treated like they have just as much credibility as somebody who is holding themselves to the highest ethical standards of journalism. Sorting through that, I think, in many ways, will be the project of our time. That matters, not just politically, but societally, and certainly, it’s something that I hope to continue to be involved in, just as I’ve tried to use my time in this role, not just to drive good policy work, but to help Americans understand what it means to them.”
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