Buttigieg leans on combat experience to criticize Trump’s ‘war of choice’ in Iran

The Iran war has given former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg an opening to lean hard on his military background, blasting President Trump’s “war of choice” in a series of public appearances.

As one of the few potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders with combat-zone experience, Buttigieg is emerging as one of Trump’s loudest critics as foreign policy returns to the forefront.

In appearances on television and a popular podcast, social media posts and on his own Substack platform, Buttigieg has tied Trump’s military action in Iran directly to the war in Iraq — which became a defining issue for former President George W. Bush in the early 2000s.

“This nation learned the hard way that an unnecessary war, with no plan for what comes next, can lead to years of chaos and put America in still great danger,” Buttigieg said in a social media post.

After the strikes began Feb. 28, all the potential Democratic 2028 candidates put out statements denouncing the administration and various aspects of the war. But Buttigieg, who served in the Navy Reserves and was deployed to Afghanistan, was able to wade in not just politically but from personal experience.

In an interview on the podcast “MeidasTouch,” Buttigieg was able to talk about his perspective as a veteran in the Middle East, when he noted the six Americans at that time who had been killed in the new war.

“When you get ready to deploy, you of course are constantly thinking about the worst case scenario, and the scenario that you pray hard is never going to happen is that your loved ones get the knock on the door,” Buttigieg said.

“That has now happened to six families that we know of. And the people who serve they’re patriots, they’re ready to go wherever their chain of command tells them they are needed,” he added. “In exchange for them making that promise, putting their lives on the line, they are supposed to be assured that their commander in chief would never put their lives on the line unless it was absolutely necessary. Unless there was no alternative.”

Buttigieg is one of the few would-be candidates who is not currently serving in public office, but the Iran war has provided him with an organic way into the zeitgeist.

“It’s a way into the national conversation that he has based on his credibility and service to this country,” Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said.

Military service is “no longer a defining characteristic for candidates,” Simmons said, but the issue still is an effective way for Buttigieg — and other potential candidates with military backgrounds including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) — to showcase his attributes.

“The case for candidates is really about their judgment in the moment. Judgment is the key, not the résumé and this is an opportunity to show Americans why they should trust his judgment,” Simmons said.

Democratic strategist Joel Payne agreed: “As a vet you do speak with a certain amount of gravity and credibility.”

But Payne added, “I don’t know if we’re there in our politics right now. It’s a thing of a bygone era.”

Buttigieg — who is currently a visiting fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University — has been spending a good deal of time quietly traveling to a string of swing states in recent weeks, laying the groundwork for a potential 2028 run.

In the first three months of the year, for example, he has campaigned for Democratic candidates in key states including Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

It has allowed him to introduce himself to voters in places he’ll need if he chooses to run.

On Monday, Buttigieg will also appear in Alabama alongside Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, in what organizers are calling a “listening session” and town hall.

The event, some Democrats say, will give Buttigieg valuable face time with Black voters, a demographic he still needs to win over if he wants to capture the Democratic nomination.

An Emerson College poll out last year found that Buttigieg continued to struggle with Black voters, a problem that dogged him in the 2020 presidential race. In the survey, zero percent of Black respondents said they supported him when asked whom they would support for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2028.

“He’s clearly trying to fix those problems because he knows he’ll never get far in a Democratic primary without trying to remedy it,” one strategist said.

But Buttigieg hasn’t just spoken to Democratic audiences.

In recent weeks, he has also appeared before more conservative audiences with appearances on Fox News and Reason, which attracts a Libertarian crowd.

While some Democrats have shied away from speaking to those outside their tent, Buttigieg “has always been willing to break those barriers,” said Jennifer Holdsworth, a Democratic strategist who served as Buttigieg’s campaign manager when he ran for chair of the Democratic National Committee.

In his Reason interview, coming on the heels of an uptick of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, Buttigieg warned that federal law enforcement agencies are losing public trust, arguing that they have become too heavy-handed.

“I think it’s a real problem when this administration tries to make it sound like ICE is the victim, including trying to make it sound like they’re the victim in cases where they killed somebody,” he said. “And I think it shows you how removed from reality they are.”

Last week, after the military strikes began, Buttigieg not only criticized the lack of a clear strategy and the risk of escalation, he also used the moment to pivot back to domestic policy.

“Billions of taxpayer dollars are now flowing to the Middle East instead of going toward pressing needs at home,” he wrote on Substack. “Prices will rise. The debt will grow. The economy will become even less stable, and Washington will be even less capable of facing urgent needs at home.”

As foreign policy becomes as pressing an issue as domestic policy, Holdsworth said Buttigieg “can intelligently speak to both.”

“It comes down to one word, and that’s trust,” Holdsworth said. “He’s a very direct and effective communicator, and people trust him to tell them the truth and explain to them exactly what’s happening without any pretense.”

“He’s not looking to score cheap political points talking about the devastation of war,” she said.

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