Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg slammed J.D. Vance for his blood and soil nationalism, an expression associated with the Third Reich.Buttigieg was responding to comments Vance made at the conservative Claremont Institute in July, where he said that the idea that just agreeing with the values in the Declaration of Independence should make someone American is both over-inclusive and under-inclusive. He said that instead of seeing whether someones values are American, people should be considered more American if their ancestors were in the country for a long time. Related Pete Buttigieg blasts JD Vances VP candidacy in one brutal joke I think the people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War have a hell of a lot more claim over America than the people who say they dont belong, Vance said, pretty clearly including both sides of the Civil War in his explanation of who is more American than everyone else.Buttigieg whose father immigrated to the United States from Malta and became a U.S. citizen in 1979 accused Vance of articulating blood and soil nationalism this past Sunday on Pod Save America. That expression comes from the German Blut und Boden, a slogan used by the Nazi party to express the unification of a racially defined people (the blood) and a region that belongs to that race (the soil). Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Buttigieg accused Vance of saying that American ideals have nothing to do with what it means to be an American, what really matters is how long your family has been here, which is this kind of blood and soil nationalism that frankly cuts against exactly what makes America special. Buttigieg explained that the fact that we even have the word un-American means that people generally agree that being American is connected to your commitment to our freedoms and to the ideals that are laid out in the Declaration [of Independence] and in the Constitution, that that matters in a way that you just I dont think that you could be un-French or un-Japanese for a parallel reason. Its a huge part of whats special about America. Weve got to lay out a way of being American and belonging here that doesnt depend on whether your ancestors fought in the Civil War, he continued. Maybe they did, maybe they didnt, great, although, look, some of those ancestors were fighting against America in the Civil War. Instead of making it about that, lets recognize that everyone who is here is part of the same national project.He pointed out that his mother could possibly trace her ancestry in the U.S. back to the Revolutionary War, but isnt any more or less American than his father, who chose to become an American citizen.No, JD, belonging in America does not depend on how many generations of your family have lived here. The values of this country matter deeply to who we are and what it means to be American. pic.twitter.com/Mz2IwYBoNe Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) August 12, 2025Host Jon Favreau pointed out that Vance is likely to run for president in 2028 and asked Buttigieg what he thought about that. Buttigieg said that Vance is very smart but not a very principled person.It didnt take him many years to go from comparing Trump to Hitler which he did to saying that he ought to be the leader of the free world, Buttigieg said. He said that Vances background, from writing about the working class in the Midwest to working in Silicon Valley to finding this path to power in the Republican party, shows that hes that intelligent and that unprincipled.To the extent that he has found religion, has found principles other than just trying to take power, he seems to be getting more and more attached to this kind of blood and soil nationalism that, you know, if that prevails, would make us just another country out there instead of the country that we all know and love, Buttigieg concluded. Buttigieg and Vance have clashed in the past. Vance accused Buttigieg of being part of a group of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too whos running the Democratic party, along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Vance made his comments before Buttigieg and his husband Chasten announced that they had adopted two children.The really sad thing is he said that after Chasten and I had been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey, Buttigieg said at the time. He couldnt have known that, but maybe thats why you shouldnt be talking about other peoples children.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.