Culture

Watch Don Lemon Absolutely Lose It On Jeffrey Lord Over That Dumb MLK Remark

Jeffrey Lord, a former Ronald Reagan administration official turned media surrogate for Donald Trump and the Republican party, isn’t having too good a time on CNN. While discussing the president’s efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare with the American Health Care Act on Thursday, Lord told fellow panelist Symone Sanders Trump’s efforts were comparable to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s crusade for civil rights. Needless to say, Sanders’ reaction was enough to kick-start a veritable storm for the conservative pundit — especially when he dropped by Don Lemon‘s program later than night.

Despite the other panelists’ best efforts to argue their points with Lord, the one-time hugger of Van Jones wouldn’t admit to the falseness of his comparison. In fact, he repeatedly tried to paint himself as a victim of a “straw man” campaign that had twisted his original comments around. (It hadn’t.) That’s when Lemon interjected, saying “you have three people you work with… of color.” Lord tried to interrupt, but Lemon continued: “We are telling you that that comparison was insulting, and you’re ignoring it. Don’t you think you should take that into consideration, whether or not you’re trying to make a point?”

Lord ignored Lemon’s point and stuck to his own defense, citing his time in the south and his father’s “[losing] his job standing up for a black waitress.” That’s when Lemon finally lost his patience:

“You’re not answering my question in the moment. Don’t take me back to some ‘before the war’ crap. I want to hear what you’re saying to the coworkers you work with now, Jeffrey. Answer the question now. I don’t want to hear about stuff from 50 [damn] years ago!”

“You’re not listening to us,” Lemon concluded as Lord simply talked through the tirade. At one point the latter even argued, “There are no people of color. There are only Americans.” So yeah, the joint shouting match basically accomplished nothing.

(Via Mediaite)