Buttigieg: Trump census reversal a 'face-saving' recognition that 'he's been on the wrong side'

BY RACHEL FRAZIN - 07/11/19 10:23 PM EDT

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Thursday lambasted President Trump's reversal on previous plans to push for a citizenship question on the 2020 census, calling the move a "face-saving way to recognize that he's been on the wrong side."

Buttigieg, a Democratic presidential hopeful, said in an interview with CNN that Trump's decision earlier Thursday to drop his administration’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census shows that the president is "recognizing reality and backing down."

"It sounds like a face-saving way to recognize that he's been on the wrong side of the law throughout," he said. "There are any number of ways to do research on issues like immigration, but tinkering with the census was clearly racially and politically motivated."

"It's why it was held to be unlawful by the courts," Buttigieg added. "And it sounds — although he changes his mind from day to day, so you don't really know for sure but — it sounds like he was at least at last recognizing reality and backing down."



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https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/452744-buttigieg-calls-trump-census-reversal-a-face-saving-way-to-recognize-that