Julia B. Vikander

Buttigieg: You can see it in the carnival of corruption that is Washington, D.C., today. The leader of the free world flying around in a secondhand jumbo jet from a foreign country while he makes a billion dollars on crypto deals propped up by foreign leaders. A Supreme Court saying that a president, even if he used the government to murder someone, could not be held accountable for the crime. Nine out of ten House races drawn so that you know who’s going to win before the first vote is cast in a 50/50 country. This is not an academic concern. This hurts us. This is why things aren’t working properly. This is how they can make you pay more at the pump for a war you never asked for, how they burned down the Department of Education while we’re worried about kids who can’t do math or read like they’re supposed to. This is why we can’t have nice things. But it doesn’t have to be this way. And that’s what we’re here to do something about.

Buttigieg: So let me ask you a version of the question that I asked everybody when I was running around this state eight years ago, when nobody could say my name right, which is: What’s it going to be like the first time the sun comes up over this country and the current president has permanently left the political scene? It’s an appealing thing to remember that that day will come, but it also represents a huge challenge. Because what do we do then? Then what? The answer to that is what we’ve got to hold in our minds right now to campaign and to win—and, most importantly, to govern. Because we need to immediately get to work to build something better. Like a political system where everyone’s vote counts the same, and the person who gets the most votes wins the election. It looks like a Supreme Court that is legitimate and trustworthy in the eyes of the American people. It looks like a Congress composed of representatives who actually represent the people they serve, capable of standing up to abuses from other parts of the government. And it means state and federal governments capable of standing up for people’s rights. The right to live your life as you see fit, so long as you’re not hurting anyone else. The right to carry a sign or write an op-ed or criticize your government. The right to make your own health care decisions. The right to be who you are and love who you love and raise your family in peace. That’s what it looks like. And it’s not too much to ask. And it’s not too much to ask for public integrity.