Sen. Ron Johnson’s RNC Speech Gaffe Stuns Rachel Maddow: ‘Cannot Believe This Is Real’

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday expressed surprise at the reported reason that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) didn’t tone down the divisive rhetoric in the speech that he gave on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Johnson described the Democratic Party’s policies as a “clear and present danger to America” and said it was the party of “weaponized government,” despite bipartisan calls to tone down political language following the attempted assassination of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump at the weekend.

But, reportedly, Trump loyalist Johnson hadn’t actually planned on saying that.

Maddow cited PBS’ Amna Nawaz’s report that Johnson told her, when asked how his comments contrasted with his earlier calls for unity, that the wrong address had been fed into the teleprompter.

“It was all a big misunderstanding. The teleprompter loaded the old version,” Maddow said. “The new one called for unity, but they didn’t put that one in there. So, he just gave the old one.”

“And he couldn’t ad-lib some unity?” asked MSNBC colleague Joy Reid, prompting laughter from the rest of the panel.

Maddow described Nawaz as “a fantastic reporter,” adding: “I absolutely believe this reporter and I cannot believe this is real.”