“Mayor” Pete Buttigieg participated in a Fox News town hall hosted by Chris Wallace in Claremont, New Hampshire on Sunday evening, but clearly his actual location was somewhere rent-free in President Donald Trump’s head. You see, Trump was none too pleased that his favorite cable news outlet would have the audacity to give airtime to his competition, and the fact that Buttigieg received a standing ovation from the Fox News audience certainly could not have helped.
As he is wont to do, Trump lashed out on Twitter over this Jon Snow proportion betrayal.
“Hard to believe that Fox News is wasting airtime on Mayor Pete, as Chris Wallace likes to call him,” Trump incensed, in a miraculously two-part threaded tweet. “Fox is moving more and more to the losing (wrong) side in covering the Dems. They got dumped from the Democrats boring debates, and they just want in.”
“They forgot the people who got them there,” he continued. “Chris Wallace said, ‘I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance … fascinating biography.'”
….who got them there. Chris Wallace said, βI actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance…fascinating biography.β Gee, he never speaks well of me – I like Mike Wallace better…and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
“Gee, he never speaks well of me,” Trump added, throwing in his recently-minted nickname for Mayor Pete: “I like Mike Wallace better … and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!”
At any rate, Trump tweets are problematic for a number of reasons, some of which were pointed out on Twitter:
POTUS admonishes a news network for merely covering his political opponents https://t.co/B5tyxQnOb8
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) May 19, 2019
Just imagining the reaction from Republicans if Obama had publicly attacked a news network for hosting a Republican running for president instead of towing the party line. https://t.co/JsRzjlPhMT
— The Darkest Timeline Numbersmuncher (@NumbersMuncher) May 20, 2019
Do not let his constant tweeting make you go numb. This is very dangerous rhetoric! To imply that a new organization shouldn't give airtime to the opposition party is the kind of behavior seen in Turkey and other autocratic countries. Fight for freedom! Speak out! Protest! Vote! https://t.co/OI8t0N6l3i
— P Cubed (@p_cubedwellness) May 20, 2019
The president tells a news network they are not doing enough to favor him. π²
Such a pathetic and needy little man-child. #UnfitToBePresident #ImpeachTrump https://t.co/PVRMHcYHvB
— ποΈ Murphy ππΊπ¦ (@murrayb560sl) May 20, 2019
Trump had a different tune when asked about Mayor Pete in a Fox News interview earlier on Sunday, in which he admitted that he had “no problem whatsoever” with Buttigieg’s sexuality. That may change however, the more he sees Buttigieg as a threat in the 2020 election.