So far, at no point during the second Trump administration had MSNBC ever waivered in their far-left political leanings or hatred of Trump. But according to disgraced former CNN talking head Don Lemon, during his podcast on Thursday, the network had “capitulated” to Trump and was “favoring” him because they had fired a bunch of their race baiting and pro-terrorist hosts like Joy Reid, Tiffany Cross, and Mehdi Hasan. Lemon celebrated them as the network’s “strongest, fiercest” voices.
Proclaiming “this is gonna be an honest moment” and that he “may get in trouble” because “a lot of people are not gonna like what I'm saying,” Lemon proceeded to take swipes at the media for being an industry in trouble. “They only have themselves to blame,” he declared.
According to his warped view, the media wasn’t in trouble because they had a liberal bias but rather because of their “capitulation” to Trump.
Of course, Lemon busted out a quote from Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. to falsely claim the liberal media were trying to play nice with Trump:
This is Dr. King. Here it is. Letter from a Birmingham jail in 1963: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in its stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice, who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive piece, which is the presence of justice.”
“I want peace with the administration. What do you need, sir? I want peace with the administration,” Lemon threw on a mocking tone, pretending to be the kind of media executive who fired him.
Lemon seemingly decried that media outlets would actually speak to members of Trump’s administration or perhaps conservatives in general, broadly smearing them as “fucking racist” while he denounced them for being white:
How do we bring on your voices, even if they're lying, even if they're fascists, even if they are bigots, even if they're fucking racist? Even if they are election deniers, even if they are insurrection deniers.’ Let's bake oxygen for those people so that we can make what? Power and in many ways, whiteness feel comfortable.
It was that demand for more racism against whites that had Lemon lamenting the firing of Cross and Reid. “That was the first mistake of complying. And getting rid of your most powerful, your strongest opposition voices because those are the voices that will save you because many times, those are the voices that are speaking for the people who are speaking for the frustrated, not the comfortable,” he shouted.
“And those are the voices that you call ‘racist’ and ‘race baiters’ and um uh and ‘agitators.’ That was back in the day when they would call them, ‘you are so you're an agitator,” he whined.
Lemon touted Reid as “a dear friend” who was “a strong opposition to something that was real. It wasn't fake. She was a strong opposition to the fascism that she, as a smart woman, saw coming.” He ridiculously claimed it was her honesty which “made people uncomfortable.”
He followed up by lauding Cross for repeatedly calling former Fox News host Megyn Kelly a “racist,” which he doubled down on while attacking her for being “a blonde white lady.” He suggested that Kelly, like Trump, was a “Trojan Horse” for racism.
Insanely, Lemon suggested that Cross wasn’t liked by NBCUniversal executives because she spoke for “Ms. Sadie down the street in the church hat” and not “crazy MAGA conservative[s] or Republican[s].”
By accident, Lemon did speak some truth when he tacitly admitted that Hasan supported October 7 and slaughtering Jews:
Let's talk about the Mehdi Hasans of it all. As awful, as awful, as awful as October 7th was, and it is awful, and people should be outraged and someone should pay the price for it. You don't get rid of Mehdi Hassan. “People have other opinions than the preeminent voices in media, in business, in government, everywhere,” Lemon shouted in defense of Hasan’s sympathies for Hamas.
Lemon was reaching maximum sour as he screeched about how MSNBC had, “gotten rid of your most, your strongest, fiercest, and most outspoken, fearless people who are going to tell you like it is!” And without them, MSNBC was supposedly “favoring the MAGA Trump administration!”
“The media is getting rid of the people who speak out against Donald Trump and they're putting people on who speak for Donald Trump with the lies,” he screamed without evidence.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
The Don Lemon Show
April 17, 2025DON LEMON: Now, I want you to, I want you guys to be really honest with me, really honest with me. I, this is gonna be an honest moment. I may get in trouble. I know a lot of people are not gonna like what I'm saying.
It is ourselves, but also the media, it is yourselves. The media only has themselves to blame. They only have themselves to blame. The capitulation.
