Wow, Amy Klobuchar Really Hates Pete Buttigieg

(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

At Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas, the battle that got the most attention was Elizabeth Warren vs. Michael Bloomberg, followed closely by Everyone Else vs. Bloomberg. In general, it was a fiery night for everyone.

The Democratic candidates took turns criticizing each other’s policies and political records with varying degrees of brutality. But when it came to Amy Klobuchar’s obvious contempt for Pete Buttigieg, things seemed almost personal.

Klobuchar has previously noted the double standard Buttigieg embodies, saying at a debate in November, “Of the women on the stage, do I think we would be standing on that stage if we had the experience he had? No, I don’t.”

Klobuchar and Buttigieg are both moderates angling to brand themselves as a Midwest-friendly, accessible alternative to the more progressive Democrats in the race so it makes sense that there would be a rivalry there. But what we saw on stage last night went far beyond a regular political spat.

Things came to a head when Buttigieg laid into Klobuchar for not being able to name the President of Mexico during an earlier interview. Klobuchar said she just blanked on Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) name, but Buttigieg wasn’t going to let that go.

“You’re staking your candidacy on your Washington experience. You’re on the committee that oversees border security. You’re on the committee that does trade,” he said. “You’re literally in part of the committee that’s overseeing these things and were not able to speak to literally the first thing about the politics of the country to our south.”

Klobuchar responded: “Are you trying to say that I’m dumb? Or are you mocking me here, Pete?”

Buttigieg also attacked Klobuchar’s voting record, calling out her support of  Donald Trump’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner and her vote to make English the official national language of the U.S.

“I wish everyone was as perfect as you, Pete,” Klobuchar said, dripping with sarcasm, adding that she’s opposed two-thirds of Trump’s judges so he should “get [his] numbers right.”

These jabs came out in between long stretches of the two talking over each other. Just look at the unbridled disdain on her face as he interrupts her:

It did not go unnoticed.

What a night.

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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