This is not a slip of the tongue. Smith serves with Vance in the Senate. She has to be familiar with his life story. This was an attempt to set a narrative with CNN's native demographic of low-functioning midwits. Note how reluctant Acosta is to upset the apple cart.

Taken together, these two things indicate that Donald Trump and JD Vance are facing opponents who will casually tell the most extravagant lies and stoop to the worst kind of slanderous comments because they know their audience doesn't care and they have no fear of being challenged by the media.