Pete Buttigieg’s no-good, very-bad month continued on Tuesday evening when he lashed out during a really weird encounter with a reporter. The US Transportation Secretary was confronted with questions from The Daily Caller about why he hasn’t visited East Palestine, OH. The small town is currently dealing with an ecological disaster following a train derailment.

Instead of providing new answers to obvious questions, Buttigieg appeared to get visibly frustrated. He then pulled out his phone and took a picture of the reporter for reasons that aren’t quite clear.

I asked Secretary Buttigieg about the crisis in East Palestine and I guess he didn’t like that so he took a pic of me. Im just doing my job, sir. @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/HjKNgF25FJ

— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) February 22, 2023

Is he planning on putting her on a list or something? It’s not every day that a politician takes a picture of a reporter in such a creepy fashion. Besides, there’s nothing especially unusual about this encounter from the viewpoint of The Daily Caller. Politicians are approached on the street all the time (CNN’s Jim Acosta used to approach Marjorie Taylor Greene constantly in this way). It also doesn’t look Buttigieg’s child was present, which would change things in my mind.

Regardless, after that scene, Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a dunk after Buttigieg once again tried to blame Congress for all his failures.

Before you emerged from hiding 10 days after the worst rail accident in over a decade the last time we heard you talking about rail was when you were lobbying for the rail company “deal” that screwed workers out of paid leave while I was fighting for workers

Please resign now https://t.co/7ZfBZHeTJL

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 22, 2023

I don’t understand Buttigieg’s strategy here. Wouldn’t it have been so much easier to just hope on a private jet and go to East Palestine immediately? What is gained by waiting ten days to mention it and then making excuses for not going? It seems politically idiotic, and certainly, it’s not the right way to help those suffering right now due to a transportation disaster that falls under Buttigieg’s tenure.

Now, Donald Trump is going to pre-empt him (and Joe Biden), stealing their thunder and coming across as someone who actually cares about what happened while the administration focuses on Ukraine and racism in the construction industry. To that, I say, good. These people deserve to be embarrassed if this is how they are going to behave.