Pete Buttigieg Suffers Cringeworthy "Please Clap" Moment

As anyone who's ever toured will tell you, whether they be a musician, comedian, or artist, sometimes the crowd just isn't feeling you. It stinks, but you get up and perform for a new crowd the next day and you move on. Unless you're a politician. Then the moment lives forever in infamy.

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg encountered such a crowd in Iowa today when he crescendoed towards an applause line and was met with crickets. The moment came at the end of a 45-minute talk at a rally Mt. Pleasant. As Buttigieg rolled towards the conclusion of his talk, he asked the crowd to "spread a sense of hope to those that you know." After a few mumbled "yes"-es, Pete urged the crowd, "Come on!" before applause finally broke out.

Those who remembered the 2016 Republican Primary saw it immediately: the ghost of Jeb Bush, on the deathbed of his campaign, begging a crowd in New Hampshire, Please Clap.

The clip, which was taken out of context and isolated by the Republican National Committee, immediately brought the mind the iconic Bush moment on Twitter.

"Please clap" pic.twitter.com/L5D0iMiADj

— jordan (@JordanUhl) January 21, 2020

We now have the Buttigieg "please clap" moment pic.twitter.com/Vjw3EoHAyC

— cursed-dem wine cave (@kallllisti) January 21, 2020

The new “please clap” moment of 2020 is FINALLY here y’all. @PeteButtigieg: awkward pause

“COME ON”

Audience: hesitates then claps
pic.twitter.com/NNenYhf7CK

— Calli Norton (@CalliNorton) January 21, 2020

User Alec Sears even placed the moment and Bush's "Please Clap" side by side, with mesmerizing results.

I put the Buttigieg "Come On" and the Jeb "Please Clap" side by side and it's kind of mesmerizing pic.twitter.com/Gp4L5oRq0J

— Alec Sears (@alec_sears) January 21, 2020

Granted, the Buttigieg clip isn't nearly as heartbreakingly hilarious as Bush's clip, as Bush was basically toast by the time he uttered "please clap" and Buttigieg is still in the running. Nevertheless, as politically active members of Twitter will tell you, the 2016 election never ended, and it seems we're doomed to repeat it over and over for the rest of time.