If you want Chris Matthews to change his mind, just wait a minute. In just over a minute on Morning Joe today, Matthews changed his election prediction from agreeing with Joe Scarborough that Trump would win and that Bernie Sanders would squeak out a victory to changing his prediction to a win by Hillary Clinton. However, the most fascinating part of his quick change of prediction was his frozen face when put on the spot by Scarborough as weird undulations played out over the surface. A body language expert could have a field day analyzing what was going through the Hardball host's mind while he remained uncharacteristically quiet during his deep think face freeze:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I think that's going to be tight. And I'm only saying that because Hillary underperformed so badly here eight years ago. If I had to bet I would bet Bernie by just a little bit only because Hillary underperformed so badly here eight years ago.
At the 1:06 mark, Matthews agreed with Scarborough.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I think you're right.
Fast forward 50 seconds to the 1:56 mark and Chris was asked to reaffirm his previous prediction agreement with Scarborough:
SCARBOROUGH: So you're saying Trump and Bernie by a hair?
(Long face freeze by Matthews)
SCARBOROUGH (continuing): ...Is that what you're saying? You said you agreed with me.
MATTHEWS (pause continues): ...I agree with the first part. I think Hillary has a lot of spine behind her people.
That change of prediction took exactly one minute and one second and after some cross talk by the panel, Matthews confirmed his change of prediction.
MATTHEWS: ...I say Hillary and Trump.
What is just as fascinating as the quick turnaround by Matthews was what was playing out on his frozen face which seemed to go from deer in the headlight shock at the realization that he was being pinned down on the prediction followed by some strange mouth movements that seemed amused that he had been "trapped" into agreeing with Scarborough. The entire face freeze drama played out over eight seconds but on first viewing it seemed interminable as Matthews apparently attempted to calculate what prediction he should finally yield up. Hey, the advantage here is that whether Hillary wins or loses, Chris can still claim to have been right depending on which side of the one minute prediction change he chooses.
Exit question: Will Willie Geist, who has had strange facial expression issues of his own, entertain us with an impression of Chris Matthews' frozen face reaction?
