It is time to put labels such as "socialist" to bed and for Democrats to talk about what impact they will have in the White House, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday.
"If we are crazy socialists, then they're saying the American people are a bunch of crazy socialists," the South Bend, Indiana mayor told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Most of what we stand for, the American people stand with us, whether it's the idea that we ought to have universal healthcare or the fact that the minimum wage ought to be higher or what we think ought to happen around gun control."
However, President Donald Trump needs Democrats to talk about his "latest outrage" rather than the impact they will have on Americans' lives if they defeat him in next year's election, Buttigieg said.
The mayor also discussed the party's criteria for appearing in its presidential debates, saying that although he is already included in the next one, he thinks there will be "natural winnowing" if there are candidates who haven't gotten traction.
"It is challenging to have 20 candidates spread across two nights," he said. "We have to begin consolidating the conversation. Fundamentally, it's up to us as candidates to do something that cuts through the clutter."
Buttigieg, a military veteran, committed during Tuesday's debate to withdraw forces from Afghanistan during his first year of office, and said Wednesday if troops are not pulled by the end of 2021, the 20th year since the 9/11 attacks, it will have become a "forever war."
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