Tucker Carlson mocks Pete Buttigieg for taking paternity leave amid supply crisis 

Tucker Carlson has slammed Pete Buttigieg for taking paternity leave during a supply chain crisis as inflation soars in the US.

The Fox News mocked the Transport Secretary, who adopted a daughter and a son with his husband Chasten in August, suggesting he was ‘trying to figure out how to breastfeed’. 

Buttigieg, 39, has been on paid leave since mid-August to spend time with his family. 

But since then blockages in ports and a truck driver crisis have caused major issues in the supply chain, leaving shelves empty and causing shipping coasts to soar. 

Carlson said: ‘As just about every sane person has acknowledged, inflation is rising because the government has devalued the US dollar by making too many US dollars.

‘They’re like sand now, they’re not worth much. But still the White House does not seem concerned.

‘Pete Buttigieg has been on leave from his job since August after adopting a child – paternity leave, they call it – trying to figure out how to breastfeed. No word on how that went.

‘But now he’s back in office as the Transportation Secretary and he’s deeply amused, he says, to see that dozens of container ships can’t get into this country.’ 

The comments attracted criticism online, with some accusing Carlson of homophobia.

Politico on Thursday revealed Buttigieg has been on paternity leave since August. 

The Transport Secretary’s office told them he had been on paid leave since mid-August to spend time with his husband Chasten and their two newborns. 

A spokesman said: ‘For the first four weeks, he was mostly offline except for major agency decisions and matters that could not be delegated.

‘He has been ramping up activities since then.’

The spokesman added that that Buttigieg will ‘continue to take some time over the coming weeks to support his husband and take care of his new children. 

It comes after Senator Rick Scott called on Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to testify before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, according to a Thursday report.

‘There is more that the Department of Transportation can and should be doing to help address ongoing supply chain issues related to the pandemic,’ Senator Cynthia Lummis told the Washington Examiner.

‘We’re well over a year into this, and I’m concerned that the Biden administration seems more focused on pushing Congress to massively expand the federal bureaucracy rather than using their existing authorities to help American businesses and consumers get back to normal,’ the Senate Transportation Committee member added.

Representative Kevin Brady, ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, added that the administration’s actions finally addressing these issues is ‘months late and more than a dollar short’.

He claimed the White House has been in ‘denial’ related to supply chain problems.

‘We’ve heard a lot of talk and a lot of formation of task forces but nothing concrete to address this,’ the Texas Republican said.

‘My first advice to Secretary Buttigieg is stop making it worse and tackle the real issues,’ Brady said, accusing Biden’s team of making labor shortage issues worse by implementing a vaccine mandate for companies with more than 100 employees. 

President Biden announced Wednesday a new plan to ease supply chain delays as container ships get stuck at ports with no trucks to take the containers. He called on the private sector to step up to help with bottlenecks.

The plan includes keeping the Port of Los Angeles operating 24/7. This specific port accounts for nearly half of all shipping containers entering the U.S.

‘If federal support is needed, I will direct all appropriate action,’ Biden said during remarks from the White House Wednesday, which Buttigieg attended. ‘And if the private sector doesn’t step up, we’re going to call them out and ask them to act.’

‘The bottom line, we’ve seen the cost of inaction in the pandemic,’ he added. ‘It is fully within our capacity to act, to make sure it never happens again. It’s going to take a little time, that we’ve unlocked the full might and dynamism of our people.’

Buttigieg has been tasked with coordinating with private companies in the trade and transportation sector to alleviate the backlog at U.S. ports amid warnings ensuing over goods shortages as the holidays approach.

Biden has repeatedly voiced his support of Buttigieg – the South Bend, Indiana Mayor turned 2020 presidential candidate turned Transportation secretary – thanking him during Wednesday remarks as a key negotiator for the new deal.

Since joining the administration, Buttigieg has largely steered clear of scrutiny, which changed as supply chains backed up as companies and Americans attempt to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

‘Pete Buttigieg is completely unqualified to handle the supply chain crisis,’ Republican Senator Tom Cotton tweeted on Wednesday from his campaign account.

‘The only reason he’s the Secretary of Transportation is because he endorsed Joe Biden,’ the frequent Biden critic continued. ‘Even Pete knows it.’

Buttigieg, 39, and his husband Chasten, 32, have recently adopted twins, Joseph and Penelope, which they officially announced on September 4. 

Cotton added on his official congressional Twitter: ‘Pete Buttigieg couldn’t organize a one car funeral—he’s not going to organize our ports, railroads, highways, and airports.

