What does it take to get Pete Buttigieg fired from a job?

Seems the Biden administration's transportation secretary is presiding over yet another transport disaster, this one with a series of train derailments, one of which has left a cloud of toxic fumes over an Ohio town, prompting its full evacuation. And once again, he's AWOL.

But not that he's hiding or anything. He can always be found where there's a podium and a camera, as he was here, yesterday:

Buttigieg made no mention of the Ohio train derailment while speaking at a conference this morning but did find the time to say that there are too many white people who work construction. pic.twitter.com/q4WNcq10h9

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 13, 2023

Priorities, priorities. And in his case, race is always a topic, not getting the trains to run on time, or at least stop their derailing. That may have something to do with his unpopularity with black voters, which derailed his presidential ambitions in 2020. Guy's gotta keep campaigning.

The Babylon Bee saw plenty of basis for humor in it:

Pete Buttigieg Promises To Investigate Ohio Railway Chemical Spill For Signs Of Racism https://t.co/MfV3iJITld

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 13, 2023

Today, Buttigieg had more things to say for the camera, according to the Washington Examiner:

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday condemned the mass shooting that took place the day prior at Michigan State University's campus in East Lansing, Michigan, which claimed three lives and left five others critically wounded. 

And about the Chinese balloon.

It didn't include the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which left the city in a toxic miasma as citizens were forced to flee, along with the specter of polluted wellwater and riverways, which could go right down the Mississippi, if those warning about such things are correct. According to  Newsweek, there could be a full-blown ecological crisis, which doesn't say much for an administration that claims to be "green." He ought to be on the scene right there finding out what's going on -- instead, he's out opining on the news, as if he's bored about his job and wants to get back to the campaign trail.

He's had very little, if anything to say about the Ohio train derailment, or the one in Texas or the one in South Carolina. He waited ten days after the one in Ohio to say anything at all.

It doesn't seem as though he's working much to make himself worth that $221,000 annual salary he makes as transportation secretary.

What exactly are the taxpayers getting for their money from this guy?

And it's not like it's the first time it's happened, either. According to Axios, he's presided over a "historic" level of transportation crises.

Why it matters: A modest Cabinet role has become a political albatross for one of the Democratic Party's brightest young stars. Republicans have sought to make Buttigieg the face of the transport disruptions, while Democrats say his crisis leadership is proving his political mettle.

He was nowhere to be found when supply chain disruptions brought mass shortages of food and other necessities ahead of the Christmas buying season last year and the year before.

He was nowhere when port traffic backed up, adding to the supply chain disruptions.

He was nowhere to be found when the baby formula shortage was noticed and babies with special nutritional needs had their parents on the phone constantly looking for some sort of food sustanance or their hungry babies which could not be substituted. That shortage, by the way, is reportedly still ongoing.

He was nowhere to be found when the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all air transport due to a system breakdown for the first time since 9/11.

He was nowhere to be found when Southwest Airlines had a system breakdown, cancelling hundreds of flights during holiday travel. He issued some tough words afterward, but the damage was done.

He was nowhere to be found when Los Angeles rail traffic was beset by literally looters, flinging mail and mail order goods as well as store cargos all over the tracks without consequences, disrupting the supply chain further.

He also was nowhere to be found when a rail strike threatened to shut interstate traffic. Congress had to step in and mediate the crisis. Nobody knew where Pete was and in any case, nobody called Pete.

With one disaster after another, it's reasonble to wonder why this guy is in the job he's in, particularly since his predecessors were all anonymous characters whose work never led to the kinds of problems we see on Buttigieg's watch. When the supply chain problems were getting at their worst, he was on a self-declared two-month maternity leave and apparently no one noticed.

The man is not just a do-nothing incompetent but an absolute disaster, talking up racism, greenie nonsense, plans to tax people for driving cars, bike lanes, and other irrelevant things, but not keeping the nation's transport system in working order. In his own way, he's as incompetent as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose open-border policies have created that disaster. Mayorkas may be facing impeachment for that dereliction of duty in Congress. Maybe Pete should be added to that list, too.

Image: Twitter screen shot