Saturday at the Human Rights Campaign gala in Las Vegas, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg said President Donald Trump was using “white identity politics” to drive apart Americans which is causing a “crisis of belonging.”

Buttigieg said, “I’d like to comment on one of the buzz words of our time, so-called identity politics. No one knows quite what to make of it today.”

He continued, “Many of the objections come from the right which is ironic at this time because the current administration has mastered the practice of the most divisive form of such politics, peak white identity politics designed to drive apart people with common interests.”

Buttigieg said, “Being gay just like every other fact about me, from where I grew up to what I look like means I have a story. If I look to that story, I can find the building blocks not only for empathy but for impetus to action. The more you know about exclusion, the more you think about belonging, and we have a crisis of belonging in this country.”

He added, “What every gay person has in common with every excluded person of any kind is knowing what it’s like to see a wall between you and the rest of the world and wonder what it’s like on the other side.”

He concluded. “I am here to build bridges and to tear down walls.”

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