‘I Cannot Believe This Is Real’: Rachel Maddow Incredulous After Republican Senator Reads Wrong Speech at RNC

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) gave an address on the opening night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday, but it was reportedly not the one he intended to give.

The convention renominated former President Donald Trump just two days after he was shot in the ear by a would-be assassin during a rally in Pennsylvania. While the motive of the shooter – who was a registered Republican and once donated $15 to a Democratic fundraising site – remains unclear, Republicans have been quick to blame Democrats for saying that Trump is a threat to democracy.

The shooting has prompted calls for toning down violent political rhetoric, which Trump himself has repeatedly engaged in .

During its coverage of the convention, MSNBC aired a clip of Johnson giving his speech.

“They are the party of open borders, reckless spending, weaponized government, and weakness on the world stage,” he said. “This fringe agenda includes biological males competing against girls and the sexualization and indoctrination of our children.”

The clip ended and Rachel Maddow relayed some reporting from PBS.

“Now, interestingly, Amna Nawaz – PBS Newshour anchor – she says that she asked Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson about the tone of his remarks. At one other point in the speech, he said that Democratic policies are a ‘clear and present danger to the country.’ She asked him about saying that about Democrats while he’s been otherwise calling for unity. And his response was that his speech that he just delivered at the RNC was not the speech he meant to give. It was all a big misunderstanding. The teleprompter loaded the old version. The new one called for unity, but they didn’t put that one in there. So, he just gave the old one.”

“He couldn’t ad-lib some unity?!” Joy Reid responded.

“Amna is a fantastic reporter,” Maddow said. “I absolutely believe this reporter and I cannot believe this is real.”

“Well, first of all, we have all read from teleprompters,” Jen Psaki noted. “And if something comes up in the teleprompter that Rachel Maddow would read that says, like, ‘I love Donald Trump and he’s the best representative of our democracy,’ you probably would stop and not read it.”

Watch above via MSNBC.