‘It’s Not Dark, It’s Not Tense’: MSNBC Struggles To Accept Fun Vibe Of Army Birthday Parade

As President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — along with others in the administration — joined together to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday on Saturday, several at MSNBC appeared to struggle with the fact that the overall vibe on the ground was less fraught and more fun.

Host Chris Hayes compared the scene to typical Trump rallies — which he claimed could be “very tense” and sometimes had a “dark, malevolent energy” — and then seemed genuinely surprised to note that the scene playing out at the National Mall had a very different feel.

WATCH:

Over at MSNBC, they’re almost SHOCKED the celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday isn’t “tense” and doesn’t have “dark, malevolent energy.”

These people… pic.twitter.com/ZO0fxWohsI

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“One thing I will say — I want to go back to you, Ali, again, when we talk about the sort of tension in the country,” Hayes began. “And sometimes, you know, you and I have both been at Trump rallies, those can be, you know, very tense, a kind of — I would say a kind of dark, malevolent energy sometimes in them. Not always, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the energy on the Mall today, which I think is a good sign, right?”

“Correct,” Ali Velshi — who was on location — replied. “You’re — you’re really correct about that, Chris, and it’s something that we — that we were watching for. I’m just sort of surprised by the number of people who were at the front of the parade watching, cheering, and then would come and ask to take a selfie.”

“This is a very different mood here,” Velshi continued. “People seem to be going out of their way to say that they’re here to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday.”

He said he’d seen one guy carrying a sign that said, “TRUMP 2028,” but that most people were not bringing politics into the celebration.

“It’s not dark. It’s not tense,” he said. “It’s different.”