To most American political observers, Friday marked just the 66th day of President Joe Biden’s term. To producers at MSNBC, however, Friday marked that there are just 1,045 days left until the 2024 Iowa Caucuses.
Seriously, MSNBC ran a “Decision 2024” chyron Friday morning during coverage of Republican visits to the key state, though Vaughn Hillyard acknowledged on-air that this conversation was happening pretty “early.” In fact, Hillyard was only in Iowa because Republicans like former secretary of state Mike Pompeo have been spotted there, so to be fair, MSNBC’s producers aren’t the only people who seem to be thinking ahead three years.
Everyone else, though, seems to still be plenty burned out from the 2020 cycle. After NBC News congressional reporter Haley Talbot shared a picture of the “Decision 2024” banner on Twitter, she was quickly informed that her followers were not ready for that.
“Stop this sh– at once,” commanded one viewer while others threatened to change the channel if they saw such a graphic themselves.
Even others in the media balked. MSNBC’s own Steph Haberman branded the chyron a “NOPE” and she wasn’t alone.
Others still argued that the worst part of the chyron wasn’t that it came mere weeks into the current president’s time in office, but that it came among so many other newsworthy events in America, like the ongoing coronavirus crisis and back-to-back mass shootings.