Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg thinks that labeling progressives "socialists" has lost its charm.

"Talk about going into the past, the president's adopting a tactic that takes us back to the darkest days of the 50s, when you could use the word socialist to kill somebody's career, or to kill an idea," Buttigieg told Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos - who asked the South Bend, IN Mayor about a High School essay that praised Bernie Sanders as a self-identifying "socialist."

Buttigieg corrected Stephanopoulos, noting that his essay was about Sanders being honest about his beliefs.

EXCLUSIVE: Pete Buttigieg on whether "socialist" label could be liability for Democrats: "That trick has been tried so many times, I think it's losing all meaning."



"The Affordable Care Act was a conservative idea...and they called that socialist." https://t.co/TXEqYC7Pl3 pic.twitter.com/NsYtZBSdXv — ABC News (@ABC) April 4, 2019

The 37-year-old openly gay Democrat suggested that conservatives have already embraced socialism by creating the predecessor to the Affordable Care Act .

He then cited the example of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, which has been oft-derided as a socialist program. The roots of ACA were developed in conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation before first being rolled out by the then-Republican governor of Massachusettes [sic] Mitt Romney. -Mediaite

"The affordable care act was a conservative idea that Democrats borrowed and called that socialist so it’s like the boy who cried wolf," said Buttigieg, adding: "It’s lost all power especially for my generation of voters."