On Friday, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg responded to Tucker Carlson after the Fox News host mocked him the previous night for taking paternity leave.
“Pete Buttigieg has been on leave from his job since August after adopting a child – paternity leave, they call it – trying to figure out how to breastfeed,” said Carlson. “No word on how that went.”
Buttigieg announced that he and his husband became parents to twins in September.
On Friday’s Deadline: White House, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace pointed out that Fox News also has a paternity leave policy.
“He went on to say something about breast-feeding,” said Wallace, who is about to put a terrible image in your mind. “Which I would say to Tucker Carlson, don’t knock it ’til you try it.”
Wallace asked Buttigieg, “What are these attacks about?”
“Well, look, in his case, I guess he just doesn’t understand the concept of bottle feeding, let alone the concept of paternity leave,” said the secretary. “But what is really strange is that, you know, this is from a side of the aisle that used to claim the mantle of being pro-family.”
Wallace, responded, “It feels homophobic to suggest that you were trying to figure out breast-feeding. I mean, it feels dirtier than that. How does this attack land for you and [your husband] Chasten?”
“Well, look, this
“So, obviously, we know that there’s some dark places where some of these attitudes come from,” Buttigieg continued. “But I also note that that doesn’t speak for the country. I don’t think that even speaks for most people on the other side of the aisle from the party that I belong to.”
Watch above via MSNBC.