Former CNN host Don Lemon mentioned he was fuming after seeing former President Barack Obama chumming it up with President-elect Donald Trump through the funeral service for former President Jimmy Carter final week.
On Saturday, Lemon posted an explosive video, angrily reacting to Obama sharing a lighthearted second along with his political rival as they waited for the eulogy to start.
“Barack Obama is an aesthetic man. However these are the exact same MAGA individuals who have known as and Donald Trump has helped promote, calling Michelle Obama a person,” Lemon mentioned. “I’m not smiling in your face should you’re calling my sister and my mom or my spouse or my girlfriend a person. F–ok you!”
Lemon started his rant by stating that he wasn’t involved with the substance of their dialog, however reasonably the “optics” of the cordial interplay. The newscaster expressed concern that the change may very well be inadvertently supporting the conservative agenda.
“Individuals had many, many questions. How may Barack Obama, the person who confronted vicious, racist conspiracies for years due to Trump act so buddy-buddy with him? Does he not bear in mind birtherism? Does he not bear in mind how for years Trump lied about how he was secretly born in Africa? Does he not bear in mind how Trump steered that he was secretly a Muslim who was sympathetic to terrorist teams and terrorist causes?” Lemon mentioned, referring to assaults Trump has repeatedly mounted in opposition to Obama all through his presidency and past.
Lemon then complained about how Democrats spent a lot of the 2024 marketing campaign evaluating Trump to Hitler, however now appeared to be giving him a move regardless of a transparent alternative to place Trump on the spot and maintain him accountable.
“Maybe extra critically, does he not bear in mind how his whole political celebration has been calling the person a fascist, an autocrat, a menace to democracy for months if not years? Individuals couldn’t consider what they had been seeing. Had the Democratic Occasion lied to them? Had Kamala Harris and Joe Biden lied to them?” Lemon added.
Lemon then acknowledged that whereas Obama’s interplay with the Republican was stunning, he understood the challenges of navigating such a second throughout a funeral.
“Look, in actuality, Barack Obama was simply doing his obligation. The previous president had died and he inevitably was going to must brush shoulders with Trump there in the identical presidential membership. Proper. What was the choice? To not watch Jimmy Carter be laid to relaxation?” he acknowledged. “Now, I believe he had no alternative, however laughing at Trump’s jokes on digicam? It was dangerous, type of cringy.”
Lemon warned that Democrats must be cautious about how they have interaction with Trump going ahead, as their actions may alienate voters who’ve considered him as a harmful determine.
“Optics like this are issues that Democrats have to contemplate going ahead. They spent years, if not months, if not years labeling Trump a political aberration, somebody merciless, if not evil, outdoors the norm. Their voters might really feel lied to if they seem to embrace him now. You’ll be able to’t simply reminiscence gap evaluating somebody to Hitler. So, Democrats, you’ve acquired to remember forward of Trump’s inauguration and albeit, for the following 4 years, like what that appears like, your conduct across the man will matter. It does matter.”
Lemon identified that even Mike Pence’s spouse dealt with her interplay with Trump on the occasion with extra restraint than Obama, suggesting that the previous president’s method appeared too pleasant given the context.
“You’ll be able to’t permit Karen Pence to current as a extra steadfast defender of democracy, a extra brave critic of Trump, than yourselves. Democrats, your outdated impulse to prioritize good relationships together with your conservative colleagues in any respect prices. It’s acquired to finish,” Lemon fumed.
On his YouTube present, Lemon additionally criticized MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for a phase through which they steered that folks ought to method the incoming president with civility and with the identical bedside method as Obama.
Throughout the dialogue with Michael Steele and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker, Glasser in contrast Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin and warned in opposition to exhibiting the incoming administration undue deference.
Lemon then seized on Glasser’s feedback to name out Scarborough and Brzezinski for his or her controversial November assembly with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, condemning the concept of extending an olive department to revive civil discourse after a contentious election.
“You need to point out to the American folks that this isn’t regular … grinning with somebody that you’ve got known as a fascist over the past couple of years and the final months. That’s not regular,” Lemon mentioned. “People are bored with the conduct being normalized. Civility doesn’t imply befriending folks or forgoing your morals and your rules and your character.”
Nonetheless on a roll, Lemon declared, “If somebody disrespects my liked one, I don’t must smile of their f–king face!”
