Pete Buttigieg Says ‘Generational Churn’ in the Democratic Party Is Good in Theory Until You’re the One Told to ‘Move Along’ 

Pete Buttigieg swung by Jon Stewart’s “The Weekly Show” podcast on Thursday, and while the wide-ranging conversation covered everything from parenthood to President Trump’s tariffs, the former Secretary of Transportation and Comedy Central host really locked in on ways to advance the Democratic Party.

Zeroing on what Stewart called the “generational churn” needed for new policy and enlivened voter base, Buttigieg agreed that the U.S. needs to learn lessons from the past and from other countries when it comes to passing-of-the-guard. But understands that “it’s a really hard thing to absorb when it could mean you need to move along.”

“When I think about a generational project of really transforming the country and transforming the country for the better versus transforming the country into whatever it has been plunged into in the last 100 days, that’s going to require a deeper level of vision and a greater readiness to walk away ruthlessly from what hasn’t worked and to stand up relentlessly for it has worked, even if it’s unpopular,” Buttigieg said.

Stewart contended that “there’s still a generational churn that has to occur within the Democratic Party” for those goals to be realized. He cited the recent House Oversight Committee selections that went in favor of 74-year-old Gerry Connelly instead of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“Nothing against him, but it just speaks to this idea that I don’t know if what you’re speaking about, I don’t know if it has registered yet writ large within the leadership,” Stewart said.

“Well, it’s a really hard thing to absorb when it could mean you need to move along. But let me point to a couple really interesting examples. One, Nancy Pelosi,” Buttigieg said. “She excused herself — I mean, I worked with her after she was a Speaker, and she was still formidable leader and member of Congress delivering for her district, doing things for the party. But then when she was weighing in on questions of generational change, she had a lot of moral authority because she could say, ‘Hey, I stepped away.’”

The Democratic politician also pointed to a meeting he had with his counterpart in the Netherlands who decided to retire at age 55, saying at the time, “I’ve decided it’s time for me to move on, it’s time for a newer generation to take over and I’m going to try new things.”

“Fifty-five! He’s not even old enough to be in the Senate yet!” Stewart joked.

“There’s just a different attitude there, and I do think we could learn something from that. There are lot of countries and cultures where you have your time in service, and then you go do something else,” Buttigieg said.

Watch the full interview below:

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