It’s certainly no secret that Republican President Donald Trump and the liberals in the “mainstream media” haven’t gotten along since before Trump was inaugurated on Saturday, January 20, 2017.
However, that hostile relationship was raised several notches when CNN Tonight host Don Lemon accused Trump on Tuesday of using “Fake News” in such a harmful way that, in Lemon's book, it's inspired people to conspire to murder journalists. What followed was a pathetic act of self-sanctimonious behavior by Lemon and CNN political analysts April Ryan and Brian Karem.
Lemon began the segment by reporting on “a story” that “hits close to home” with the story about the arrest of a Michigan man named Brandon Greissmer on charges that he “allegedly made … 22 calls to CNN Headquarters in Atlanta” and “threatening to kill this network's employees.”
Lemon then added:
Four of the calls, which were recorded, contain threats, according to the federal affidavit, and there’s nothing random about this. Nothing.
The President, just this morning, blasting our very own Jim Acosta and calling CNN “Fake News,” a charge he has leveled at the press, not just CNN, over and over.
Nevertheless, the liberal host addressed Trump directly: “We are not the enemy. We are not trying to silence you. It is the job of the free press to report the facts, to ask questions. Tough questions, ones you don't like, even if you don't like the facts or those questions.”
“No matter how many times you attack us as fake news,” Lemon continued, “we will continue to do our jobs. ... People are listening to you, some very dangerous people."
He then noted that the caller who threatened to kill CNN employees made his threat using the words: “Fake News. I wonder where he got ... those words.”
“So I can only speak for myself,” Lemon continued, “but I know my coworkers have also had threats at this network, along with other networks, other news organizations."
“When you tweet a doctored video of you body slamming CNN, people are watching,” he noted before slamming Trump by asking: “What grade are you in?”
The anchor later turned to discuss the subject with Ryan, who reiterated past statements that she's spent the last year receiving death threats.
“I asked questions,” she continued. “I am covered by the Founding Fathers, who wrote into the pillars of this nation the First Amendment” and “freedom of the press.” Ryan also claimed that she been “asking the same questions of three other presidents,” which is hard to reconcile considering her unwavering support for Barack Obama.
Next up was Karem, who noted: “This administration believes that everything is theater, and words don't have meaning.”
“Now, I've covered wars,” he claimed. “I've been jailed four times. I've been beaten. I have had reporters beaten in front of me and photographers and everyone in this business knows you can actually die while trying to get the news, and we have died trying to get the news.”
Karem also addressed President Trump: “You're complicit in any harm to any journalist anywhere in the United States by encouraging the violence that you encourage.”
Wait, so Brian, would that mean that you'd agree that James Hodgkinson was inspired by Rachel Maddow and Bernie Sanders to try and murder Republican congressmen in June at a Virginia baseball field?
Lemon brought the segment to a close by stating:
People take that message seriously, and if one of us is hurt or -- God forbid something else in some way or another -- because you don't understand the power of your words and/or you don't care, it won't be a fake injury or sadly, a fake death.
It’ll be real, and how will you answer those questions then...Let's hope it doesn't happen. Let's hope you see the error of your ways as well.
