During a recent Fox News interview, Donald Trump claimed that the crowd at his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris “went absolutely crazy” when he was fact-checked. The problem? There was no crowd at the debate. This bizarre statement quickly became a topic of amusement and concern on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Thursday.
In the interview with Fox host Greg Gutfeld, Trump complained that debate moderators failed to correct Harris, and then described how the crowd allegedly reacted in his favor. After showing the clip, Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski couldn’t help but poke fun at the former president.
Scarborough, with co-host Willie Geist laughing beside him, sarcastically remarked, “Well, I mean, yeah. You know, the stagehands were going crazy.” Brzezinski chimed in, asking, “What debate is he talking about?” Scarborough then jokingly suggested, “Is he confusing the debate with a Taylor Swift concert?”
While the initial reaction was one of humor, the conversation quickly took a more serious turn as MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire weighed in on Trump’s recent string of verbal slips and confusion. Scarborough asked, “He doesn’t remember from week to week. What’s with that?”
Lemire pointed out that these types of misstatements have been happening more frequently. “This is happening more and more for Donald Trump,” Lemire said. “Let’s remember, he is 78 years old. With so much attention on [President Joe] Biden’s age when he was still in the race, it was overlooked that Trump is just a couple years younger and just as prone, maybe more so, to these verbal slips and confusion.”
Lemire also highlighted how Trump’s typically loud and brash demeanor might obscure the increasing number of these mistakes. “It’s harder to pick it up from Trump sometimes because he’s so loud and has been doing this for years, so we may be numb to it,” he explained.
“There is a new focus here about his mental capability and fitness for office — certainly one that Democrats are pointing to. These mistakes, the mix-ups are seemingly only increasing by the day.” The debate over Trump’s mental fitness is intensifying, raising new questions as the 2024 election season continues.