Democratic 2020 nominee Pete Buttigieg drew a strong round of applause at his Fox News town hall event when he criticized President Donald Trump for “echoing the language of dictators.”

As Buttigieg took an audience question about how he would handle foreign policy in the Middle East, he accused Trump of worsening the region’s instability before saying “we don’t have to choose between endless war and completely disappearing from the world stage.”

“We have to decide what our priorities are and raise the bar for the use of force,” Buttigieg said. “What we need to do is build up, not tear up our international partnerships. American lives depend on relationships with our allies. We shouldn’t can doing any of this alone. We shouldn’t have to be doing any of this alone.”

Buttigieg continued that America has a strategic advantage because its values are human values. “But that only works if we are authentically living up to them and that starts right at home, because how can we be a force for stability and human rights and democracy and freedom abroad if our own president is echoing the vocabulary of dictators, saying unfavorable coverage is the work of the ‘enemy of the people?’ We’ve got to get our own house in order, and then we’ll be in a much better position for global leadership.”

Buttigieg’s answer drew considerable applause from the room. Afterwards, he was asked how he would respond to a new rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. After laying out his strategic response to the situation, Buttigieg called it “disturbing” that Trump took a dismissive tone to the brain injuries a group of U.S. troops were recently diagnosed with following Iran’s missile attack on a U.S.-Iraqi base.

“We are talking about somebody who – as a privileged son after multi-millionaire – faked an injury in order to avoid serving, goes on to become president, and minimizes the real injuries of those who did. This is exactly why someone like Donald Trump has no business anywhere near the Situation Room, because you have to be able to make these decision with the perspective of those who have their lives on the line every minute.”

Buttigieg once against drew applause for those comments.

Watch above, via Fox News.

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