Opening Wednesday's CNN Tonight, the horribly biased Don Lemon pondered: “Why this President loves to surround himself with strong men, with dictators?” Naturally, Lemon proceeded to criticize Trump for meeting with dictators, apparently forgetting that President Obama attended a baseball game with Cuban dictator Raul Castro while administration officials had numerous meetings with Iranians. Lemon went further by saying that President Trump wants to “follow their lead” by acting like a king.
According to Lemon, “This President doesn’t just surround himself with strong men, leaders whose word is law, it seems he wants to follow their lead.” For examples, he cited the White House’s refusal to hand over documents to the House Judiciary Committee plus Trump's ongoing refusal to release his tax returns.
Showing just how uptight people on CNN have become, Lemon also excoriated Attorney General Bill Barr for joking with Nancy Pelosi being arrested for being in contempt of Congress.
After playing a clip of President Trump saying that he told President Xi of China, “you’re President for life and therefore, you’re king. He said huh, huh, he liked that,” Lemon stated in reference to Trump: “I think I know somebody else who would like that.” Lemon thus compared President Trump to President Xi, citing psychiatrists who found that both Xi and Trump were “ten out of ten narcissists.”
The far-left CNN host asserted that “it should be no surprise President Trump is behaving like a king.” His evidence? Trump saying “I alone can fix it” at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Big whoop.
Eventually, Lemon pivoted to complaining about the administration’s refusal to join the Christchurch call to action, a “pact to fight extremist violence by working to end the use of social media in acts of terrorism,” because of concerns about its implications for free speech and the First Amendment.
He dismissed concerns about censorship, claiming that Trump “wants his supporters to think that they’re being discriminated against because he thinks it makes him a stronger candidate and they will continue to support him.”
Despite evidence to the contrary, Lemon dismissed a tweet from the White House asking its followers to “submit examples of being…‘censored’ or ‘silenced’ because of online political bias” as folly. Lemon whined: “So that’s the kind of free speech that this White House wants to protect, even if it means refusing to be part of an international effort to fight extremist violence; even when extremist violence is costing lives right here at home?”
So it’s quite ironic that Lemon wants to portray President Trump as a dictator despite the fact that he and many others on the left appear to share a dictatorial instinct to crack down on free speech.
A transcript of the relevant portion of Wednesday’s edition of CNN Tonight is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CNN Tonight With Don Lemon
05/15/19
10:03 p.m. Eastern
DON LEMON: This is CNN Tonight. I’m Don Lemon. And you’ve got to wonder why this President loves to surround himself with strong men, with dictators. He’s met with them in the Oval Office, you know, he’s met with them around the world. But this President doesn’t just surround himself with strong men, leaders who…whose word is law, it seems he wants to follow their lead. I’m…I’m going to give you the latest example right now. The White House today, shutting down a request from the House Judiciary Committee, flat out refusing to turn over documents in the committee’s obstruction of justice investigation. Jerry Nadler saying this.
REP. JERROLD NADLER: In effect, the President is a tyrant and a dictator with no, with no limit on his power.
ERIN BURNETT: And you don’t think…
NADLER: And that is un-American.
BURNETT: So, you don’t think those words are too strong at this point, a tyrant and a dictator?
NADLER: Well, he’s trying to become, I don’t what he’s trying. But, but the implication of what they’re doing would make the President a tyrant in the sense of not being accountable to the American people, not being answerable to Congress and that no one can hold him accountable and that is simply un-American and we cannot abide it.
LEMON: Well that, of course, comes after the President freely admitted his plan is to defy every subpoena.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re fighting all the subpoenas.
LEMON: The President of the United States, defying the Congress. So is the Attorney General. Nadler’s committee voted to hold him in contempt for defying a subpoena for the unredacted Mueller report. But Barr apparently finds that funny. When he saw the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the National Peace Officer’s Memorial Day service today, sources tell CNN that he jokingly asked her if she brought her handcuffs. You might wonder why the top law enforcement official in this country finds contempt of Congress charges so funny. Well, maybe you wouldn’t wonder. Given the way the rest of the administration is following the defy all subpoenas strategy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you plan to respond to Chairman Neal’s subpoena?
STEVEN MNUCHIN: Well, we…we haven’t had an official response yet, I think we have a few more days. We will comply with the timing of it and I think you can pretty much guess how we’re going to, but I haven’t made a decision.
LEMON: Well, you can pretty much guess how they’ll respond, with a big fat no, just like the strong men this President loves, just like a king.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: President Xi, who is a strong man, I call him king. He said “but I am not king, I am President.” I said “no, you’re president for life, and therefore you’re king.” He said, huh, huh, he liked that.
LEMON: You know, I think I know somebody else who would like that. And here’s something else they have in common. Extreme narcissism. That’s according to two psychiatrists who analyzed President Trump and Chinese President Xi. It was part of a presentation to top House Republicans about China trade talks by Larry Lindsey, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush. Sources tell CNN that the psychiatrist rated Trump a “ten out of ten narcissist.” That’s a quote from them, not me, but that’s how they rated him, same as Xi. So, I guess it should be no surprise President Trump is behaving like a king. Remember when he said this?
TRUMP: I alone can fix it.
LEMON: And one thing this President has really wanted to fix from day one is the Supreme Court. Now he has remade the highest court in the land in his very own image. And added one conservative judge after another to the lower courts, in pursuit of the big prize; one conservatives have had their eyes on for more than 45 years. And that is repealing Roe v. Wade. That goal, one big step closer tonight after Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the most restrictive abortion bill in the country. This is why conservatives wanted control of the court, why they voted for Donald Trump to get it. And it’s a giant wakeup call for Democrats who thought Republicans wouldn’t go so far as to roll back a right that so many women view as fundamental and have for decades. Let’s remember what candidate Trump said, this was back in 2016, about punishing women who have abortions.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Do you believe in…
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: No, but…
MATTHEWS: Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle?
TRUMP: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.
MATTHEWS: For the woman?
TRUMP: Yeah, there has to be some form.
MATTHEWS: Ten cents, ten years, what?
TRUMP: I don’t know. That I don’t know. That I don’t know.
MATTHEWS: Why not?
LEMON: Well, that as this President has us on the brink of two wars, his trade war with China, that’s inflicting financial pain on more and more Americans, and his threatened war with Iran. The President threatening to send, his words, “a hell of a lot more than 120,000 American troops to the region.” Without even giving any information to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the committee that actually writes the laws that authorize the use of military force. And then there’s this. The President refusing to join the Christchurch call for action. That call for action is a pact to fight extremist violence by working to end the use of social media in acts of terrorism. The White House claiming that their refusal is all about protecting freedom of expression and freedom of the press. I was just trying to explain that to Chris moments ago. That’s where it is. He wants his supporters to think that they’re being discriminated against because he thinks it makes him a stronger candidate and they will continue to support him. But whose freedom are we talking about here? This may be a clue. The White House today asking its followers to submit examples of being…this is their words, “censored,” or “silenced” because of online political bias and claiming they are fighting for free speech. So that’s the kind of free speech that this White House wants to protect, even if it means refusing to be part of an international effort to fight extremist violence; even when extremist violence is costing lives right here at home? And like I said, the battle over Roe v. Wade is headed for the Supreme Court, a court this President has reshaped. This is a huge wakeup call for Democrats, and I’m…and I’m going to get Democratic presidential candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar to weigh in. There she is and she’s next.
