Fox News host Jesse Watters returned to the Hammer and Nigel show Thursday afternoon to break down Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada – an ideological beatdown that left late comer Michael Bloomberg politically bruised and battered.
“Mike paid $400 million dollars for a beatdown, but maybe he’s into that kind of thing,” Watters joked. “It was brutal, but it was a good adrenalin shot into that field of candidates and brought out some of the best in a couple of the people on stage,” he added. “But Bloomberg, I’ll bet he was wishing he had a box to crawl under last night.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was particularly brutal in her exchanges with former New York City mayor Bloomberg, referencing his past comments on women his ability to leverage his personal wealth to compete in the 2020 presidential race.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against,” Warren began. “A billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and no I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”
Warren added: “Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.”
“Yeah, [Bloomberg] is essentially ‘Trump light,'” Watters told Hammer and Nigel. “He talks about throwing blacks up against the wall to frisk them, he insults women, he flies around in jets as a billionaire, but the Democrats liked him because he could but everybody out.”
Watters continued: “I don’t think these ads are going to fly, however, because the guy’s been exposed. The ads you see of him are nothing like the guy you saw on that debate stage last night; he looked like a ghost. His appeal is that he’s a boss, but he came off like an intern.”
In evaluating the performance of each Democratic candidate who participated Wednesday night, Watters said former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg is now in the most strategically advantageous position.
“He was the guy who was able to say: ‘On the one hand, you have a billionaire who wants to buy the nomination and on the other, a socialist who wants to burn it down. Why not go with me in the middle?’ And I think that was an effective line that he delivered and he comes across as pretty polished,” said Watters. “But I still don’t see him as a threat to Donald Trump.”
Despite Buttigieg’s efforts to portray himself as a moderate, however, Watters acknowledged that there’s very little difference between the former mayor of South Bend and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“[Buttigieg] is just better at fooling people,” said Watters. “Bernie just doesn’t care. And that’s what Sanders supporter find appealing about him is that he doesn’t have to lie to get elected.”
Not everyone sees Pete Buttigieg as friendly and likable, however – especially fellow Democratic candidate Amy Klobuchar.
The frustration and resentment were palpable between Buttigieg and Klobuchar Wednesday night, as the two became increasingly antagonistic towards each other as the debate wore on.
“Are you — are you trying to say that I’m dumb?” Klobuchar said at one point as she interrupted an attack from Buttigieg, who was focused on the Minnesota senator’s recent failure to recall the president of Mexico. “Or are you mocking me here, Pete?”
“I’ll bet Klobuchar could pick up mayor Pete and put him through a glass table WCW style,” joked Watters. “She terrifies me, but unfortunately I don’t think she can take a punch and she’s probably the next to drop out.”
As for former Vice President Joe Biden, Watters said the one-time front-runner had failed to move the needle.
“He got outclassed and he really didn’t show up last night,” said Watters. “He was angrier and feistier, but he also seemed mentally beaten and he was just going through the motions by the end of the night.”
Click the link below to hear Hammer and Nigel’s full interview with Jesse Watters.
https://omny.fm/shows/hammer-and-nigel-show/jesse-watters-talks-dem-debate
