Former small city Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who left quite a mess for his successor at the Transportation Department, surprised many political observers recently by bowing out of both major 2026 statewide races in Michigan. He was widely expected to run for governor or United States Senate in his brand new ‘home’ state, which was seemingly selected because he determined that voters in his actual home state were too conservative to accommodate his ambitions. For him to move to bluer pastures, only to sidestep a pair of big opportunities, fueled new speculation that he once again has his eyes set on a larger prize. Being the chief executive of an upper Midwest state, or one of its Senators, is apparently insufficiently small potatoes for the ex-mayor, turned failed DNC chair candidate, turned failed presidential candidate, turned part-time Transportation Secretary and full-time Democratic pundit.
Buttigieg, who has cultivated a new, edgier algorithmic identity, has grown a beard and spiced up his signature consultant syntax with some profanity (like many Democrats these days), appears to be revving up for another shot at the presidency. This week, he found himself in — surprise! — Iowa, where he drew applause from a partisan audience for this little sermon about due process and the rule of law.
Let me first acknowledge that he’s of course correct that no single man or politician can simply declare someone else to be a criminal. We thankfully do have a system that rightly requires due process. But the case to which he’s referring, that of “Maryland Father” Kilmar Abrego Garcia, isn’t about anyone’s politicized say-so. I’ll also concede, as I have previously, that the Trump administration should not have deported Garcia to El Salvador specifically, under a standing judicial order. The administration even admitted this error in court documents. To rectify the mistake, I think Garcia should be returned to the US, processed, and immediately deported elsewhere. And that’s not because President Trump, or any other individual, simply decided and asserted that Garcia is a criminal. He is a criminal, as has been adjudicated on multiple levels, by multiple judges.
Hellbound and Down 