Fox Business Network anchor Charles Payne blew a gasket on Wednesday when a liberal pundit attempted to defend President Joe Biden’s gaffes, calling his on-air colleague’s comments “dumb” and “insulting.”
During the Fox News midday panel show Outnumbered, Payne blasted the president for repeating his oft-told false claim that he had previously driven an 18-wheel big rig.
“It’s interesting. I saw someone complaining about Donald Trump exaggerating,” Payne groused. “There’s a big difference between exaggerating and just lying. Maybe it’s his memory, but it’s one after another.”
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After Payne characterized the situation as “surreal” and akin to a “comedy plot” in a sitcom, liberal radio host Leslie Marshall interjected that Trump has also been known to lie. She also noted that it’s actually the ex-president who often gets a pass for misspeaking or flubbing a line.
“From my perspective, when Joe Biden messes up a word, I hear about it across the board. I don’t hear about it with former President Trump,” Marshall said.
Attempting to contrast her own occasional verbal miscues with the president, Marshall recounted a recent instance of her mixing up Pakistan and Palestine on-air.
This did not sit well with Payne, who immediately cut the veteran radio host off and began berating her. “It always offends me when people talk to me and us like we’re dumb! What you’re making is such a dumb example! We’re not talking about you or me or her making an occasional gaffe,” the Making Money host growled.
While Marshall tried telling her colleague she didn’t think he was “dumb,” an animated Payne continued his outburst. “We’re talking about gaffe after gaffe after gaffe after gaffe,” the Fox Business star yelled while waving his arm up and down.
“I don’t appreciate you calling me dumb!” Marshall retorted.
“No, you’re not dumb! You’re insulting!” Payne fired back before repeating the word “gaffe” over and over and over. “It’s ridiculous!”
After Payne was finished with his performative rant, the rest of the pro-Trump hosts on the panel also began lecturing Marshall for offering up a mild defense of the president’s verbal miscues and tall tales.
“He does it each and every speech,” former Trump flack-turned-Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany huffed. “This is why, Leslie, each and every poll shows the American voters, a majority, don’t think he has the mental acuity!”
Marshall, meanwhile, attempted to calmly respond to the over-the-top histrionics displayed by Payne in yet another of an endless series of Fox News segments on Biden's cognitive ability.
“I never said it was a one-off," she noted. “What I’m saying is, I think it’s normal for people to make gaffes. I use notes when I give speeches. I’m not running for president.”
