Wednesday, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” gushed over 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg and his handling of protesters at an Iowa rally the night before.

Both host Mika Brzezinski and former President George W. Bush aide Elise Jordan said Buttigieg has the “it” factor.

Brzezinski then said the openly gay mayor of South Bend, IN, “exposed hate with love” with his response to the protesters, adding much like former President Barack Obama, Republicans “will not be able to handle” Buttigieg.

“What he did right there in front of 1,000 people, he exposed hate with love. He did it beautifully, pastorally. He did it in a way that made you want to be there with him. I’m going to tell you, as much as the Republicans completely misunderstood Barack Obama, and had no idea how to handle an African-American Democratic nominee, they will not be able to handle this guy. because he is truly working from a good center and has the words and education and the articulation and the grounding to express it to people who even don’t understand him. it’s called depth. it’s called moral compass. it’s called faith. it’s called love for America. he is going to be very hard to handle, if they try to take him on for something he is absolutely not embarrassed about.

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