"And I think a lot of Americans are being radicalized by this administration. The experience of disruption that’s gone on, especially in the interior, has obviously made it more fertile to being taken advantage of by people like this president," he said.

Buttigieg added, however, that he thinks "improving our economic condition" and achieving racial and social justice "go hand in hand."

“But I think the moment you come on board with a project like the Trump campaign or the Trump-Pence administration, you are at best complicit in the process that has given cover for flourishing and the resurgence of white nationalism in our midst,” Buttigieg added.

“Democracy is on the ballot in 2020,” he said.

Buttigieg said Democrats need more younger leaders who understand racial and social justice as well as more leaders from Republican-dominated states.

“We cannot continue to be regarded as a party that is only for the deepest blue communities,” he said. “There is written nowhere that a state like South Carolina or Indiana or anywhere else has to be conservative forever.”

Buttigieg, who took military training in Columbia before deploying to Afghanistan with the Navy Reserve, said Republicans are not willing to tackle the security issues caused by climate change, computer hackers and white nationalists.

“White nationalism is a deadly threat that has claimed lives as far away as New Zealand and as close to home as Charleston,” he said. “So let’s do something about that.”