Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg held a town hall in Oklahoma, where he entertained a zany question from an audience member who is very worried that Republicans will start sending gays to the gulag.
During the event, which took place in Tulsa over the weekend, the former South Bend, IN, mayor sought to bolster his profile with the ordinary folks as his party looks to shore up support for the midterms and he casts a longing eye on the 2028 Democrat nomination.
At one point during the Win the Era Town Hall, the woman who was in attendance at the Will Rogers Middle and High School Athletic Center uncorked her paranoid fantasy, which, despite having zero footing in the reality-based world, was given credence by Buttigieg rather than dismissed as the ravings of a leftist kook.
Voter to Pete Buttigieg: “Every day I wake up scared because… I’m waiting for the day that they start banging on doors and taking our trans and our gay friends… to concentration camps.”
“I know that there’s nothing you can do about that, but if you could, what would it be?” pic.twitter.com/SQMNFOw015
— The Vigilant Fox
(@VigilantFox) April 20, 2026
“Every day I wake up scared because a person I love is trans,” she began. “And I’m waiting for the day that they start banging on doors and taking our trans and our gay friends and family to concentration camps.”
“And our trans friends and family can’t get a passport to safely flee this country,” the woman continued. “And I know that there’s nothing you can do about that, but if you could, what would it be?”
An openly gay Buttigieg then responded, and in doing so, without rejecting the absurd idea outright, legitimized it after enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
“Well…first of all, it’s horrible that you even have to think about that kind of fear for somebody you care about,” he began. “And it’s horrible that so many Americans live in that kind of fear for themselves, and for those they love.”
Buttigieg then proceeded to reel off a rambling non-answer.
“And it should be that way, and it doesn’t have to be that way because as divisive a wedge issue as that has been made to be, for political purposes, by politicians who figure that stepping on people’s faces is the best way to get ahead,” he continued, “because they definitely don’t want to be taking about why they want to cut Medicaid or why they think taxes want to be cut for billionaires so they want to talk about this.”
“But it remains the case that that American, most Americans do not believe that somebody should be discriminated against, let alone harmed, because they are transgender or gay or anything else,” he said as the audience again erupted in applause.
X users commented on the lunacy of the town hall audience member as well as a former top government official’s seeming endorsement of such a crackpot conspiracy theory.
It’s insane that democrats give into this lunacy. He should have responded with Lady you’re crazy sit down. Instead he uses the fear as leverage knowing it’s the most insane thinking .
— D8 (@dmd1998slb) April 20, 2026
It is difficult for me to decide which is worse
The sheer ignorance of the woman that asked the question
Or
The ignorant lemmings applauding her ignorance
Or
The utter evil of Buttplug to use her ignorance for his own political gain— THEY ALL KNEW!! (@ccochrane64) April 20, 2026
Well, fear is the best way to control those who have no thoughts or brain cells of their own. He’s an another gay alphabet moron.
— I’m not yelling-I’m Italian
(@eyetailyen1) April 20, 2026
He’s lying. He has no such fear. He knows there is no such plan being contemplated by ANYONE, ANYWHERE.
— James Hutton (@JEHutton) April 20, 2026
The fact that he’s happy to let people live with this delusional fear proves that he is a “power by any means” career politician who doesn’t GAF about constituents.
— One Eyed Queen (@Burrito_Queen7) April 20, 2026
Hasn’t she ever wondered why HE is not afraid?
He’s gay, he’s married to a man, He adopted two boys.
You’d think he’d be a target, but he doesn’t look like he feels like he’s a target.Does she never think of that?
There should be a test to give people the right to vote…
— sandy Cobb (@sandicandie) April 20, 2026
This is the insanity being pushed by liberals. The only ones really who talked about concentration camps was liberals during COVID for the unvaxed and a few liberal nuts calling for MAGA concentration camps.
— Sherry (@Sherry40614670) April 20, 2026
Make Asylums Great Again.
that’s all we can do bro.— stephanie cameron (@khemo5) April 20, 2026
Buttigieg is among the Democrats vying for the nomination in a wide-open field and recently made the pilgrimage to New York City to kiss the Reverend Al Sharpton’s ring, a mandatory humiliation ritual for any party member who needs the black vote to survive the primaries.
Look for Democrats to increasingly play to the fears of their voters as they cynically see the derangement as their ticket back to political power.
