And whose fault was that? One thing is for certain, the American people aren’t going to become Maddow’s collective scapegoat.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow blamed her viewers’ disappointment over her underwhelming “scoop” of President Donald Trump’s 2005 federal tax return on themselves. She claimed that they simply expected too much. The AP tweeted:

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TOO HYPED? Rachel @Maddow defends her @realdonaldtrump report from critics who say she oversold it https://t.co/EgM5YgPDG1 — AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) March 15, 2017

Maddow began a nearly two-hour promotion of her “breaking” news with an announcement on social media that “We’ve got Trump tax returns,” her tweet said. “(Seriously.)”

Network colleague Lawrence O’Donnell added that Maddow would be joining him on his own show immediately following hers to discuss “the night we’ve all been waiting for.”

When her show aired, she spent the first 20 minutes hyping it up, telling her viewers what Trump’s tax returns could prove, prompting occasional filmmaker Michael Moore to excitedly tweet, “Turn on Rachel @Maddow! MSNBC!”

While she continued to promote her “breaking” news on air, a clock in the background counted down the minutes until Maddow would make the big reveal.

When the time finally came for her to report her “breaking story,” it turned out to be a big, fat nothing-burger. Some might even call it, “fake news.”

The return was more than a decade old, it wasn’t a complete return with all the accompanying schedules, and it proved that Trump made a lot of money and he paid a lot of taxes.

Nevertheless, Maddow wasn’t about to take any responsiblity for the colossal embarrassment and cowardly claimed that her viewers’ disappointment was their own fault — her own breathless hype notwithstanding.

“Because I have information about the president doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a scandal,” she told The Associated Press. “It doesn’t mean that it’s damning information. If other people leapt to that conclusion without me indicating that it was, that hype is external to what we did.”

Really? Viewers took issue and didn’t hold back.

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@APEntertainment @maddow @realDonaldTrump she made it sound like the story of the year and it was nothing. shameful journalism. — Zac (@ohyeahsureok) March 15, 2017

@APEntertainment @AP @maddow @realDonaldTrump What else is she going to say but that? It was a non news story. Partisan got ya! That’s all. — Mark Davies (@markwendavies) March 15, 2017

@APEntertainment @AP @maddow @realDonaldTrump thats funny, she hasnt tweeted a thing since she ate her foot on live TV! ? — DP (@dominic_pirak) March 15, 2017

@komonews Um, she sent out a breathless Tweet & then @MSNBC put up a countdown clock, so, yeah. ? — Ellahbie? (@Ellahbie) March 15, 2017

@APEntertainment @AP @maddow @realDonaldTrump So she’s blaming the audience for the story sucking? — Tate△⃒⃘ (@TateKeane) March 15, 2017

Typical liberal response — pass the buck, it’s always somebody else’s fault.