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A few weeks ago, after the very loose Las Vegas debate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar sat down with CNN’s Erin Burnett, who asked various questions and then teed up a clip of Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg arguing over what it meant that she had forgotten the Mexican president's name.

When CNN returned to the live shot, Burnett and Klobuchar sat side by side in folding chairs, squinting grimly at what appeared to be a monitor located somewhere offscreen. “You went on to say,” Burnett said, glancing down at her notebook, “'Not everyone can be as perfect as you are' to Mayor Pete. But what were you thinking in that moment?” Of course, we all know what Amy Klobuchar was thinking in that moment. For nearly 24 hours, as soon as Buttigieg dropped out, Twitter was alight with Klobuchar’s name and GIFs following a narrative of satisfaction and mirth (even if she, of course, tweeted her great respect and regard for the former mayor).

Klobuchar surveys her empty campaign headquarters. "All that matters is I lasted longer than Pete did," she says, before dousing the place in gasoline and flicking a lit cigarette.

On Monday afternoon, Klobuchar herself dropped out of the race and announced she’d be flying to Texas and endorsing Joe Biden in person and onstage, just hours before Minnesota’s not insignificant Tuesday primary.

All of this came just after Buttigieg quit but before he too could endorse Biden — a narrow gap that allowed Klobuchar just one last triumph over the perfect Pete Buttigieg. Or, at the very least, that’s how a lot of people received the news: an online/group text festival of joy in spite. Her distaste for the younger, less traditionally credentialed, male Buttigieg — and the churning rage she plainly felt toward parts of the nominating process — has been one of the rare moments of collective consciousness this election cycle. It was as though, like at the same time, our eyes finally adjusted to a dark room. And maybe because it's so personal, and so entirely detached from the outcome of the election, that it also became a great source of joy online. When Biden's campaign manager mocked the Buttigieg campaign’s third-place performance in Nevada on Twitter, wrote Jon Lovett of Klobuchar, “Let's see if she gives it the old RT.” This aspect of Klobuchar registers differently with people: delight, ironic delight, a leery kind of recognition, a righteous kind of recognition, an outright distaste for the passive aggression on display. Most debates, however, involved at least a few moments of the rage that suggests Klobuchar in her suit and New Balance sneakers pulling out a book of matches while “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cues up.

This picture tho...