CNN’s Don Lemon was, of course, outraged by President Trump’s remark that the U.S. shouldn’t grant entrance “people from sh*thole countries” (i.e., from Haiti and Africa). Trump would prefer to admit folks from Norway, which Lemon addressed with no subtlety. “The president of the United States is racist,” Lemon said while opening his monologue. “A lot of us already knew that.”
From there, Lemon bluntly repeated “sh*thole countries” several times while describing Trump’s comments as “frankly, disgusting.” Whereas Anderson Cooper was on the verge of tears while addressing the matter, however, Lemon was upset but full of levelheaded fire. “There’s other language I’d like to use, but we are on television,” he stated. “But you know what? They’re not shocking. They’re not even really surprising. Because this is who Donald Trump is.”
Lemon then listed several examples — including how Trump announced his candidacy by calling Mexicans rapists, gave an infamous “both sides” speech, and took an adversarial stance on national anthem protests — of why he has ceased to be surprised at anything that comes out of the president’s mouth.
Shortly after the 2:00 mark, Lemon finally expressed a little disbelief toward how the White House behaves as if this is normal:
“Tonight, a CNN official told CNN that they’re not worried. They think this is good for them, and the president’s comments will actually resonate with his base … [shakes head] … jesus.”
The kicker, though? Lemon finishes the above monologue with a lecture toward those who referred to people of color as “racist and race baiters” while commenting on Trump’s incendiary rhetoric during the primary. His ending line: “As we say in the South, and you know what this means … bless your heart.”
Later in the program, Lemon booted conservative commentator and radio host John Fredericks for calling him “lazy” while attempting to justify Trump’s remarks. Frederick’s explanation was that Trump wasn’t making a racially-charged observation but an economic one, and Lemon fired right back: “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you sit here and insult me.”
Don Lemon just took @jfradioshow off the air after he called Lemon “lazy” and made excuses for @realDonaldTrump‘s racist comments about El Salvador, Haiti, and African countries. pic.twitter.com/kNVMoOxQlX
— Rantt News (@RanttNews) January 12, 2018
The entire hour was full of hot fire, but this line shall not be forgotten.
(Via CNN)