CNN Tonight host Don Lemon continued to foment division and hatred Monday night for people who disagreed with him and CNN, declaring after President Trump’s address to the nation that America’s “teetering on a dictatorship” and “declaring war on Americans.”
As if to signal that he’s set on more violence, Lemon warned that Trump’s “playing a very, very dangerous game” as Americans “feel like they are occupied in their own communities by police departments.”
Lemon built up by complaining that the speech he’d spent days demanding Trump give was no more than “a made for television moment,” including Attorney General Bill Barr “survey[ing] the troops” before the speech “to create this moment for the cameras.”
After mocking his phone call with governors earlier in the day and Trump as “sacred,” Lemon let loose by demanding the country to “open your eyes” because “we are teetering on a dictatorship” and “chaos.”
“Has the President — I'm listening — is the President declaring war on Americans? What is happening here,” he added.
That’s interesting seeing as how CNN has spent the past few days declaring war on Americans who don’t think like them.
Lemon continued to rant that Trump was “playing a very, very dangerous game here” seeing as how “[t]here are a lot of Americans who are out on these streets who are upset, who are frustrated, who are angry.”
As he’s done for almost a week now, Lemon offered a meaningless, one-sentence claim he’s not for rioting and violence before continuing his warpath against all law enforcement, pouring more gasoline on the country’s dire state of affairs:
Again, I'm not condoning violence at all, and I hope that they remain peaceful, but I hope that they stand up and fight for their rights to peacefully protest in this country, but he's playing a very dangerous game, because this will backfire. People are upset and they're angry. These people as I've been saying as well, they feel like they are occupied in their own communities by police departments. Many of them militarized police departments. Now the entire country, according to his orders, we are living under a militarized country or we will be soon and it will play out in front of our very eyes on national television.
Lemon returned on Erin Burnett OutFront for a second round, which began by ironically claiming on Jeffrey Zucker’s network that President Trump has “acting” and “pretending to be a president.”
He reiterated that Trump has been playing “a very, very dangerous game” and purposefully “igniting tensions” that “I hope this doesn’t turn out to backfire.”
Giving implicit support for Joe Biden, Lemon ruled that “sensible Americans will realize” that “America is not a dictatorship” and “police state.” He concluded (click “expand”):
When people are crying out to be heard, when they are protesting on the street, that means they are angry, they are hurt, and they want to be heard. We have the strongest, biggest military force in the world. We have very strong very big police forces all over cities and municipalities in this country. We can stop rioters anytime we want. We can stop looters anytime we want. We can stop people who are breaking laws any time we want, but what we can't figure out is how to deal with people who are hurting, Americans who are just like us who live in the same communities, it's not adjacent communities who share the same land and the same values.
We cannot figure out how to get along with them, bring them into the fold and as the President of the United States represent those people and engage those people without siccing military — the military on them and armed forces on them? There is a problem and a lack of understanding and empathy coming from the highest office of the land and the person who holds that office is Donald J. Trump.
To see the relevant CNN transcript from June 1, click “expand.”
CNN’s The Situation Room
June 1, 2020
6:51 p.m. EasternWOLF BLITZER: Alright, so there’s the President of the United States making a six or seven minute statement declaring he is the President of law and order and he will stop what's going on right now. And as he was speaking right across the street from the white house, there was a peaceful demonstration in Lafayette Park by protesters who were simply shouting, making statements, but they were not threatening anyone and all of a sudden, military panel, military police, uniformed Secret Service police, mounted police went in to disperse and they were firing tear gas in the process, rubber bullets we're told as well. The President saying he's going to use an old law to deploy military personnel to deal with all of this. He says these are professional anarchists who were responsible. Once again, as he has for the past several days, he blamed a far left group, Antifa, for this. They will lose or he will win, he said. This is our mission, we will succeed, he said, 100 percent. Mobilizing all resources, he said, citing an old law, civilian and military, the Insurrection Act of 1807, he was mobilizing that to deal with the riots he said and lawlessness. This situation is about to get clearly a whole not worse. Not only here at the White House in Washington, D.C., but bracing for angry reaction in other major cities around the United States as well. And remember in only about eight minutes, there's supposed to be a curfew that's taking place here in the nation's capitol. Everyone's supposed to be off the streets. We’ll see what happens at that moment. Don Lemon, the President did not mince from his perspective any words at all.
