After 72-year-old middle schooler Donald Trump referred to presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg as “Alfred E. Neumann,” all three Fox & Friends appreciated Trump’s humor and ignored Buttigieg’s perfect, millennial response.
The Trump Friends giggled this morning over Dear Leader's quote in Politico about Buttigieg, “Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States.”
In case anyone didn’t understand the reference, cohost Griff Jenkins, moonlighting from his job as a presumably “straight news” correspondent, made sure viewers knew that Trump was painting Buttigieg as a “gullible idiot.”
JENKINS: Mad magazine made fun of politicians, called out politicians, actually, but of course, Alfred E. Neuman was the face of Mad magazine and really, this gullible idiot and the caption was, “What, me worry?”
Instead of noting the adolescent, un-presidential nature of Trump’s schoolyard taunt, Jenkins praised it. “I love, by the way, that now, in modern politics, a campaign is judged by what President Trump has nicknamed you," he said admiringly. "You’ve arrived, once you’ve got a nickname.”
Cohost Jedediah Bila was the only critic. But not because Trump's behavior was unseemly or debasing to his office – but because it was unstrategic. “See, I get why people think it’s funny, I really do,” she said. “But I don’t love it. I think it undermines his ability to hit those independent voters.”
Cohost and informal Trump adviser Pete Hegseth emphatically disagreed. “Oh, Come on, this is what he does!!!”
Bila called the nickname “great for the base.” But not so much for a general election and reaching “those people in the middle.” She said she worried that such talk may turn off those who “may go over to a Joe Biden or who may be intrigued by a Buttigieg.”
But Hegseth thought it was perfect. “No, I think it reaches the heart of what people are going to say. They are going to say, “Mayor Pete, nice kid, smart, just not there. Not ready yet. Not ready to stare down China.”
As if Trump was ever “ready.”
“Does he have to go there?” Bila asked.
“Of course he does,” Hegseth enthused.
Jenkins chimed in with more positivity: “I do think by the way, it’s the basics of politics and that is define your opponent and he is defining him and people latch on to it.”
Throughout the discussion, Fox repeatedly showed side-by-side, full-screen graphics of Neuman and Buttigieg.
What was never shown? Buttigieg’s response, “I had to Google that..I guess it’s a generational thing. … It’s kind of funny, I guess, but he’s also the president of the United States and I’m surprised he’s not spending more time trying to salvage this China deal.”
Watch the lickspittles pretend Trump is presidential material below, from the May 11, 2019 Fox & Friends. Underneath is Buttigieg’s too-good-for-Trump-TV comeback.
Ouch! Mayor @Pete Buttigieg responds to @realDonaldTrump slam that he is “Alfred E Neuman” —“I had to Google that..I guess it’s a generational thing.” pic.twitter.com/ZL11noISYL
— Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) May 11, 2019