Fox News host Tucker Carlson mocked coverage of 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday night, declaring that the media “left” former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) for “a younger, hotter candidate” in the South Bend, Ind., mayor.  

“Imagine how it must feel to be to be Beto O’Rourke right now,” Carlson said in his opening monologue for the former Texas lawmaker, who lost his bid for the Senate last fall. “If you’re O’Rourke, you’re out there running for president really hard, or at least running for vice president.” 

{mosads}”You are running anyway. You are giving speech after speech every day: ‘Children are our future. Today’s the first day of the rest of your life.’ Inspiring stuff like that, deep stuff like that, and there is a physical component to the job, too,” he continued. “You’re riding your skateboard for the camera, taking God knows how many selfies for your fans on Snapchat and Instagram.

“It is not an easy gig. Then one morning you wake up and discover that your one true love, the American news media, have called it off. They’ve left you for a younger, hotter candidate. Went out for a pack of cigarettes and just never came home. They split with some guy from Indiana. You cannot even pronounce the guy’s name.” 

Carlson proceeded to show short clips from CNN, MSNBC and “The View” that showed hosts and guests lauding Buttigieg, including MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace stating the 37-year-old candidate is “chicken soup for my soul.” 

“Chicken soup for my soul? Even by the naughty standards of the news media, this is a new level of political commitment,” Carlson said with bemusement. “They don’t just want to vote for this guy. They want to consume him, like a hearty stew. Every last drop of Buttigieg. Yum! They’re all in.” 

Buttigieg was the second most mentioned 2020 presidential candidate on cable news last week, according to FiveThirtyEight.com’s weekly analysis of cable news coverage. Only Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the 2016 runner-up for the Democratic nomination, received more mentions. 

The study said O’Rourke saw a precipitous drop in mentions from the prior week, with a decrease of 55 percent.