Trump is “getting more dangerous because he’s getting weaker,” out former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently told MS NOW host Jen Psaki of the president’s recent attempts to forcefully obtain states’ voter rolls by using federal immigration agents and FBI raids.

“As he loses more and more favor and popularity among the American people, he’s going to continue to try to make up for that using the machinery of government that he controls,” Buttigieg continued. “But that’s perilous for him. It’s certainly perilous for the whole country.”

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When asked how he would respond to Americans who are worried that Trump will try to rig the 2026 midterm elections and 2028 presidential elections, Buttigieg said, “We have to remember that elections are run close to home. They’re run by our neighbors, often county officials, sometimes volunteers working together, and that process has a ton of integrity.”

“Does this president respect the integrity of that press process? Of course, he doesn’t,” Buttigieg added. “But let’s also remember this: The ultimate backstop is the American people. Yes, we would hope it would be Congress. Certainly, we look to the courts, but at the end of the day, any of those kinds of maneuvers cannot work if the American people stand unified against them.”

“[Trump’s cronies] know they cannot outrun the will of the people, and that ultimately will be our best defense against anything that he tries to pull as Election Day draws near,” he said, adding that it will be up to the American people to hold Trump and his enablers responsible for the policies they’ve inflicted upon the country.

“This [is a] decisive moment that, I think, history will record as make-or-break for whether this country remains a free and democratic nation.”

Out former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

“What ICE is doing is in no way part of any kind of reasonable, decent, or safe immigration policy and has clearly nothing to do with law-and-order because of the level of disorder they have created and because of the illegal actions of ICE — it’s not just that they’re doing a bad job, they’re hurting people … they are breaking the law,” he said

Buttigieg continued, saying he thinks “something is turning in the United States of America right now,” because Americans of every political persuasion view the violent actions of the current administration as wrong.

“I think, an extraordinary moment for people of every different political persuasion to come together and show what it looks like to be a freedom-loving country, and also just as human beings,” he said.

“When you see these kinds of images, you know, just today, an image of a woman on her porch opening the door while her home is being swarmed by about half a dozen agents — wearing more weaponry and tactical gear than we used to take with us when we were going outside the wire in Afghanistan — there’s just no way to look at that and think that that could possibly be making this country a better place,” he added.

When Psaki noted that there are still over eight months until the November midterm elections, she asked Buttigieg what advice he would have for people who feel demoralized and tired from having to constantly stand up to the current administration.

“Of course, it is asking and demanding so much, so much time, so much energy, and sadly, in the case of many protesters, more physical courage than should ever be asked of an American just exercising their First Amendment rights, but that’s where we are,” Buttigieg admitted. “And if you think about what other generations of Americans went through in order to secure and establish those freedoms, that it now falls to us to protect and expand, then we owe it to them.”

“Even more than to past generations, we owe it to a future generation,” he concluded. “We owe it to our kids’ generation to be there now, in this decisive moment that, I think, history will record as make-or-break for whether this country remains a free and democratic nation.”

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