A damning story has recently hit the headlines, something that should be surprising, but somehow isn’t. Footage has been leaked of Democratic contender Pete Buttigieg speaking at a Tea Party event in 2010. You all may remember the Tea Party as the racist reaction to an Obama Presidency. A racist reaction that has come to full fascist fruition as of Trump’s election in 2016.

The video begins with a statement by Richard Mourdock, the man who has stated that life, even in pregnancies resulting from rape, is “something that God intended”. While Mourdock may fit in with the Tea Party crowd, when Buttigeig begins to speak, he even acknowledges that himself being a Democrat in the situation is a bit unusual.

Mayor Pete panders to the Tea Party crowd, stating shared sympathies with “real concerns about the direction of our government”. Let us remember, that the Tea Party’s main concern, was that a black man had been elected into the presidency. The Tea Party’s real concerns were peppered with conspiracy theories about birth certificates, and FEMA camps that Obama was supposedly going to put us all into. Similar to the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” that fueled fascism in the early 1900s, the Tea Party was established on racist lies.

To these right wing populists, Buttigieg claims, “I believe we might have a lot in common.” Could that commonality be a hatred for people of color? He goes on to talk about how he has studied economics, and talks about “jobs, jobs, jobs.” This echoes Hitler’s first radio address as chancellor, when he promised full employment in four years. The fascist knows that populism can easily be won over by the promise of employment, and this promising of economic revitalization is a cornerstone of how fascism ascends to power.

In practice, Mayor Pete got a chance to put his economic claims into practice, and in doing so, showed that indeed, he mean “jobs”, but jobs for white people. Economic inequality between African Americans and white people in Buttigieg’s community of South Bend, IN is worse than the national average. As of 2017, white people had an unemployment rate of 4.2%, while for African Americans, it stands at more than double, at 9.2%. A black househould on average makes half the income of a white family. Just as with the fascists in Germany, he promised and delivered economic progress, but only for white people.

Buttigieg has also come under fire for mishandling incidents of police violence. When Eric Logan was shot by a police officer without a bodycam (and a history of racist remarks on file), and angry crowds turned to their mayor for answers as to why this type of racist violence was allowed to happen with next to no repercussions, Buttigieg responded “We have tried everything we can think of.” He emptily acknowledges the incident, and accompanying systemic racism among his police force is “certainly something I have to speak to”, yet does nothing. The officer that shot Eric Logan was not disciplined by the department, he was allowed to resign, and the family affected is left to try to get some sort of compensation in a civil suit, knowing that criminal charges will never be pressed against the officer. While offering nothing but words, Mayor Pete allows black people to be murdered in his streets without repercussion from his city.

As residents of South Bend, and now the nation, get a glimpse of just how close Buttiegieg’s brand of milquetoast leftism is, it is easy to look back to this video from 2010, and really not be surprised. It is easy to look back at history and remember that liberalism is often what has spawned fascism. If Mayor Pete can surround himself with the proto-fascists of the Tea Party for one night, and claim common ground…is it possible that he has done the same policywise during his two terms as Mayor?