Disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon expressed on his Wednesday podcast that he has had enough of the way legacy media was covering the Texas floods. The problem wasn’t that the media was trying to politicize the event, unnecessarily and inaccurately placing blame on President Trump’s cuts to various government weather agencies. The problem was that the media wasn’t politicizing it enough.
Reading from a Substack article he published, Lemon was eager to express: “Texas is drowning, so is American journalism. Texans are dying. The government is lying. And the media? Too many are too afraid to say it out loud.” His accusation was not just that the Trump administration was responsible for the worsening of the floods, but also that they were threatening the media to say otherwise.
He continued pointing a finger, growing more direct with his claim as he ranted:
This disaster in Texas didn't just happen. It wasn't just the weather. It wasn't just an act of God. This catastrophe, this deadly devastating tragedy that has left hundreds dead and missing, was made worse by choices. By deliberate, calculated actions from the Trump administration.
Throughout his podcast, Lemon tried to juxtapose the suffering of the citizens with the supposed dishonesty of the government, both at the local and federal level. He complained about local government for taking the time to thank the heroes who saved lives instead of answering who was to blame. He put the blood on the White House’s hands for supposedly ignoring the warning signs of this incident.
All the while, he tried to buy sympathy by highlighting the difficult times the victims faced, even as he accused the media of showing too much sympathy in their reporting. He compared today’s reporting to that on Hurricane Katrina:
The journalists who covered Katrina wouldn't survive in today's newsrooms. They'd be told that they were too emotional, they were too biased, that they were too bad for business. It's a business decision, it's business. That's the excuse. But you know what's really bad for business, and that's cowardice. It's bad for the media, it's bad for democracy, it's a – it's fatal for the people drowning, literally and figuratively, because of it.
In case you were wondering, reporting on Hurricane Katrina was certainly biased. Many in the media looked for any excuse to blame President George W. Bush, also a Republican, for a natural disaster he could have had no influence on. Ironically, the “too biased” reporting, which NewsBusters covered at the time, paled in comparison to the modern media’s treatment of the floods.
Legacy media’s problem is not that they are stifled by the presidency. The problem is that their reporting is stifled by their obsessive hatred for the president. Good reporting is not glossing over suffering to push an agenda and get more information. It should strive for the truth while still prioritizing the known facts and reality of the situation, something Lemon and many others in the media seem to have long forgotten.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read.
The Don Lemon Show
July 9, 2025
DON LEMON: There's something that I have to say, and it has really been weighing on my mind, and I've been wondering if I should say it because the people of Texas are really going through it right now, and I didn't want to be a distraction to the folks of Texas. I waited a little bit, but (Pauses) I am outraged, number one, by the response that this administration has had and the lack of accountability, and number two, I've been outraged really by the media coverage. I know it's always really easy to blame the media, and I hated that, especially when I was in legacy media, traditional media. But this one is – I think that needs to be said, okay?
And I just want to be clear about this, and this is, I wrote about this on Substack. I just wanna be clear from the very first sentence, it says “Texas is drowning, so is American journalism. Texans are dying. The government is lying. And the media? Too many are too afraid to say it out loud.” Okay? And I just had to do this because I believe this to be true.
And I start by saying, let's just be clear from the very first sentence: “this disaster in Texas didn't just happen. It wasn't just the weather. It wasn't just an act of God. This catastrophe, this deadly devastating tragedy that has left hundreds dead and missing, was made worse by choices. By deliberate, calculated actions from the Trump administration.”
So I don't wanna say, you know, “Oh my God, this is the, you know, blame everything on the media.” I also wanna say I know that the Trump administration does not control the weather. I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene may think that, you know, that the weather is controlled by, you know, the deep state, the Jewish space lasers and all of that. I'm not that dumb to think that. But this administration gutted FEMA. That's what I mean by accountability and what's happened here. They slashed funding for NOAA.
They strip disaster preparedness programs to the bone while pumping billions into DOGE, is what they did it. Billions into DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has become little more than a slush fund for political revenge and favors. What did they find? DOGE did not find that – they didn't save anything. If you look at the reporting and the map, they didn't. Look at the devastation on your screen and what's happening in Texas. Look at that. Imagine what the people there are dealing with.
This White House set the stage for this disaster. They ignored warnings about heat, about flooding, about the collapse of critical infrastructure, and now, guess what they're doing? Now they are hiding behind press conferences and photo ops while Texans mourn. And yet somehow, too many in the media, and I'm being honest here, they're afraid to say that out loud.
(...)
The Trump administration has created this climate of fear; they've done it deliberately. They're slashing agencies, they're weaponizing others, threatening media licenses, and pushing networks to fire or silence the journalists who dare to stand up. But you can't protect democracy if you're afraid of losing your job. You can't hold power accountable if you're too busy kissing the ring. You can't tell the truth if your bosses won't let you, and you won't walk away for telling the truth.
The journalists who covered Katrina wouldn't survive in today's newsrooms. They'd be told that they were too emotional, they were too biased, that they were too bad for business. It's a business decision, it's business. That's the excuse. But you know what's really bad for business, and that's cowardice. It's bad for the media, it's bad for democracy, it's a – it's fatal for the people drowning, literally and figuratively because of it.
The journalists of Katrina weren't perfect, but they did what mattered most. They cared more about the truth than their careers, and that is what's missing today. Until that changes, until media owners stop groveling and journalists stop cowering, this country will keep sliding deeper into disaster. Because the floodwaters are rising again.
