Pete Buttigieg feigns solidarity with Middle America

Washington, D.C., might care about political squabbles, but Middle America doesn’t. Believe it or not, those words were, more or less, uttered during a Democratic presidential primary debate by none other than the Midwest’s favorite mayor, Pete Buttigieg.

He’s right, of course. Take, for example, impeachment: Out of the 304.5 million Americans who have television sets at home, only 13 million tuned in to the first day of televised impeachment hearings last week. And out of those who did watch the proceedings, few changed their minds and even fewer tuned in again for the second day of public testimony. Contrast that with Washington, where the bars stream each one of the hearings and feature impeachment-themed cocktails.