Seven months into Trump’s return to office, the wreckage of the Biden administration continues to surface—especially in America’s transportation infrastructure. Previously, we highlighted the troubling impact of Pete Buttigieg’s tenure as Secretary of Transportation. His legacy of failure is becoming increasingly clear and public as new coverage reveals how his ideological grant programs, neglect of core responsibilities, and blatant mismanagement have damaged our economy, harmed communities, and sabotaged our personal freedoms.
As covered by the New York Post, Buttigieg, who was charged for four years to oversee the world’s most significant infrastructure network, instead made it his mission to “reimagine” the entire system, framing it as irredeemably racist and in need of dismantling as he famously told Al Sharpton in his “roads are racist” interview. Buttigieg funded his radical agenda through a series of state and local grants. Programs like “Reconnecting Communities” funded the removal of functional highways based on the claim they were originally designed to displace minority neighborhoods, even though those highways are used today by people of all races.
These weren’t transportation programs—they were anti-transportation programs. They prioritized “road diets,” bike lanes, and leveling roads in the name of equity while Americans sat in traffic and airports collapsed under system failures.
The AZ Free Enterprise Club was one of the only organizations sounding the alarm about the ideological hijacking of the USDOT which even despite mainstream knowledge of the corrosive teachings of critical race theory in k-12 education brought to light after COVID, seemed far-fetched to many. We documented how seemingly harmless programs like Vision Zero and the Safe Systems Approach—heavily funded through federal transportation grants—were actually vehicles for social engineering.
Now it is clear how thoroughly he indoctrinated the administration. While Buttigieg ignored the need to replace out of date air traffic control systems, he had plenty of time to spend appointing an equity advisory board. Buttigieg couldn’t be bothered with addressing the personnel staffing shortage at the Federal Aviation Administration, but had no problem finding the time to approve 400 DEI grants totaling over $80 Billion dollars.
Our organization flagged the anti-vehicle woke agenda that had seeped into every aspect of USDOT’s operations. It was clear that Buttigieg wasn’t about making travel easier for Americans – but a radical social and environmental paradigm that would have people limiting where and how much they travel.
The New York Post uncovered communications in which Buttigieg explicitly rejected modernizing air traffic control systems. His reasoning? Updating the systems would “just allow them to fly more planes,” and, as he told industry executives, “why would that be in [his] interest?”
In fact, Buttigieg’s radical agenda at USDOT influenced several transportation reforms spearheaded by our organization, including:
- Legislation to Protect the freedom to move in Arizona, which would prohibit the taxing, tracking, and rationing of our vehicle miles traveled if passed by voters in 2026.
- Legislation that would stymie efforts to turn freeways into “active highways” with bicycle lanes and sidewalks.
- Bills to stop the integration of woke transportation jargon and other radical social justice ideas into local transportation planning.
- Proposals to halt the deluge of road diets that served no other purpose than to make driving your car a miserable experience.
Thankfully, Pete Buttigieg is now far – though still not far enough – away from the important work being done at the US Department of Transportation. Under Secretary Sean Duffy, the agency has refreshingly abandoned nearly every endeavor championed by the previous administration. America’s infrastructure, and the freedom of mobility it protects, is finally back on track.
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