In his Sunday night appearance on the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast, former CNN host Don Lemon made free with his opinions on a wide variety of subjects, but one which caught the attention of many viewers was his take on fellow black Americans who supported President Trump. In a spectacle of arrogance and presumption, Lemon declared that he did not believe it was possible to be a rational black MAGA Republican, a position he stuck to despite even Maher pushing back with the suggestion that life was not that simple.
Lemon raised the subject of the integrity and motives of Trump’s black supporters, saying:
When I see a black MAGA person who is carrying Donald Trump's water and they know that he's lying, it is the shortest line to the front. Because… if you become a black MAGA person, it's like, Whoa, let's book this person. Let's put him on television(...)
“So you don't think you can be a sincere black MAGA person?” Maher asked.
“I don’t think that you can,” Lemon replied. “I don’t think you can be rational MAGA—be black and be a rational MAGA person(...)”
Maher pointed out to him that actual black MAGA people would probably “find that very insulting,” to which Lemon simply responded “Well, I mean, the truth is often insulting.”
After Maher drew attention to the fact that in the last election 20 percent of black men had voted for Trump, Lemon brushed them off as “uninformed.”
“Like you’re informed about everything?” Maher snapped, “Like you don’t think anything you have is skewed?”
While making it clear that he himself shared many of Lemon’s negative views on Trump, Maher asked Lemon if he had ever actually talked to any black people who disagreed, saying of his own recent meeting with Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida:
I like Byron, I just can’t live in this country where I hate half the people who, yes, think fundamentally differently about a lot of things… it does happen in human nature and you just have to be able to go, okay, we just, we have different upbringings, different influences in our life, different, I don't know, metabolism… we're just different and we come to different conclusions.
Lemon conceded that black people could legitimately be Republicans, citing Frederick Douglas in the 19th century and himself at an earlier age, but still stuck to his guns on black MAGA people, saying:
I don't hate MAGA… But I understand that MAGA is based on: That you were not born in this country. MAGA is based on: Mexicans are rapists… MAGA is based on: Donald Trump— they don't believe that he- that he was found guilty in a court of law… it's problematic and it's based on lies and racism.
“And that doesn't mean I hate those people. I actually kind of feel sorry for them,” he concluded.
Apparently, Lemon felt qualified to dismiss anyone who happened to resemble him racially but disagreed with him politically, as somehow insincere or irrational. He did not, seemingly, see that as at all patronizing, presumptuous, or offensive.
To view the full transcript, click "expand" to read:
Club Random with Bill Maher
03/16/2025
9:59 PM(...)
DON LEMON: I think when people do that, it's the shortest line to the front of either promotion- in whatever sense it is- it could be promoting a product, it could be promoting themselves, and you're doing something that is out of the box to get attention just for the sake of getting attention, or just for the sake of- for the sake of pure ambition, where it's the same thing that I-
When I see- not all black Republicans, but I see a black MAGA person who is carrying Donald Trump's water and they know that he's lying, it is the shortest line to the front.
Because, if you're black and you're, whatever- any old- you're just in line with a bunch of other Democrats that are doing the same thing that you're doing. But if you become a black MAGA person, it's like, Whoa, let's book this person. Let's put him on television. Let’s promote-
BILL MAHER: So you don't think you can be a sincere black MAGA person?
LEMON: Uh- no- I, I just said, I- I don't think that- I just said I- think there can be sincere Republicans-
MAHER: But you can't be a sincere black Republican?
LEMON: I don't think that you can- I don't think that you can be a rational MAGA- be black and be a rational MAGA person. I think you can be black and be a Republican.
MAHER: I think they would find that very insulting.
LEMON: Well, I mean, the truth is often insulting.
MAHER: That's true, too.
LEMON: Yeah.
MAHER: But I- Yeah, I wouldn't say that. Because, there are cases to be made, that they're making.
I don't- I never would go all the way to Donald Trump, because he does not concede elections, that's my biggest issue with him. So, like, the Republican types who think, ‘Oh, someday Bill Maher's gonna-’, no. No, no, Bill Maher’s always gonna be where Bill Maher has always been. I- if you change enough, yeah, you- but you- you're going in the wrong direction-
But, you know, I think 20 percent of black men voted for Trump. So they’re-
LEMON: Well, I think that's OK that 20 percent of black men voted for Trump-
MAHER: Can’t they just think differently? Can't people just have different-
LEMON: Be uninformed?
MAHER: It's not- it's not just- Like you're informed about everything?
LEMON: No, but I don’t think you’re-
MAHER: Like you don't think anything you have is skewed?
LEMON: I don't think you're hearing me. I said that I believe that black people can be Republicans. Remember, there were lots of Republicans- Frederick Douglas-
MAHER: It was different in his era.
LEMON: It was different in the- I was a Republican, by the way, but- I started as a Republican.
MAHER: Is that right?
LEMON: Yes. But- so I think that a lot of what MAGA does is irrational, and it's often based in lies, and it's not factual. It's people that- you said you don't like people who are- who deny elections, who deny insurrections, or whatever.
MAHER: Right, yeah.
LEMON: So that's the MAGA party. That is the MAGA party. I'm not saying that's Re- all Republicans.
MAHER: No, look-
LEMON: So for a person of color- a black person to, you know, lend their- to believe, you know, in that when it is based in irrationality and a lot of it is based in racism. For me, I have lots of questions about that. I don't question black Republicans, I understand them.
MAHER: I’m going to let- I mean, do you talk to people like that?
Like I had Byron Donalds on my show, maybe 2 weeks ago. I got to my office today and there was a lovely pin, that he had sent me. It had his name on it, an American eagle, and- you know- I like Byron.
I'm- I'm just- you know- I just can't- live in this country where I hate half the people who, yes, think fundamentally differently about a lot of things. I've said this here before. We have to be able to get to this point where you can say to somebody who you agree with A, B, C, D. But E? Whoa, how could they believe in E if we both believe in A, B, C, and D?
And it is a conundrum, but it does happen in human nature and you just have to be able to go, OK, we just, we have different upbringings, different influences in our life, different, I don't know, metabolism, different, just, we're just different and we come to different conclusions.
LEMON: I understand that, Bill.
MAHER: And you can't be so-
LEMON: But it doesn't mean- because I am- because I can see what is happening and I live in reality, it doesn't mean that I hate anyone. I don't hate anyone. I don't hate Donald Trump. I don't hate MAGA.
MAHER: Right.
LEMON: Right? But I understand that MAGA is based on: That you were not born in this country. MAGA is based on: Mexicans are rapists. MAGA is based on: that Donald Trump did not inspire an election [sic]. MAGA is based on: Donald Trump didn't try to overturn an election. MAGA is based on: Donald Trump- they don't believe that he- that he was found guilty in a court of law-
MAHER: Right, I know all these things.
LEMON: -So they're built- it's built on lies.
So that's- that's why I question that, to understand and to be able to see through that.
It doesn't mean that you hate people. It just means that you're being rational and logical. As I said, I think there are black Republicans. I was one. I think that's all fine, but I think that Maga is- I think it's- you know- it's problematic and it's based on lies and racism.
MAHER: [Laughs]
LEMON: And that doesn't mean I hate those people. I actually kind of feel sorry for them.
