How much does CNN Tonight host Don Lemon hate Trump supporters? So much so that he had no choice but to “get rid of” those “addicts” from his life so they could “hit rock bottom.”
And according to him on Thursday night, “they are too far gone” and the only way he’ll let them back into his life was “if they're willing to come back and willing to live in reality, then I will welcome them with open arms.”
Lemon’s “sad” admission came in response to Prime Time host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo’s closing comments at the end of the previous hour, where he pleaded with Trump supporters not to go to Trump rallies so they don’t get sick.
The feigned sympathy for Trump supporters began with Lemon insisting that he had Republican friends, to begin with:
You know what the sad thing is? And I’ll be honest with you. I have many people who I love in my life. And yeah, I come from a red state. I’ve lived in several red states. There are a lot of friends I had to get rid of because they are so nonsensical when it comes to this issue. They have the whole – every single talking point that they hear on state TV and that they hear from this President. They repeat it and they are blinded by it.
“But here’s the thing, I had to get rid of them. Because they are too far gone. I try and I try and I try,” he moaned.
His grievances stemmed from their refusal to believe him when he would browbeat them with suggestions that red states were now the problem in the coronavirus pandemic (click "expand"):
They'll say something really stupid and then I’ll show them the science and I’ll give them any information, and they still repeat those talking points. And all the while, the state was a hot spot.
If you look at the information that we put up last night that came up yesterday, it showed you how the red states have now taken over where the blue states were. People came in because there are bigger cities and there’s more transmission, obviously, where there are more people are closer together. And so, now the red states are the problem.
Of course, there was no mention of how cases were also spiking in New York (again), Michigan, Wisconsin, and a host of other blue states. That’s not to mention blue states having a higher share of coronavirus deaths per capita. But that didn’t stop him from comparing Trump supporters to addicts.
“And I just had to get rid of a lot of people in my life because sometimes you have to let them go. I think they have to hit rock bottom like an addict, right,” he rhetorically asked Cuomo. “And they have to want to get help, they have to want to know the truth, they have to want to live in reality, they have to want to be responsible not only for other people's lives but for their lives.”
While Lemon wasn’t sure if he could ever let those people back into his life (it’s a really big assumption that they wanted him back in theirs), Cuomo had a similar encounter with failed presidential nominee Al Gore when they discussed the Trump “cult” during PrimeTime (Click “expand”):
CUOMO: As the head of the Climate Reality Project, this is big part of moral responsible this you guys argue all the time, is that you know the absence of leadership here will cost people lives and livelihoods going forward. Isn't that so much more acutely true right now with the pandemic?
I don't understand how the President can't be responsible for hundreds of thousands of people getting sick in his own communities of followers who are recklessly disregarding the accuracy of messaging in a show of support for him.
GORE: Yeah, I don't understand it either. Many analysts have used the word cult and the phrase cult-like. There's so much of a temptation on the part of some of his supporters to want to believe everything he says and it's tragic that he's letting them down so completely and so utterly.
And at one point in his show, Cuomo whined that “it is not the slam dunk that logic would tell you it would be” in terms of who people should be voting for in the election. Of course, Democratic nominee Joe Biden was his preferred candidate.
Don Lemon’s hatred for Trump supporters was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Consumer Cellular and Walmart. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about hateful programming their funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo PrimeTime
October 29, 2020
9:15:16 p.m. Eastern(…)
CHRIS CUOMO: Look, this could not be happening at a more important time. There is no avoiding the reality. The big question is, will this election be about people's desire for more and better on this pandemic. It is not the slam dunk that logic would tell you it would be. So, we're going to have to watch it every day.
(…)
9:40:50 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: As the head of the Climate Reality Project, this is big part of moral responsible this you guys argue all the time, is that you know the absence of leadership here will cost people lives and livelihoods going forward. Isn't that so much more acutely true right now with the pandemic?
I don't understand how the President can't be responsible for hundreds of thousands of people getting sick in his own communities of followers who are recklessly disregarding the accuracy of messaging in a show of support for him.
AL GORE: Yeah, I don't understand it either. Many analysts have used the word cult and the phrase cult-like. There's so much of a temptation on the part of some of his supporters to want to believe everything he says and it's tragic that he's letting them down so completely and so utterly.
(…)
CNN Tonight
October 29, 2020
10:02:58 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: You know what the sad thing is? And I’ll be honest with you. I have many people who I love in my life. And yeah, I come from a red state. I’ve lived in several red states. There are a lot of friends I had to get rid of because they are so nonsensical when it comes to this issue. They have the whole – every single talking point that they hear on state TV and that they hear from this President. They repeat it and they are blinded by it.
And I just – when I said to you the other night, “There’s no way, they can’t believe it.” You know, I was just goosing you in away, right? You know, they say I was – um – I was breaking your, you know.
CUOMO: Goosing works. It is not like that'll be all over the internet. Continue.
LEMON: But here’s the thing, I had to get rid of them. Because they are too far gone. I try and I try and I try. They'll say something really stupid and then I’ll show them the science and I’ll give them any information, and they still repeat those talking points. And all the while, the state was a hot spot.
If you look at the information that we put up last night that came up yesterday, it showed you how the red states have now taken over where the blue states were. People came in because there are bigger cities and there’s more transmission, obviously, where there are more people are closer together. And so, now the red states are the problem.
And I just had to get rid of a lot of people in my life because sometimes you have to let them go. I think they have to hit rock bottom like an addict, right? And they have to want to get help, they have to want to know the truth, they have to want to live in reality, they have to want to be responsible not only for other people's lives but for their lives.
So, you know what? I have had -- It is so sad. And I don't know if after this, I will ever be able to go back and be friends with those people, because at a certain point you just say, “They're too far gone and I got to let them go.” And if they're willing to come back and willing to live in reality, then I will welcome them with open arms. But I can't it – I can’t do it anymore.
(…)
