Top humorist suffers slip of the tongue!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2024

Quite often, we humans do: Yesterday morning, during the 6 o'clock hour, the Morning Joe gang was reminiscing about Granite State contests past.

At one point, John Heilemann, on the ground in New Hampshire, briefly stopped yukking it up. Instead, he tried to make an accurate point. 

When he did, the master misspoke, as we humans frequently do.

Below, you see exactly what he said—and no, we aren't making this up! The transcript we're offering hasn't been doctored. You can even check the videotape, just by clicking here:

HEILEMANN (1/22/24): I will say, as you talk to political people who really know the state here, whether they're pollsters or strategists or whatever—

You know, back in 2016, remember, Donald Trump ran against Hillary Clinton in this state, and they were within—less than a percentage point separated them on Election Day in 2016.

It was "27 point something" percent for Hillary, "27 point something," a little less, for Donad Trump. But like less than half a percent! You know, Biden won this state by seven points in 2020, and there's polling out there that says Biden wins this state by ten points in 2024...

Heilemann went on to say that Trump has made New Hampshire "toxic" for Republicans over his term in the political spotlight. 

For ourselves, we hope Heilemann is right about that. For the record, tens of millions of voters take the opposite view, and they get to be citizens too.

Heilemann was trying to make a basic point about the political drift in New Hampshire over the past eight years. Along the way, he misspoke. We human beings often do that, even when pontificating on "cable news" or perhaps when running for president.

In what way did the master humorist / pundit misspeak? According to what Heilemann said, this is the way New Hampshire voted in the 2016 general election:

New Hampshire 2016 (Heilemann version)
Clinton (D): 27.x %
Trump (R): 27.x %

In fairness, his general recollection was accurate. But in this bit of extemporaneous speech, he simply experienced a slip of the tongue, as people frequently do.

Heilemann had suffered a slip of the tongue! The actual totals were these:

New Hampshire 2016 (actual results)
Clinton (D): 47.62%
Trump (R): 47.25 %

The gist of what Heilemann said was correct. Along the way, he misspoke.

(No one corrected what he said. On cable, it isn't done!)

Why do we mention this today? Simple! Mere minutes before he made this slip, the master humorist had been yukking it up about the way Donald J. Trump had suffered a slip of the tongue the night before. 

(Go ahead! Search on "Joe Strummer.")

Ha ha ha ha ha! the gang said. Then, with a matter of minutes, that same member misspoke.

More and more, then more and more, Morning Joe is turning into an early morning version of open mike night at a local comedy club. 

For the record, Joe Scarborough has a superb sense of humor. That said, today's show was nearly endless in its early pursuit of big yuks and cool tribal fun.

Attempts at humor can be fun, but this supposed to be "cable news." Increasingly, on Fox but also at MSNBC, it looks to us like the bosses and the money counters have decided that clowning around—playing the endless comedy card—is the best way to keep us rubes tuned in and to keep the big bucks rolling in.

In our view, Donald J. Trump is severely disordered. Because our tribe can't get Others to listen to anything we have to say, we now entertain ourselves.

When Trump misspoke, the humorist pounced. Just like that, within mere minutes, the master himself misspoke!