Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, questioned on Sunday how Vice President Mike Pence could support President Donald Trump's "porn star presidency" given his religious convictions.
"I mean, I don't know. It's really strange," Buttigieg said during a CNN town hall on Sunday night at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. "Because I used to at least believe that he believed in our — I've disagreed with him ferociously on these things — but I thought, well, at least he believes in our institutions, and he's not personally corrupt. But then, how could he get on board with this presidency? How could somebody who — you know, his interpretation of scripture is pretty different from mine to begin with."
"OK, my understanding of scripture is that it is about protecting the stranger and the prisoner and the poor person and that idea of welcome," he continued. "That's what I get in the Gospel when I'm in church."
Buttigieg added that Pence's understanding of religious text "has a lot more to do with sexuality and, I don't know, a certain view of rectitude."
"But even if you buy into that, how could he allow himself to become the cheerleader of the porn star presidency?" the mayor continued. "Is it that he stopped believing in scripture when he started believing in Donald Trump? I don't know, I don't know."
Buttigieg had been responding to a question about whether Pence would be a better president than Trump.
Pence's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
