Pete Buttigieg has just been confirmed as President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Transportation in a bipartisan 86-13 vote. Secretary Buttigieg becomes the first openly gay Cabinet Secretary in American history.
His nomination should have been extremely non-controversial, yet 13 members of the U.S. Senate, all Republicans, could not bring themselves to vote for the 39-year old former South Bend, Indiana mayor.
Buttigieg is a Rhodes Scholar and graduate of both Harvard and Oxford. He served his country in Afghanistan, as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserves.
Apparently none of his accomplishments mattered to the 13 Senators: Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Roger Marshall, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville, Richard Shelby, Josh Hawley, Marsha Blackburn, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, James Lankford, Bill Hagerty, and Bill Cassidy.
They are now being lambasted on social media. Here’s a sampling of reactions: