Mayor Pete Buttigieg Rejects 'Socialist' Labels For Popular Solutions

On January 23, openly gay Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, announced he had formed an exploratory committee to consider running for president of the United States.

Today, the 37-year-old (he would be the youngest person running for the White House) shared a video via social media teasing an upcoming announcement on April 14, which will probably be his official entry into the 2020 presidential race.

Join me in South Bend on April 14th for a special announcement: https://t.co/GfdYimuYN1 pic.twitter.com/aPFe08yGmW

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) April 4, 2019

Since his January announcement, Mayor Pete has been out making appearances, sharing who he is, and sharing his vision for America.

His team announced taking in an impressive $7 million in the first quarter of 2019 - no bad for a small town mayor most Americans hadn’t heard of.

In January, a poll of Democratic Iowa caucus goers showed he had 0% support. Zero.

In the latest iteration of that same poll, Mayor Pete had surged to third place with double-digit support (11%) behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

During an appearance on Good Morning America today, Buttigieg showed he has no problem standing up to and pointing out Donald Trump’s many misleading statements.

.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE FULL INTERVIEW: @GStephanopoulos one-on-one in Times Square with @PeteButtigieg. https://t.co/Uqinju1I4w pic.twitter.com/Mx6s1j2rUg

— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 4, 2019

In response to the Donald’s claims that Medicare-for-all and the proposed “Green New Deal” are ‘socialist’ ideas,

Buttigieg called the language, “A tactic that takes us back to the darkest days of the '50s when you could use the word 'socialist' to kill somebody's career, or to kill an idea, but that trick has been tried so many times that I think it's losing all meaning.”

He also highlighted the conservative origins of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, as an example of a proposal on which the GOP flip-flopped on positions.

"The Affordable Care Act was a conservative idea that Democrats borrowed and they called that 'socialist,’ so it’s kind of like the boy who cried wolf,” he continued. "It's lost all power I think, especially for my generation of voters. Folks just want to know whether an idea is a good idea or not; and slapping a label on it, especially in a careless way that doesn't make any sense, I don't think it moves the debate."

The young mayor then listed several issues that large majorities of Americans support - universal background checks for firearms, comprehensive immigration reform, paid family leave - but Congress can’t seem to address.

It was another strong appearance that explains why in a short time he’s surpassed several big name politicians in the polls, even tying with Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Mayor Pete also took a moment backstage at GMA to show off his language skills (he speaks 7 languages):

Mayor @PeteButtigieg says Good Morning America in all the languages he knows (It's a lot)

See FULL interview: https://t.co/np6K1eOcjm pic.twitter.com/uHVLZjZY3D

— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 4, 2019

Jussie Smollett Speaks To GMA About Alleged Late Night Attack

'Empire' star Jussie Smollett speaks to GMA about alleged gay bashing

In his first interview since he told police he had been the victim of a late night attack in Chicago, actor/singer Jussie Smollett says he’s disappointed some doubt his story.

"I have to acknowledge the lies, and the hate,” the Empire star told Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts. “And it feels like if I had said it was a Muslim, or a Mexican, or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me much more - a lot more.”

"And that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now,” he added.

Police continue to investigate the suspected hate crime that Smollett says happened on January 29 around 2 a.m. as he left a Subway restaurant.

The 36-year-old actor says two men yelled homophobic and racial slurs to get his attention, then put a noose made out of white rope around his neck, poured a liquid on him Smollett says was bleach, and then beat him. Smollett says the men yelled, “This is MAGA country” during the attack.

He was later treated for bruised ribs and injuries to his clavicle bone at a hospital.

Smollett says he thought if he told the truth, then, “That’s it - that’s the truth.” But, then as he began to hear doubters, he came to feel, ”Oh, it’s not necessarily that you don't believe that this is the truth, you don't even want to see the truth.”

"For me, the main thing was the idea that I somehow switched up my story, you know? And that somehow maybe I added a little extra trinket, you know, of the MAGA thing," Smollett told Roberts. "I didn't need to add anything like that. They called me a fag, they called me a n*gg*r. There's no which way you cut it. I don't need some MAGA hat as the cherry on top of some racist sundae."

He explains he didn’t immediately call the police out of a sense of pride, saying, “We live in a society where, as a gay man, you are considered - somehow - to be weak, and I’m not weak. And we, as a people, are not weak.”

When asked why he thought he was targeted, Smollett surmises it’s because, “I come really really hard against 45. I come really really hard against his administration."

Smollett says he believes the image of two people found on surveillance cameras by the police are his attackers, saying "I don't have any doubt in my mind that that's them - never did."

And moving forward, he says he “will never be the man that this did not happen to. I am forever changed.”

And Smollett has a message for the LGBTQ community. “I want a little gay boy, who might watch this to see that I fought back.”

“Learn to fight; learn to be a fighter,” he continued. “I’m not advocating violence, at all. If you are going to die, fight until you do. Cause if you don’t fight, you have no chance.”

Shortly after Smollett’s interview aired, Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that authorities have found the persons of interest captured on surveillance cameras around the time of the alleged attack and they are being questioned.

Guglielmi emphasized the two are "not considered suspects at this time as they are currently being questioned by detectives."

He added, "We remain in communication with the alleged victim."

Important for media reporting: The people of interest are alleged to be in the area where a crime was reported. They are not considered suspects at this time as they are currently being questioned by detectives. We remain in communication with the alleged victim. pic.twitter.com/JuH1kYRTYV

— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 14, 2019