Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is being criticized by an Ohio congressman whose district has been the epicenter of devastating train derailments.
On Saturday, GOP Rep. Bill Johnson spoke to Fox News about the Feb. 3 disaster in which a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed near the town of East Palestine, Ohio, leaving the town and surrounding area contaminated with toxic chemicals.
Johnson told Fox News that residents of his constituency, which includes eastern Palestine, are worried and anxious because they haven’t gotten straight answers about the tragedy. “There are lots and lots of questions,” he said.
He lashed out at the railway company responsible for the disaster, Norfolk Southern, for not showing up to a town hall meeting for the community to ask those questions. “The rail company, Norfolk Southern, couldn’t ask those questions at the town hall meeting last night.”
But he spared his most damning criticism of Joe Biden’s transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg. He slammed Buttigieg for not showing his face after the tragedy, giving him an “F” for his response to the situation.
“I give Secretary Buttigieg an F. I mean, he didn’t show up,” Johnson said, “how can you be evaluated if you don’t show up? So, gets an F.
Johnson is absolutely right to call out Buttigieg for his apparent lack of respect for the people of East Palestine. After all, he is the Secretary of Transportation, and the tragedy unfolding in Ohio is caused by a train that falls under his department.
When a major disaster like this involving transportation makes headlines, one would imagine that the Secretary of Transportation would immediately try to figure out what happened, try to mitigate the damage, and find ways to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
But instead, Buttigieg is a complete no-show and shows no concern for the people who are now affected by this dangerous situation.
At the same time, however, it is to be expected. Buttigieg, remember, didn’t choose Biden to be transportation secretary because of his abilities, but because he’s gay. Essentially, Buttigieg is purely a rental of diversity.
Despite the moral implications of having someone living such an obviously sinful lifestyle in the nation’s highest office, the fact remains that Buttigieg has shown himself time and time again to be an incompetent transportation secretary.
His tenure has seen the nation experience crisis after crisis regarding transportation. He was at the helm last month when all flights were grounded due to supply chain shortages, railway strikes, heavy airline delays before Christmas and a technical problem at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Now, Buttigieg is dealing not only with train derailments in East Palestine, but also with dangerous derailments in other parts of the nation.
So, I think it’s safe to say we’re not only giving Buttigieg an “F” for handling this latest crisis, but also for his entire tenure as transportation secretary.
Buttigieg wasn’t hired on his merits, but the Biden administration can tick boxes for diversity. The results of that strategy are proving disastrous for the nation.
The people of eastern Palestine — and the American people — probably all think it’s time for Buttigieg to go and the Biden administration to replace him with someone more capable.
But, again, competence hasn’t been a hallmark of the Biden administration so far, so maybe it’s best to stick with him, because his replacement will probably be even worse.
This article was originally published in The Western Journal.