Don Lemon feels that CNN lowered itself by bringing White House advisor Kellyanne Conway on to defend the president.
On Thursday, as Chris Cuomo passed the baton over to Lemon for the next show, the two CNN hosts got into a bizarre exchange about the merits of having Kellyanne Conway appear on the network, reports HuffPost.
“She never answers a question. She berates you. She’s condescending,” Lemon told Cuomo. “For me, it feels beneath the dignity of this network to have someone one who constantly lies and misconstrues things.”
According to HuffPost, Kellyanne Conway appeared on Cuomo’s show earlier to discuss comments President Trump made in an interview with Breitbart during which he said his supporters were “tough people” that would make things “very, very bad” if pushed to a certain point. Cuomo accused the president of dogwhistling violence; Conway said he was misinterpreting.
“You’re just reading into it like you usually do. He was talking about how peaceful and gentle many people are who are otherwise tough,” she told Cuomo before going on to interrupt him. “Christopher, he didn’t threaten and he’s not threatening violence.”
Cuomo replied, “I made a mistake, so I surrender. You will never ― you will never call him out for whatever he says or whatever he does. You are choosing pragmatism over principle, and I should know this.”
Don Lemon later told Chris Cuomo that Kellyanne Conway should not have been permitted to speak on the show because she was being dishonest to the American people. “When you come on CNN, you have an obligation to be honest to the American people,” Lemon said. “You can give your opinion, you can give your take, but it is a privilege to come on this network and speak to the American people ― and if you’re going to do it, do it directly and honestly.”
Keep in mind, Lemon said this on the very same week that CNN was slapped with a $275 million defamation lawsuit for their role in perpetuating the slander against the Covington Catholic High School students, during which CNN contributor Reza Aslan said that Nicholas Sandmann (a minor) had a “punchable” face.
Cuomo ultimately felt that Kellyanne Conway should be allowed to speak on his show, arguing that the American people deserve to see what the president considers his “best defense.”
“I just believe that if this is who the president wants out there, I want people to see what he considers his best defense,” Cuomo said. “I want them to see what he thinks is appropriate for his main counselor to do on television. That’s the saving grace.”
Not all was lost this week for Don Lemon. When news broke about the college admissions bribery scandal involving actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, he admitted that the event confirmed Trump supporters’ anger about a “rigged system.”
“For far too many people, the American dream is rigged,” he said. “And he spoke to that. Maybe he’s questionable as the messenger for this, but it’s a message a lot of people feel in their core. Rigged in favor of the wealthy and the powerful. And a whole lot of people in this country on the left and on the right are angry about that.”