This is Dr. King. Here it is. Letter from a Birmingham jail in 1963: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in its stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice, who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive piece, which is the presence of justice.”
‘I want peace with the administration. What do you need, sir? I want peace with the administration. How do we bring on your voices, even if they're lying, even if they're fascists, even if they are bigots, even if they're fucking racist. Even if they are election deniers, even if they are insurrection deniers.’ Let's bake oxygen for those people so that we can make what? Power and in many ways, whiteness feel comfortable.
And that goes to the person, the people who own the media company, who sit there and they're like, ‘okay, this makes me feel comfortable,’ when I see just this sort of anodyne product where they're just standing there going, here's, and they are what they are really just stenographers or they're spouting the message that you are comfortable with. That is not what America is about. That's not what journalism is about.
And in many ways, the journalists have not stood up. Because those folks have gotten rid of their strongest voices, their oppositions. And when people say the First Amendment is about, I will, I don't agree with what you'll say, but I'll fight like hell for you to be able to say it. That was the first mistake of complying. And getting rid of your most powerful, your strongest opposition voices because those are the voices that will save you because many times, those are the voices that are speaking for the people who are speaking for the frustrated, not the comfortable!
And those are the voices that you call ‘racist’ and ‘race baiters’ and um uh and ‘agitators.’ That was back in the day when they would call them, ‘you are so you're an agitator.’
Joy Reid is a dear friend. I did not always agree with her, but I would fight like hell for her to be able to say on the TV what she wanted to say because what? She was a strong opposition to something that was real. It wasn't fake. She was a strong opposition to the fascism that she, as a smart woman, saw coming. It made people uncomfortable, it made the media bosses uncomfortable, and they said, ‘you gotta get rid of her.’
I'm using her as an example. There are plenty of other examples. Tiffany Cross, who used to call Megyn Kelly out for what she was, a racist, bigoted you-know-what. And instead, what happened? She got fired because someone said, ‘you gotta get rid of that because we don't want you saying that about someone like that.’ Because Megyn Kelly – I hate to talk about her. Megyn Kelly, as offensive as she is, they're comfortable with her. Number one, because of what she looks like, she's a blonde white lady. She's racist, she spouts racist things, she says things that they think and they would not dare say for themselves.
Same thing with Donald Trump, Trojan Horse, he says things with you people don't want to hear. People, people don't want to say, they're afraid to say it, but they would like to be able to say it. Same thing.
So, Tiffany's gone, even though she spoke the truth. And many times, those people who are up in the tower will use your own people to get rid of you. And so, they get rid of the voices that they are most uncomfortable with even though those voices are saying, ‘Hey, listen, I'm talking for Ms. Sadie down the street in the church hat who you are not listening to because she doesn't have a lot of money, she's not one of your stockholders. She's not a crazy MAGA conservative or Republican!’
Andy, is this on?
ANDY: Yeah, it's on.
LEMON: Okay.
Let's talk about the Mehdi Hasans of it all. As awful, as awful, as awful as October 7th was, and it is awful, and people should be outraged and someone should pay the price for it. You don't get rid of Mehdi Hassan.
You know what you do? You, you take Mehdi Hassan in the best version of himself and yourself, and you use it to what? In a constructive manner have conversations about how different people are, how that people have other opinions than yours. People have other opinions than the preeminent voices in media, in business, in government, everywhere.
So I say, you only have yourselves to blame because you have gotten rid of your most, your strongest, fiercest, and most outspoken, fearless people who are going to tell you like it is.
And instead of saying, ‘You know, I disagree with that person,’ but look, journalism is about people who are what? Holding people to account without fear or favor. And now, journalists are fearful and they are favoring the MAGA Trump administration! The media is getting rid of the people who speak out against Donald Trump and they're putting people on who speak for Donald Trump with the lies.
And it's not just about Donald Trump. It could be Bob Williams who is a fascist liar that the media is speaking out against. But it just so happens that Donald Trump is in office and he is a liar. He is a convicted felon, he is a racist, he is, uh, uh, he was an adjudicated sexual assaulter in civil court. And then the media even capitulated to that, instead of standing by their person.
(…)
