I see your point. But he may have just been trying to “talk to them in their own language” - just trying to engage them in their own familiar subject but doing a clumsy job of it and coming on a little too strong. Doubtless, it didn’t seem to go over very well from the reports.
The articles I’ve read haven’t been all that critical of him, kind of treat him as a goof. As did the people at the Yeshiva he was addressing. FR makes a lot more of it, and I’m sure sites on the left do, or would if he was a contender. I think it was just a boneheaded mistake, he was trying to demonstrate his “knowledge”, not correct Jewish doctrine.