A tweet from January about Pete Buttigieg’s opinion of the 2016 election is again making the rounds:

“Donald Trump got elected because, in his twisted way, he pointed out the huge troubles in our economy and our democracy,” Buttigieg says. “At least he didn’t go around saying that America was already great, like Hillary did.” — @PeteButtigieg https://t.co/5alThtNbw9 — The Washington Post Magazine (@wpmagazine) January 27, 2019

That tweet has since caught a lot more attention:

this tweet, from January 27, has in the last 24 hours suddenly lit up many Hillary Clinton loyalists on Twitter to say how mad they are about it now: https://t.co/bVyl3XoW5p — Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) March 30, 2019

Among those Clinton loyalsts who it lit up is former Hillary adviser Nick Merrill, who disputes everything about what Buttigieg is quoted as having said:

This is indefensible. @HillaryClinton ran on a belief in this country & the most progressive platform in modern political history. Trump ran on pessimism, racism, false promises, & vitriol. Interpret that how you want, but there are 66,000,000 people who disagree. Good luck. https://t.co/N3yRgHPVDL — Nick Merrill (@NickMerrill) March 30, 2019

“Indefensible”? Well, maybe Buttigieg’s comments are at least somewhat defensible:

Lol you have amnesia? pic.twitter.com/53xX2SsAQw — Alpha Neutral (@AlphaNeutral) March 30, 2019

She pushed the line. They also sold hats and bumper stickers with it. pic.twitter.com/6CroHPetbE — Annoyed Cicada (@AnnoyedCicada) March 30, 2019

Fact check: TRUE:

She said what Buttigieg said she said and Democrats sold merchandise and campaigned on the “already great.” Buttigieg is right it didn’t resonate. Disagree with him, but it’s entirely defensible. https://t.co/RGrkaIu8ht — andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) March 30, 2019

And there’s another attempt from a former Clinton staffer to defend her loss to Trump that just went down in flames:

These people are all going nuts over a tweet from two months ago pic.twitter.com/9MW4YZYWsj — Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) March 30, 2019

I'm afraid she's never gonna go out with you dude. https://t.co/F8MihqhfpV — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) March 30, 2019

Pete is right. And instead of learning a lesson about what they did wrong in 2016, and admitting what a terrible candidate HRC was, they will punish and destroy @PeteButtigieg. #WalkAway — Christie (@RepRepublic) March 30, 2019

Hey, if the Dems want to keep making the same mistakes over and over again, who are we to try and stop them?

I'm so sorry this is happening to you — Jay Tee Ell Oh Ell (@jtLOL) March 30, 2019

LOL!