DON LEMON: He did not, Wolf and just as the President was coming out I was trying to make the point to you this was a major TV moment. This is the reason, as I said earlier, that the attorney general came out with survey the troops because they wanted to create this moment for the cameras. So that when the President came out and gave his law and order speech which I said as well again for the cameras that there would be chaos on the streets of America. This was a made for television moment and what I wanted to say after that, which I believe to be true and I know to be true now is that earlier on that phone call that we heard that Jim Acosta played for us earlier when the President said you are being weak, you have to show strength, that the Minneapolis Police Department was on fire, I've never seen anything like this before. I said he sounded weak and scared. Those were the orders from the commander in chief for this very moment that just happened in front of our eyes. Why were we pretending otherwise? Open your eyes, America. Open your eyes. We are teetering on a dictatorship. This is chaos. Has the president — I'm listening — is the President declaring war on Americans? What is happening here? He's saying he wants to protes — protect peaceful protest at the same time sending law enforcement and military into the streets to push peaceful protesters back, to be aggressive with peaceful protesters. He is doing the exact opposite of what he said in that speech I think the President is playing a very, very dangerous game here. There are a lot of Americans who are out on these streets who are upset, who are frustrated, who are angry. Again, I'm not condoning violence at all, and I hope that they remain peaceful, but I hope that they stand up and fight for their rights to peacefully protest in this country, but he's playing a very dangerous game, because this will backfire. People are upset and they're angry. These people as I've been saying as well, they feel like they are occupied in their own communities by police departments. Many of them militarized police departments. Now the entire country, according to his orders, we are living under a militarized country or we will be soon and it will play out in front of our very eyes on national television.
(....)
CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
June 1, 2020
7:20 p.m. EasternERIN BURNETT: Don Lemon, of course my colleague joins me on the phone along with Ben Jealous, the former president of the NAACP. You know, Don, to the point the governor was making, the president wanted this photo-op and he wanted to disperse that crowd because he wants an image of all of these protests being one thing, which is violent, which, of course, is not accurate.
LEMON: Yes, and — and, listen we work television. We know when someone is producing a moment and we know this President — this President comes from a reality show background and the fact that he says he is going to protect protesters, peaceful protesters and then sends in military or police officers to push them away when they're being peaceful is just really outrageous. And, Erin, we're New Yorkers. Donald Trump standing in front of a church with a Bible, really? Let's just be honest here. When was the last time Donald Trump saw a church even before he was President of the United States? When was the last time he cracked open a bible? I'm just saying. This is all for show. Donald Trump is pretending, in this moment, to be a president. Let's just all be real about this. He's pretending to be a President. He is mimicking the person that he adores, his hero, George Patton, and wants to return to this sort 1950s dominance for America. This is what he’s doing. This is all acting, all a show and he is performing what he thinks a leader should be like and what he thinks a president of the United States should be like. But guess what? This is a very, very dangerous game. He is possibly igniting tensions — not possibly. He's igniting tensions I know more. I hope this doesn't turn out to backfire on him because if it does, it's not going to play out well for many people in the United States beyond the President of the United States.
But if it does, we will watch those images play out on our television screens, and America will see this. This is all about getting re-elected in November of 2020. I'm not sure how much this is going to help the President. This may help his base, but sensible Americans will realize, and they know America is not a dictatorship. America is not a police state. When people are crying out to be heard, when they are protesting on the street, that means they are angry, they are hurt, and they want to be heard. We have the strongest, biggest military force in the world. We have very strong very big police forces all over cities and municipalities in this country. We can stop rioters anytime we want. We can stop looters anytime we want. We can stop people who are breaking laws any time we want, but what we can't figure out is how to deal with people who are hurting, Americans who are just like us who live in the same communities, it's not adjacent communities who share the same land and the same values. We cannot figure out how to get along with them, bring them into the fold and as the President of the United States represent those people and engage those people without siccing military — the military on them and armed forces on them? There is a problem and a lack of understanding and empathy coming from the highest office of the land and the person who holds that office is Donald J. Trump.
