No-chancers will be weeded out of the crowded 2020 Democratic field with the help of the primary debates , which only allow candidates polling above 1 percent or those who’ve received contributions from at least 65,000 donors to take part. But it’s very easy to tell what candidates President Trump sees as potential frontrunners, because he inevitably gives them cruel nicknames. In 2016, it was "Liddle Marco Rubio" and "Crooked Hillary Clinton," and these days his attentions are turned towards "Crazy Bernie Sanders" and "Sleepy Joe Biden." And South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s unexpectedly ascendent campaign received proof Friday that it had truly arrived when Trump debuted the juvenile taunt that he’ll surely direct Mayor Pete’s way in disgruntled tweets and rambling speeches to come.

When asked his opinion of Buttigieg, who's mayor of a town of 100,000 and yet is polling ahead of well-known national figures like Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, President Trump was dismissive. “Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States,” he told Politico . Trump was referring to the humor rag MAD Magazine’s mascot , whose gap-toothed and freckled face has appeared on the cover of nearly every issue for more than 60 years.

But Mayor Pete responded with a perfectly executed swipe at Trump. “I’ll be honest, I had to Google that,” Buttigieg told a reporter when asked about the Neuman moniker. "I guess it’s 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 .”

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Ouch! Mayor @Pete Buttigieg responds to ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ slam that he is “Alfred E Neuman” —“I had to Google that..I guess it’s a generational thing.” pic.twitter.com/ZL11noISYL — Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) May 11, 2019

Mayor Pete’s masterfully backhanded response sparked some debate online as to whether or not Trump’s name for him is in fact an out-of-date reference. MAD Magazine hasn't folded, so it’s not exactly a dinosaur. (Its cover has also featured multiple jabs at Donald Trump in recent years.) Still, Alfred E. Neuman scored his first cover boy gig way back in 1954, a full 28 years before Buttigieg was even born.

The magazine, whose Twitter bio reads simply, “STILL IN PRINT,” responded to Mayor Pete in a snarky tweet.

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Who’s Pete Buttigieg? Must be a generational thing. — MAD Magazine (@MADmagazine) May 11, 2019

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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