Pete Buttigieg Jokes He Would Make Trump Do Chores If He Refused To Leave White House

Using humor to answer a serious question — and perhaps cheekily implying that the president doesn’t have that much of a work ethic when it comes to physical labor — Mayor Pete Buttigieg explained on Monday that he had a way to get Donald Trump out of the White House if he loses the presidential election in November.

Buttigieg was asked by reporters what would happen if Trump didn’t recognize the outcome of a hypothetical contest between the two of them, particularly if the South Bend mayor was the winner.

“If he won’t leave, I guess if he’s willing to do chores, we can work something out,” Buttigieg remarked, drawing applause from the audience.

Taking a more serious tone on the matter, Buttigieg recognized the importance of defeating Trump by a wider margin than he could contest.

“At the end of the day, there’s only one president. But I do believe this is one of the reasons why it’s important that we not just eke out a win, not just club everyone over the head and hope that we get to 51 percent…I think we want to set a goal of winning big enough that this election is way beyond cheating distance,” he said.

Asked what he'd do if he won the 2020 presidential race and Pres. Trump wouldn't accept election results, Pete Buttigieg says, "If he won't leave—I guess if he's willing to do chores, I guess we could work something out." https://t.co/JsAo4rBy2e pic.twitter.com/RzfGuMxWHO — ABC News (@ABC) February 17, 2020

Buttigieg added one more goal he had in mind. “It’s got to be a win so big, that Senate Republicans are reunited with their consciences,” he said.

The concern that Trump might try to stay in office even after he loses the upcoming election has been on the minds of Democrats for some time now. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi brought it up in an interview with the New York Times last spring.

“We have to inoculate against that, we have to be prepared for that,” she said, without giving away how.