If MSNBC’s Chris Matthews manages to make you look like a fool, you’ve messed up. At the least, Hillary Clinton should be chewing out her campaign staff.

Matthews this week merely asked Clinton to explain what separates a Democrat from a Socialist. She dodged three times:

Matthews: “You’re a Democrat, [rival Bernie Sanders is] a Socialist. Would you like someone to call you a socialist? I wouldn’t like someone calling me a socialist.”

Clinton: “Well, but I’m not one.”

M: “OK, well, what’s the difference between a socialist and a Democrat?”

C: “I can tell you what I am. I am a progressive Democrat . . .”

M: “How’s that different than a socialist?”

C: “. . . who likes to get things done and who believes we are better off in this country when we are trying to solve problems together; get people to work together.”

OK, we get why she’d rather not say she’d go a lot easier on Goldman Sachs than a President Sanders.

But Clinton really should have had some answer ready — because Democratic Party chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz fumbled the same question from Matthews back in July. That exchange won smirks all across the Web; Clinton’s team has zero excuse for letting her make the same stumble.

Is the vast, well-funded 2016 Clinton campaign every bit as bumbling as the 2008 version that got beat by Barack Obama’s crew?