The White House has faced backlash for downplaying the supply chain issues and spiking inflation.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain claimed Wednesday evening that the current U.S. economic issues are just ‘high class problems’.

Jason Furman, a Harvard Economics professor and former chairman of President Barack Obama‘s Council of Economic Advisers, tweeted: ‘Most of the economic problems we’re facing (inflation, supply chains, etc.) are high class problems.’

‘We wouldn’t have had them if the unemployment rate was still 10 percent,’ he added of earlier rates. ‘We would instead have had a much worse problem.’

Klain, President Joe Biden‘s chief of staff, retweeted the post along with, ‘This’ and two emoji fingers pointing down to the tweet – indicating his agreement. 

‘As long as we’re on the subject of class, it appears Mr Klain and the entire Biden White House missed Economics 101,’ Republican Georgia Representative Buddy Carter told DailyMail.com on Thursday.

‘Inflation hurts working families and seniors on fixed incomes the most while their runaway spending is leaving all our children and grandchildren under a crushing mountain of debt to China,’ he continued.

GOP Representative Byron Donalds of Florida told Daily Mail that the comments from Klain are indicative of the ‘tone-deafness’ of the Biden administration.

‘The cluelessness embroiling the White House stems from the top down, and that is evident with the tone-deaf statements coming from the Press Secretary and Chief of Staff,’ he said.

‘While they ignore the reality of Biden’s failed economic agenda, everyday Americans feel the pain of Bidenomics at the pump, grocery store, and just about every aspect of daily life,’ the congressman continued. ‘The American people are not better off today than before Biden got into office, and skyrocketing inflation is one of the many reasons this is the case.’

Klain also retweeted a post Wednesday from Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who wrote: ‘In an economy that gives power to workers, not just employers, people quit their jobs all the time to start better jobs. Economic mobility is a good thing. Not a bad thing.’

Prices are surging in the U.S., in one part due to ships being stranded at ports as they wait for trucks to take the shipping containers, which is leading to shortages and delays and further exacerbating rising inflation. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confusingly said during her briefing on Wednesday that inflation has actually decreased by 50 per cent in recent months, despite all numbers pointing to the contrary.

‘We’ve seen a decrease over the course of time,’ Psaki told reporters. ‘Over the second and third quarter of this year, monthly inflation increases have actually decelerated.’

Compared to September 2020, consumer prices have risen 5.4 per cent, according to Labor Department data released on Wednesday.

This indicates a 13-year high in inflation.

In response, the Social Security Administration announced Wednesday that it is rolling out its largest cost of living increase in nearly 40 years. 

Social media erupted in criticism over Klain’s tweet Wednesday, claiming Biden’s top aide was downplaying hardships Americans are experiencing as inflation rises and unemployment remains high – at 4.8 per cent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed in its job report on Friday.

‘Struggling to pay for food, fuel, and housing because of rising prices is not a ‘high class problem,’ tweeted Tommy Pigott, the rapid response director for the Republican National Committee. ‘Biden is making everyone worse off, but instead of stopping the damage, their strategy is to try to gaslight Americans.’ 

Republican lawmakers also weren’t happy.

‘Inflation hurts every family in America,’ Republican Representative Lisa McClain of Michigan told DailyMail.com.

‘Ron Klain’s comments show how truly out of touch he and the Biden administration are with the American people,’ she added.

‘Since when did paying more for gas, electricity, eggs, and meat only affect the ‘high class’?’ Ohio Representative Mike Turner tweeted.

‘The Biden Administration is completely out of touch with the American people,’ he added.

Republican Kansas Senator Roger Marshall told Daily Mail: ​​’Make no mistake, the steep inflation harming the bank accounts of all Americans rests squarely on the shoulders of the socialist economic policies coming out of the White House.’

‘Over the past year, the prices for gas at the pump, groceries, and other household items have been steadily on the rise,’ he added. ‘Whether the Biden Administration acknowledges the truth or not, inflation is a hidden tax that hurts everyone – but none more than our seniors and young hard working families living paycheck to paycheck.’ 

Representative Dan Bishop said: ‘Skyrocketing inflation and supply chain shortages cannot be merely dismissed by the Biden White House as ‘high class problems.’

‘The cost of living is going up for hardworking Americans right now and that’s not debatable. President Biden is not only out of touch with the problems Americans face, but he clearly has no plan to solve an economic crisis he caused,’ he said.

When the pandemic first struck the nation in early 2020, the unemployment rate reached a frighteningly high rate of 14.7 per cent. The latest numbers are the lowest since then.

The BLS also released in the report that the U.S. added only 194,000 jobs in September.