CNN Tonight host Don Lemon criticized fellow CNN host Chris Cuomo Thursday night for bringing pro-Trump guest Kayleigh McEnany on his show the night before. Lemon argued CNN shouldn’t be a platform for “liars” like McEnany while he defended the media as truth-tellers who “apologize” and retract reports when they “get it wrong.”
As Cuomo was signing off from his 9pm EST show, Lemon made him hang around so he could read him the definition of a “lie” and lecture him about bringing on people who campaign for President Trump. He was referring to McEnany claiming to Cuomo Wednesday that President Trump hasn’t lied. That prompted the pair to smugly pat each other on the back for always telling the truth and apologizing when they lie, er, “get it wrong:”
CUOMO: When the president says something that's wrong, okay, he was wrong. We can talk about his intelligence, his competence, his preparation. This is different. We both know it. He says things that he knows are untrue, he knows are divisive. He says them anyway in an attempt to deceive.
LEMON: There’s a big difference too--In your interview last night -- they love calling out the media. We're the scapegoat. We're the easiest target. But guess what? When the media gets it wrong, what do we do?
CUOMO: Apologize. Correct it.
LEMON: We got it wrong! I'm sorry, we got it wrong. Here's the right information. Which that's what anyone should do, especially when you're in a position of authority, as we are.
That’s quite a blanket statement, especially considering the media still hasn’t apologized for peddling the Russia-Trump collusion conspiracy.
But Lemon kept whining to Cuomo that CNN shouldn’t give Trump surrogates a platform because they would just deceive viewers. Cuomo pointed out that no one on the left would be happy with him no matter who he brought on that supported Trump, which Lemon disagreed with:
LEMON: Listen, I don't want to go back over last night, but, you know, which was a topic of discussion today among people about whether or not, you know, people are deceiving you, whether or not you should even give them the space to do it. You feel one way. Yours is legitimate. I feel another way. I don't think it serves the viewer. I would rather, you know, have someone on who is going to be --
CUOMO: How do you conduct the journalism of vetting this campaign if you do not have people on who represent him?
LEMON: [pauses] Um, you can have people on who represent him, but --
CUOMO: No one is ever acceptable to people who want to use that argument because it's very rare to see someone on the left say that someone who supports Trump is not a liar about everything that they say….
Finally, after Cuomo claimed anyone from the Trump campaign would make excuses for his lies, Lemon gushed, “So you're proving the point then. Then what's the point? [laughs] What’s the point?!”
Lemon being self-righteous about bringing on guests who lie is rich. Afterall, he brought on Michael Avenatti numerous times.
Ina related story, Don Lemon has booked Michael Avenatti on his program dozens of times while hosting him at a private party at his Hamptons home. https://t.co/soBSfh4A2R
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) August 30, 2019
Read a partial transcript of the exchange, below:
CNN Tonight
8/29/19
10:01-10:06:17PM EST
DON LEMON: Let me read this. So this is the definition of a lie. Per yes, Merriam Webster, okay? An assertion of something known by the speaker or believer writer to be untrue with the intent to deceive.” Okay. So with the intent. Here is B: “An untrue or inaccurate statement that may or may not be believed true by the speaker or writer.” It doesn't matter. They're still saying the wrong thing. It is a lie or a misrepresentation of the truth.
CHRIS CUOMO: There are lots of words for it...
LEMON: But a lie's a lie all day long.
CUOMO: That's exactly right.
LEMON: For these folks to say the president doesn't lie or you're maybe misunderstanding how he's communicating. Come on. That's rich, but --
CUOMO: There is a very simple test for it. Is it an excuse that they would offer to their political opponent? If they would say the same thing about their political opponent then they're fine saying it about this president, but it never is because they do whataboutism on everything. Well, what about when President Obama said you can keep your doctor? Being wrong isn't the same as
lying. Two plus two is 4 1/2. Wrong. It's not a lie. Not if I didn't know that. It's not just about being wrong. When the president says something that's wrong, okay, he was wrong. We can talk about his intelligence, his competence, his preparation. This is different. We both know it. He says things that he knows are untrue, he knows are divisive. He says them anyway in an attempt to deceive.
LEMON: There’s a big difference too--In your interview last night -- they love calling out the media. We're the scapegoat. We're the easiest target. But guess what? When the media gets it wrong, what do we do?
CUOMO: Apologize. Correct it.
LEMON: We got it wrong! I'm sorry, we got it wrong. Here's the right information. Which that's what anyone should do, especially when you're in a position of authority, as we are. If you get it wrong you say, I'm sorry, I'll do better next time and you keep it moving. You don't say, okay, just keep doing it and have other people make excuses for it.
CUOMO: Well, you do, you do if the currency changes. If the currency becomes that any giving in is weakness, and that this is all about strength and the perception of power and might then you do what this president does. You deny, deny, deny, and if you accuse me, I say the same is true of you or worse, and I tell people if you're with me you'll believe me and not him. If you're going to make the currency that anything about apologizing, anything about being wrong is weakness then you're going to act the way he does. And he does it all day long.
LEMON: Listen, I don't want to go back over last night, but, you know, which was a topic of discussion today among people about whether or not, you know, people are deceiving you, whether or not you should even give them the space to do it. You feel one way. Yours is legitimate. I feel another way. I don't think it serves the viewer. I would rather, you know, have someone on who is going to be --
CUOMO: How do you conduct the journalism of vetting this campaign if you do not have people on who represent him?
LEMON: [pauses] Um, you can have people on who represent him, but --
CUOMO: No one is ever acceptable to people who want to use that argument because it's very rare to see someone on the left say that someone who supports Trump is not a liar about everything that they say. It's very rare that any of his defenders who find him acceptable--
LEMON: I would disagree with you about that. We have Trump supporters on all the time and we hold them accountable and to the truth and they don't make excuses for everything this president does. There are folks like last night, excuse about everything.
CUOMO: Well, she's working for the campaign and he does not suffer anything short of that, Don! You will not be around him very long if you are in the business of exposing his flaws!
LEMON: So you're proving the point then. Then what's the point? [laughs] What’s the point?!
CUOMO: The point is it's the job of us to test and expose and let people see it for what it is. One, so that they can believe their eyes and ears. And, two, if they're against it, they know how to oppose it.
LEMON: I'm not going to go over this again. That is in a normal world when it was liberal versus conservative, Republican versus Democrats. This is about truth versus lies. And I don't think people need the space to promote propaganda and lies. I think that's a disservice. It's not a service. It's not testing. It's allowing someone who -- giving them a platform that they haven't deserved, that they don't deserve.
CUOMO: Well, she is -- somebody is a main adviser to the president or when somebody is the main spokesperson for a campaign, that decision has been made --
LEMON: Coming on a major network like CNN, it is a privilege, it is not a right. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech or freedom of expression. It is a privilege to come on to be able to talk directly to the American people, and if you have that privilege then you should respect the American people and the host of that show and the platform and the company, the brand, enough to come on and tell the truth. And if your candidate doesn't tell the truth you can say, listen, I can't answer for that. I don't know why. This is where I think he said or should say--he doesn’t lie--
CUOMO: This has been exaggerated, but you've never had a spokesperson for a campaign come on here and say that their candidate did something wrong or lied about it and they shouldn’t have. This guy didn't start it. He's enhancing it, he’s using it in a new way.
LEMON: He's weaponized it. He's perfecting it.
CUOMO: You won’t have them on? I will. That’s why they need us both.
