Trump's new nickname for Pete Buttigieg: 'Alfred E. Neuman'

President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg in one sentence.

"Alfred E. Neuman can not become president of the United States," the president told a 15-minute telephone interview to POLITICO, following a request for his opinion on the mayor of South Bend, Ind . Neuman's freckled face and oversized ears have been adorning the Mad humor magazine's cover for decades.

History continues below

Buttigieg, the first overtly gay major presidential candidate, has risen through the ranks of Democrats in hopes of defeating Trump in 2020 and has enjoyed complimentary press coverage and articles. magazine cover in recent weeks.

Asked about the fall of Trump by POLITICO in San Francisco on Friday, 37-year-old Buttigieg said he ignored the comic book character whose fame had peaked more than 20 years ago, alluding to veiled to Trump's antiquity.

"I'll be honest, I had to use Google for that," he said. "I guess it's just a generation affair – I have not had the reference – it's a bit funny, I guess." But he's also the president of the United States and I I am surprised that he is not spending more time trying to save this deal with China. "(Trade talks between the United States and China in Washington ended Friday without an agreement, which opens up the prospect of a prolonged tariff war.)

Trump, who made his remarks in an interview with POLITICO for another story, has taken a few snapshots of Buttigieg when he rose in the polls, including at his recent rally in Florida.

"We have a young man, Buttigieg, a boot rider, they say" edge, "said Trump, adding the name of the mayor.

"He's very likely, is not it?" Trump pursued with irony, suggesting that Buttigieg may not have been tough enough to face American opponents. "It will be great to represent us against Chinese President Xi. That will be great. I want to be in this room, I want to watch that one. "

Buttigieg, a former Rhodes Scholar and Navy Reserve Intelligence Service Officer who served in Afghanistan, received some criticism among skeptical Democrats who wondered if the young mayor had enough experience to be president. Trump was elected without any government experience, his supporters against.

People who talk with Trump often say that he believes that his ability to define his political opponents with epithets can be decisive. In the 2016 presidential race, he called his Democratic opponent "Crooked Hillary", sometimes referring to him as "Crooked".

"Trump thinks that if you can encapsulate a person in a sentence or a nickname, you can own it," said one person who knows Trump in a recent interview. "Little energy, Jeb, Little Marco, that kind of shit really diminishes people and lets you control them, and that's what Trump is a genius to do."

"Everything in Trump's world is based on dominance and submission and so it tries to understand how to own these candidates," added this person.

In the interview, Trump compared the huge Democratic mass of 2020 to the 17 Republican rivals he faced in 2016, and said that many Democratic candidates "do not register, as was the case with [20]16. It seems that many of them do not register with the public. "

Trump also criticized Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Who previously nicknamed him "Crazy Bernie," and stated that he "seemed to be going in the wrong direction."

Asked about Trump's tactic Wednesday, Buttigieg m said"You can not worry about calling names and the games he plays," said a Chinese proverb: "When the wind turns, some people build walls and some wind turbines."

Carla Marinucci contributed to this story.