Mayor Pete Buttigieg Has The Perfect Answer To A Young Girl's Question About Bullying

Mayor Pete Buttigieg addresses how to handle a bully

Mayor Pete Buttigieg drew questions from a fishbowl at a town hall appearance in Iowa City last night, and ended up offering advice to young person who had been bullied.

Eleven-year-old Rebecca Johann told ABC News that she has experienced bullying and wanted the mayor’s advice on how to handle it.

Addressing Rebecca and the other 600 attendees at the Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon, Buttigieg admitted he had faced bullying himself.

He began his answer by giving props to the girl for being willing to discuss about the subject. “Part of the advice I’d give would is to be willing to talk about it, so I think you’re leading the way on that - thank you for raising the question,” he said.

“I had experiences with bullying when I was growing up,” Buttigieg told the young girl. “Everybody who’s different can be bullied. And the secret is - everybody’s different in some way.“

“It’s tough, it can make you feel angry, it can make you feel worse, and it can bring out the worst in you, too,” he added.

“The first thing you’ve got to know is you have nothing to be ashamed of,” drawing applause from the crowd. “And the second part, this is a much harder part to remember is that the person who is bullying you probably has something a little broken in them, and it’s part of why they’re trying to get your attention.”

Referencing the current occupant of the Oval Office who’s made a career out of trying to bully folks, the 37-year-old candidate added, “I think it really matter that we have a president that doesn’t show that type of behavior - it’s one of the reasons I’m running for president.”

And the crowd goes wild!!!

“So, the hard part, if you really want to pop that balloon and take the air out of that bully, is to turn to a bully and ask if they are ok.,” continued Buttigieg. “And they won’t know what to do with it.

Watch the clip below for the rest of Mayor Pete’s answer.

It’s worth noting that the mayor directly addressed young Rebecca for the entirety of his response. He didn’t ‘play to the audience’ or make the moment about himself.

#Leadership