Last night Don Lemon doubled down on his hateful rhetoric about Trump voters and anyone who aligns themselves with the Republican party. After maliciously smearing millions of Americans of being on the same side as the KKK and Nazis, Lemon falsely claimed Thursday night that Republicans “condoned what happened at the Capitol" and were the same as the rioters and the white supremacists in Charlottesville. Not only that, but the racism and bigotry of the GOP started decades ago under “horrible” President Ronald Reagan.
Host Chris Cuomo stayed on for a few minutes in his handoff to Lemon to bash Republicans who are not going to convict the former President in his second impeachment trial. Cuomo argued many Republicans were retiring and could vote “their conscience” to convict. But Lemon pushed back, saying Republicans had already given up their consciences for Trump:
“They are the party that is condoning what happened at the Capitol. They are the party that is condoning bigotry, the party that's condoning racism. They are complicit in all of this,” Lemon gushed, adding, “It's not fealty to Trump. That’s who they are. He is just confirming who they are. He is just giving what they are a platform. He's allowing them to be who they are. That's what it is. You don’t go against your principles, your morals, your conscience.”
As Cuomo tried to contrast today’s current GOP to the party of Ronald Reagan, Lemon pushed back, insisting that hatred and division started decades ago, under that “horrible” president:
LEMON: I'm just saying people hold him up to be -- Reagan was not perfect. Reagan was horrible--
CUOMO: Perfect? He gave us one of the biggest deficits we've ever seen and absolutely fed the divide.
LEMON: I'm saying they hold him up to a gold standard.
CUOMO:--Compared to these cats--
LEMON: When you look at what he actually accomplished- he didn’t! He was horrible when it came to racial issues, he was horrible when it came to the AIDS crisis. He was horrible when it came to uniting the country. He didn’t unite the country; he was a divider! So they hold him up as a gold standard. Listen I just think it's degrees but I think the Republican Party has been moving in this direction forever. Again, they are the party of everything that they're trying to pretend that they're not. The people in the Capitol, that's not us. Yes, it is you! The people that were in Charlottesville, that's not us. Yes, it is you! They're not marching for Democrats.
The CNN hosts immediately went into defending left-wing rioting, calling comparisons of the Capitol Hill violence to the rioting and looting from the left this Summer, that also resulted in deaths and left billions of dollars in damages, “apples and oranges:”
"This whole weird thing that they keep saying, what about the riots and demonstration that happened this Summer? That's apples and Oranges. First of all, the demonstrations, the protests were for something that's real," Lemon argued, with Cuomo adding, "systemic inequality."
Lemon downplayed the violence and slammed the comparison as 'BS':
"Those people were not marching because Joe Biden or any other democratic presidential candidate told them to go there and March and told them, hey, we're going to go take up Portland. Nobody did that! So for them to compare the two is B.S. One has nothing to do with the other. Demonstrations, people protesting, it's not perfect," he stated. Cuomo added, that "most protests are not peaceful," and that "throwing things" comes with the territory because righteous "outrage" leads to change.
Circling back to Reagan, Cuomo pointed to his late father's DNC speech criticizing the president back in the '80s, but said that even a Reagan-type president would be "a step in the right direction."
It ended with Lemon disagreeing: "The Republican Party again, my point, has been moving in this direction for a long time."
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Read the relevant transcript below:
CNN Tonight
2/11/2021
DON LEMON: They are the party that is condoning what happened at the Capitol. They are the party that is condoning bigotry, the party that's condoning racism. They are complicit in all of this. Because you are what you eat, and guess what? They have been eating everything that Donald Trump has been regurgitating for the past five years and that is the Republican party right now.
CHRIS CUOMO: Because that's what's on the menu. They will be forced to own it. This is more them on trial than Trump.
LEMON: I'm not saying they shouldn't have to trial, I'm just, how can can they not face all this evidence? That's what they're going to do.
CUOMO: I'm with you. That's why I look at it in reverse. America already decided about Donald Trump. He was voted out with the biggest number we've ever seen. This trial is much more about the future of his party than anything else….
(...)
CUOMO: But 34 are retiring or don't have a primary coming up. So their fealty comes with no penalty, if they’re not that way. They can vote their conscience.
LEMON: It's not fealty to Trump. That’s who they are. He is just confirming who they are. He is just giving what they are a platform. He's allowing them to be who they are. That's what it is. You don’t go against your principles, your morals, your conscience.
CUOMO: Reagan and Bush Republicans were nothing like these guys.
LEMON: I don't know about that.
CUOMO: Just the issue of immigration. Look how Reagan and George H.W. Bush talked about immigration--
LEMON: Reagan was the first presidential election that I voted in. And listen --
CUOMO: You went for the hair, didn't you?
LEMON: I'm just saying people hold him up to be -- Reagan was not perfect. Reagan was horrible--
CUOMO: Perfect? He gave us one of the biggest deficits we've ever seen and absolutely fed the divide.
LEMON: I'm saying they hold him up to a gold standard.
CUOMO:--Compared to these cats--
LEMON: When you look at what he actually accomplished- he didn’t! He was horrible when it came to racial issues, he was horrible when it came to the AIDS crisis. He was horrible when it came to uniting the country. He didn’t unite the country; he was a divider! So they hold him up as a gold standard. Listen I just think it's degrees but I think the Republican party has been moving in this direction forever. Again, they are the party of everything that they're trying to pretend that they're not. The people in the Capitol, that's not us. Yes, it is you! The people that were in Charlottesville, that's not us. Yes, it is you! They're not marching for Democrats. This whole weird thing that they keep saying, what about the riots and demonstration that happened this Summer? That's apples and Oranges. First of all, the demonstrations, the protests were for something that's real.
CUOMO: Systemic inequality.
LEMON: It was for Inequality, it was for police brutality. It was for all those things. People rising up for their right. What happened at the capitol was built on a lie. The riots that happened this summer were people capitalizing on the people out there who were fighting for things that were real. It's awful you had those things, but guess what -- those people were not marching because Joe Biden or any other democratic presidential candidate told them to go there and March and told them, hey, we're going to go take up Portland.
CUOMO: That's all true.
LEMON: Nobody did that! So for them to compare the two is B.S. One has nothing to do with the other. Demonstrations, people protesting, it's not perfect. But to have all of those people there fighting against police officers in the name of a president is something that is completely different, and they're embarrassing themselves by comparing it.
CUOMO: Most protests are not peaceful. It's peaceful assembly under the First Amendment, but they're angry, they’re hostile, they’re throwing things. They're angry. They're there out of outrage. That’s always my point. I mean, people want black people to go out there and sing gospel hymns and go home. That’s not how you’re going to get change.
LEMON: We shall overcome.
CUOMO: If there’s no anger, there’s nothing for people to understand and think and there's nothing for leaders to weigh. That's always been my point. Once you cross that line and you become what you oppose and you do things that are criminal, then you’re a criminal. But look, the relativism is what's killing us. The relativism is what made everything ok. And Degrees matter, Don. You don't have to tell me about Ronald Reagan. My father, may he rest in peace, made his bones in politics criticizing Ronald Reagan. That was his famous speech, of a tale of two cities, my father was in contrast to Reagan. I get it, I believe me. But degrees matter. Compared to this guy that they just voted out, those guys would have been a step in the right direction.
LEMON: Let's just -- listen, the Republican party again, my point, has been moving in this direction for a long time...
