Trump Has New Nickname for Pete Buttigieg, Calls Him Mad Magazine Cover Boy
President Donald Trump compared Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, to the mascot of Mad magazine on Friday afternoon.
“Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States,” Trump said in an interview with Politico.
The president had been asked what he thought of Buttigieg, one of the many candidates seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.
Trump on Buttigieg to @politico: “Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States.” (I don’t know… do you see it?) https://t.co/i7s2X2gNoT pic.twitter.com/NDBNtSNGLx
— Ed O’Keefe (@edokeefe) May 11, 2019
The fictional character of Alfred E. Neuman has been a recurring one for Mad magazine, a satirical periodical that has used Neuman as its mascot for more than 60 years.
Buttigieg seemed undisturbed by the nickname.
“I’ll be honest. I had to Google that,” he said. “I guess it’s just a generational thing. I didn’t get the reference.”
“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,” he added.
This isn’t the first time that Trump has openly mocked Buttigieg.
Trump recently talked about Buttigieg during a rally in Panama City, Florida.
“We have a young man, Boot-edge-edge. Edge, edge. They say edge, edge,” he said, articulating the presidential candidate’s name.
“He’s got a great chance, he’ll be great, he’ll be great. Representing us against President Xi of China, that’ll be great, that’d be great. I want to be in that room. I wanna watch that one,” Trump said.
When Buttigieg was asked about Trump’s comments, he shrugged them off.
“You can’t get too worried about the name-calling and the games he plays. When the wind changes, some people build walls and some people build windmills,” Buttigieg said.
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