WATCH: Pete Buttigieg’s Shocking Answer After Being Asked if JD Vance Is a ‘Fascist’

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg quipped on Friday that Vice President JD Vance could go back to being a “Silicon Valley Democrat” after his time with President Donald Trump, underscoring Vance’s willingness to change his stripes to fit the political opportunity in front of him.

At the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas, Buttigieg was asked by Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg whether he believes Vance is a “fascist.” Instead of a simple yes that might have been expected, Buttigieg noted Vance’s criticism of Trump before going MAGA while arguing Vance is an opportunist with no real political convictions.

“If it’s convenient for him to be a fascist, he’ll be a fascist. Maybe later on, he’ll go back to being a Silicon Valley Democrat. He’ll be whatever he needs to be,” Buttigieg said.

Buttigieg cited Vance likening Trump to a potential “America’s Hitler” in the past. In a 2016 interview with Charlie Rose, Vance called himself a “never Trump guy,” and he later called Trump “unfit” for the presidency in an op-ed. His former roommate went on to also share messages in which Vance said he feared Trump could become “America’s Hitler.”

Vance has chalked up his flip-flop on Trump to the president’s successes in his first term as well as an “important lesson” about the media.

“I also think his presidency revealed, at least to me, how corrupt the media was. It taught me a very important lesson about how the media lies,” he told Fox News last year.

“He’ll be something new later on maybe, but that’s my point, is that there,” Buttigieg said on Friday about the vice president.

Buttigieg also described Vance as two-faced in a 2024 interview with Bill Maher, comparing him to people he’s known who say whatever they need to “get ahead.”

“When I got to Harvard, I found a lot of people like him who would say whatever they needed to to get ahead,” he said. “And five years ago, that seemed like being the anti-Trump Republican. So that’s what he was talking about.”

Watch above via Texas Tribune.