Pete Buttigieg had an awkward moment on "The Breakfast Club" Friday when radio host Charlamagne tha God gave him a frank assessment of his performance in the Democratic primary debates.

"Do you think you sucked in the first couple of debates?" the host asked, prompting Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., to say he thought he did well.

When Buttigieg asked what he thought, Charlamagne said the veteran didn't show the same kind of charisma that he'd demonstrated before.

"You kind of got lost, Mayor Pete -- like, I like you because your charismatic, I didn't really get that from the first couple of debates," he said.

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Buttigieg responded by claiming that the debate formats -- with so many people -- made it difficult for candidates to give substantive answers.

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He added that candidates weren't debating to entertain Americans, but rather to give them a sense of what their lives would be like after the election.

"Hasn't Trump kind of changed that?" Charlamagne asked. "I feel like the language of politics is dead. I feel like you do have to entertain and get people's attention."

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Buttigieg said that was a problem, arguing that the White House was "being run as a reality show." The nature of Trump's actions, he said, was creating a more divisive political environment.