Column: Make way for Slayer Pete. Buttigieg is the Biden campaign’s ruthless secret weapon

Mayor Pete has found his format: the five-minute, remote-feed evisceration. So maybe it should not be surprising to discover that when Buttigieg swore to do whatever he could to ensure the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, that “whatever” turned out to include “speak softly and carry a sling blade.” Last week, having served as stand-in for Vice President Mike Pence during Harris’ debate prep, Buttigieg must have seemed a natural choice for a predebate interview. “And if people want to play that game, we could look into why an evangelical Christian like Mike Pence wants to be on a ticket with the president caught with a porn star, or how he feels about the immigration policy that he called ‘unconstitutional’ before he decided to team up with Donald Trump.” Cue stunned silence in the studio and the sound of a kajillion social media posts. It’s tough to make a term like “dead-hand originalist” go viral, but Buttigieg pulled it off — and from the comfort of his irritatingly immaculate kitchen, no less. Certainly, he’s come a long way since April, when Room Rater gave him a 4/10 for a “Morning Joe” interview conducted in front of a bookshelf with a highly regrettable haircut.