By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-20 04:11:34 | Updated at 2024-11-20 06:38:00
2 hours ago
The so-called 'polling Nostradamus' was served a heavy dose of reality when left-wing pundit Cenk Uygur went haywire over the professor's wildly incorrect call about Kamala Harris defeating Donald Trump.
Allan Lichtman, who has successfully predicted nine out of ten elections since 1984, appeared to be at a loss for words after the 2024 election as he realized his prediction was wrong.
Uygur, the founder of leftist media network The Young Turks, confronted Lichtman on Piers Morgan's show Tuesday.
He specifically had problems with Lichtman blaming 'voters' for falling for disinformation before slamming his '13 keys' methods of deciding elections.
'I debated Professor Lichtman before. I told him his theories about "the keys" were absurd. I was right, he was wrong. I said he'd lose his keys,' Uygur said.
Lichtman fought back: 'No you were not right and I was not wrong. That's a cheap shot and I won't stand for it! You should not be taking cheap shots at me.'
Uygur pointed to the scoreboard, asking: 'Who won? You live in a total world of denial!'
The polling expert claimed to have read Uygur's followers comments and believed they all agreed with Lichtman.
Left-wing pundit Cenk Uygur raged at so-called 'polling Nostradamus' Allan Lichtman over his incorrect call that Kamala Harris would defeat Donald Trump
Lichtman, who has successfully predicted nine out of ten elections since 1984, appeared to be at a loss for words after the 2024 election as he realized his prediction was wrong
'I read your own followers' comments and they all trashed you!' replied Lichtman. 'Every one of them and supporting me.'
'Yeah right! You don't know anything. You don't know anything. You're just so deluded,' Uygur shot back.
Lichtman defended his credentials as 'a professor for 51 years' who had published 13 books.
Uygur blasted him again: 'You got it wrong! You were preposterously, stupidly wrong.'
After they argued some more Uygur went for a takedown, claiming Lichtman needed 'a tall glass of shut up juice.'
'Hey Allan, shhh! Hey Allan, you deserve a tall glass of shut up juice, so can you just shut up for a second and let someone who knows what they're doing talk?'
An enraged Lichtman shot back: 'I will not sit here and stand for personal attacks, for blasphemy against me. You don't need to do that.'
Uygur's response: 'Blasphemy against you?! Who the hell are you? Are you Jesus Christ? You loser!'
' I debated Professor Lichtman before. I told him his theories about 'the keys' were absurd. I was right, he was wrong. I said he'd lose his keys,' Uygur said
Uygur, the founder of leftist media network The Young Turks, confronted Lichtman on Piers Morgan 's show Tuesday
Lichtman's 13 keys include things like incumbency, incumbent charisma, challenger charisma, foreign policy failure, and foreign policy success.
The prognosticator was certain Kamala Harris would win, at first by a landslide, and then by a trickle.
But as Trump stormed to victory, Lichtman's miscalculation was unavoidable.
'I'm not doing any interviews, I'm done,' he said as the election results came in.
'Good thing I have nothing to do tomorrow,' the 77-year-old who predicted a Trump win in 2016 continued.
He then went full throttle against Trump, claiming the president won't see out his second term.
'You know what happens if Trump wins? He won't serve a full term, he'll turn it over to JD Vance,' he said, citing Trump's advanced age.
His son, Sam, appeared similarly stumped by the results playing out in real-time.
Uygur and the other guests appeared stunned by Lichtman's denial
Lichtman thanked his fans for tuning in, before signing off for the night.
'I'm heartened from all the kind emails I've been getting, a lot of people say we should keep doing this show.
'I'm going to sleep all day tomorrow,' he added immediately after.
At several points, the seasoned professor appeared to grimace and cradle his face -as he tracked the results on-screen.
Just last month, Lichtman came forward to claim Harris had met what he believed to his critical objectives for victory - telling CTV News how his made-up metrics are 'based on a fundamental understanding of how American presidential elections really work.
The forecasts raised eyebrows - as it had come from a man who has accurately predicted nearly every single US presidential election since 1984.
Still, Lichtman has been wrong in the past - albeit just once, in 2000, when he erroneously predicted a win for Al Gore.
In that case, part of the prediction did come true, in the sense that Gore snagged the popular vote.
He technically did not hold himself to the same standard in 2016, when he predicted Donald Trump would win, though he did not note that Trump lost the popular vote.
However, this time around, that was far from the case.
The ease with which Trump took soared to victory baffled Lichtman.
'What? That’s not possible,' he exclaimed. as projections showed Trump winning the Hispanic vote in all-important Pennsylvania.
'The world has turned upside down, that’s all I can say,' Lichtman added at another point - as more states turned red.
Massaging his temples well into the stream while saying there had been 'nothing positive for Harris yet', he went on to engage in a full-on facepalm when it became clear all seven of the states billed as being keys to victory had gone to Trump.
At that point, the visibly defeated academic thanked onlookers for tuning in, including those mockingly donating to the languishing livestream.
He went on to conceded his so-called 'Keys [to victory] were wrong' - pointing to his 13 keys method to victory that he said Harris had met eight of.
'A lot of people believe the future of the country is on the line here, and the democracy of America could be a thing of the past,' Lichtman concluded by saying, adding, 'I don’t think that’s an illegitimate fear.'
'I’m so worried about the future of our election, you know... democracy is precious but like all precious things, it can be destroyed,' he added.
