Daily Caller
‘Embarrassingly Wrong’: Corporate Media’s Talking Heads Confess Their Biggest Blunders Of 2024
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Owen Klinsky
From MSNBC host Rachel Maddow to businessman and television personality Mark Cuban, a slew of media leaders divulged what they got wrong this past year in a Semafor article published Monday.
Media missteps included NBC News President Rebecca Blumenstein underestimating the impact of inflation on politics, Fox News anchor Dana Perino incorrectly predicting Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce would get engaged and CNBC financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin not putting “DOGE and the pairing of Elon [Musk] and Vivek [Ramaswamy]” on his 2024 Bingo card, according to the piece. Despite the variety of answers, one topic — Joe Biden’s lack of mental acuity — seemed to sit at the top of the list for many respondents.
“Like many others, I was completely, utterly, totally, embarrassingly wrong about [President Joe] Biden’s lack of mental competence,” progressive British-American broadcaster Mehdi Hasan told Semafor.
Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential election in July following a disastrous June debate performance in which he appeared to lose his train of thought several times and stated he “beat Medicare.” Prior to the decision to exit the race, the White House made various efforts to mask the effects of his age, with the president wearing sneakers rather than dress shoes and taking shorter steps up Air Force One.
The White House actively denied claims Biden’s mental health was declining, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre characterizing a video of the President wandering away from world leaders at the G7 Summit as a “cheap fake” and claiming it was orchestrated by Republicans. Much of the corporate media supported the White House’s effort, with panelists on MSNBC’s Morning Joe describing a June article from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that detailed the president’s declining mental health as “outrageous,” and CNN’s Bakari Sellers suggesting in July, well after the debate, that there was no reason to believe Biden could not serve for another four years.
Other examples of the media downplaying concerns over Biden’s mental acuity include The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg rushing to the president’s defense after co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said Biden could have a “senior moment” on stage prior to the debate and MSNBC analyst Mike Barnicle describing members of the Democratic Party as cruel in July for trying to oust the president from the 2024 race.
More recently, former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza apologized in a YouTube video posted in December for waiting too long to investigate concerns that Biden’s mental acuity was deteriorating, admitting that as a journalist he should have “pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being.”
American talk show host Brian Lehrer made a similar apology in his response to Semafor: “Many callers to my show said Joe Biden was in no shape to run for re-election. I mostly dismissed it as ageism. Then I watched the debate.”
Quick Hit:
A suspect is in custody for the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed Wednesday at Utah Valley University. President Donald Trump confirmed the arrest Friday, crediting a tip from someone close to the suspect.
Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah native, has been named as the suspect in the shooting of Charlie Kirk. According to breaking news reports, he was turned in by his father, who apparently saw video surveillance images of his son.
Key Details:
- The shooting occurred around 1:20 p.m. Wednesday while Kirk, 31, was speaking with students under a tent on campus. A single bullet struck him in the neck, prompting chaos as students and attendees scrambled for cover.
- President Trump said Friday on Fox & Friends that authorities were confident they had the right person, noting, “Essentially, someone who knew him turned him in.” Trump praised the work of investigators and called for the death penalty if the suspect is convicted.
- The shooter is believed to have fired from a rooftop about 200 yards away, likely atop Utah Valley University’s Losee Center. The FBI recovered a high-powered bolt-action rifle, along with prints and surveillance footage that helped track the suspect.
🚨 BREAKING: Trump says with a “high degree of certainty” Charlie Kirk’s assassin is in custody. pic.twitter.com/MMXkujgAg5
— MxM News (@mxmnews) September 12, 2025
Diving Deeper:
Police in Orem, Utah, announced Friday they had taken a suspect into custody in the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who was gunned down during a campus event earlier this week. The 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder had been invited to Utah Valley University by the school’s TPUSA chapter, where he hosted a midday Q&A session with students on political and cultural issues.
A single shot rang out Wednesday, striking Kirk in the neck as horrified witnesses rushed for safety. Videos from the scene showed Kirk collapsing from his chair as attendees screamed and fled. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
President Donald Trump confirmed the arrest Friday morning in a Fox & Friends interview, saying investigators were “highly confident” they had apprehended the gunman. Trump revealed that the suspect had been turned in by someone close to him, aided by a U.S. Marshals Service member, a minister, and the suspect’s own father. “They drove into the police headquarters, and he’s there now,” Trump said, adding that he hopes prosecutors pursue the death penalty if the suspect is convicted.
Law enforcement officials previously released surveillance footage of a man dressed in black running from the scene. The gunman is believed to have fired from a rooftop perch on the Losee Center building, roughly 200 yards from where Kirk was speaking. FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls said a bolt-action rifle was recovered along the suspect’s escape route, along with a palm print, a footprint, and a forearm impression.
Investigators also seized a surveillance camera from a nearby home, where footage reportedly showed someone cutting through backyards after the shooting. Officials have not yet publicly identified the suspect or announced charges.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
The FBI’s Salt Lake City field office released surveillance photos of a person of interest in the fatal shooting of Kirk, urging the public to submit tips as the manhunt intensifies. Appearing on “The Ingraham Angle,” Mauro pointed to unreleased surveillance footage and ballistic evidence as key factors likely to lead to the suspect’s identification.
“The videotape that they pulled the still from, is one of the real things here that is almost certainly going to be how we are going to get there. Somebody is going to recognize him. Somebody probably already has,” Mauro said. “My understanding is that they are still sitting on video that they have not released. That video, likely, would show, let’s say, the walk, so even if you are on the fence, walks are very, very telling. People recognize them.”
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Mauro said investigators are far from stalled, noting that authorities have several promising leads that could help pinpoint the suspect’s path after the shooter fled the campus.
WATCH:
“So, if we don’t get something soon, expect more videotape, maybe something about where the scope and the rifle came from. Scopes can be bought separate. They can trace this kind of thing,” Mauro said.
“They have a number of notes to go down here. It’s not like they have not made any progress. It looks to me like they can track him leaving campus. They can use the video to get him leaving campus. It goes dark when he leaves campus and gets out into the neighborhood. And according to what I have heard, likely, was hopping backyards, still in the area, and then you have to assume maybe got hold of a vehicle, got to a bicycle, a motorcycle or whatever. And then he got out of Dodge.”
Mauro said investigators “are making progress” despite early missteps and public confusion over leads.
“Every investigation has its bad leads and blind alleys. The difference in this case is that they were more public than you usually get. Director Patel was being particularly transparent in what they were doing and what was going on. And so the information came out and looked like they had somebody at one point there. But this happens in many, many investigations,” Mauro told host Laura Ingraham. “I do think that they are making progress.”
Authorities said the shooter arrived on campus shortly after 11:50 a.m., climbed a stairwell to the rooftop, opened fire, and fled into a nearby neighborhood. At a Thursday morning press conference, officials said they recovered a weapon from a wooded area and obtained video footage of the suspect, described as a male of college age.
The FBI released photos of a “person of interest” wearing dark sunglasses, a black hat, and a black shirt, and urged the public to help identify him. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information that leads to the identification and arrest of the person or people responsible for Kirk’s murder. Tipsters can call 1-800-CALL-FBI and submit photos through the bureau’s online portal.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox News)
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