Saturday Night Live’s prediction about the future of Pete Buttigieg’s campaign was eerily accurate
Few people seriously believed Pete Buttigieg would secure the Democratic nomination for the presidency, but Saturday Night Live clearly had even less faith than most.
In a February 29 episode where cast members parodied people in the Democratic field, Colin Jost starred as Buttigieg, and delivered what turned out to be a scarily accurate prediction.
When Mike Pence (played by Beck Bennett) took questions from a “real reporter”, Jost’s Buttigieg stood up.
“I’m actually mayor Pete Buttigieg, I’m a candidate too… eh, for the next three days,” he said.
While the show didn’t get the exact date right, it did predict Buttigieg’s shock exit from the race fairly accurately. Buttigieg survived just one day after the SNL episode aired instead of three.
The sketch aired just one day before Pete Buttigieg pulled out of the race for the presidency.
Elsewhere, the sketch poked fun at Buttigieg’s youth and relative political inexperience. Jost’s Buttigieg tells the other candidates that he is the “only candidate” who will not “lose” to the coronavirus.
“You know, you’re all in very high risk demographics,” he joked.
The sketch aired the night before Buttigieg announced his surprise departure from the Democratic presidential race following a devastating performance in the South Carolina primary.
I’m actually mayor Pete Buttigieg, I’m a candidate too… eh, for the next three days.
The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, had surprised Democrats when he won the Iowa caucus just weeks ago. He later came a close second behind Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary.
But his luck started to crumble with the Nevada caucus, where he finished in third place with 14.3 per cent of votes behind Sanders and Biden.
Buttigieg ultimately finished with just 8.2 per cent of votes in the South Carolina caucus, finishing behind Biden, Sanders and Tom Steyer, effectively putting his presidential hopes for 2020 to an end.
Buttigieg made the ‘difficult decision’ to suspend his candidacy following a poor showing in South Carolina.
The gay candidate left the race just before Super Tuesday, the biggest voting day of the primary and a key day in the Democratic race when 15 states vote for their choice of candidate.
After cancelling plans for a Sunday night rally in Dallas and a Monday morning fundraiser in Austin, Texas, Buttigieg returned to South Bend.
“Sometimes the longest way around really is the shortest way home,” he told supporters to loud cheers.
“After a year of going everywhere, meeting everyone, defying every expectation, seeking every vote, the truth is that the path has narrowed to a close, for our candidacy if not for our cause,” he said.
Buttigieg added: “Tonight I am making the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency.”