Buttigieg questions identity politics during speech at LGBTQ fundraiser

NBC News called it a risky speech.

South Bend Mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg spoke at a fundraiser hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, a major LGBTQ rights group, on Saturday. The New York Times writes that Buttigieg directly confronted one of his biggest "vulnerabilities" — that he is a white man of privilege with a mostly-white support base at this juncture in the race — during the speech. Buttigieg, who is gay, spoke about how his own identity doesn't inform him about what it's like to be a "trans woman of color," an "undocumented mother of four," or a disabled veteran.

However, he added that identity politics also exacerbate a "crisis of belonging" in the United States that he says was created by President Trump. But the divisive nature of identity politics exists on both the left and right, he said, and can help drive people apart. Instead, he called for Americans to find common ground.

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"The wall I worry about most isn't the president' fantasy wall on the Mexican border that will never get built anyway," Buttigieg said during the speech, referring to President Trump's long-talked about border wall. "What I worry about are the very real walls being put up between us as we get divided and carved up."

Buttigieg's speech somewhat echoes comments made by his Democratic primary competitor, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), during his previous presidential run in 2016. Sanders said it was "not good enough" to base a campaign around identity politics, while ignoring other political and economic issues. His words were not immune to criticism, however, and it remains to be seen how Buttigieg's speech will play.