Don Lemon was back on CNN Tuesday — and if you ever wonder what got him dismissed from the network in the first place, he certainly wasn’t reticent about reminding you.
In an appearance on “Inside Politics With Dana Bash,” Lemon rehashed a low-rent version of former President Barack Obama lecturing “the brothers” about not voting for the Democratic nominee, saying that he’s been traveling to swing states to “correct” black men who might be considering Donald Trump instead of Kamala Harris.
The appearance comes as Harris lags in the polls among minority voters in general, men in particular.
“There’s a problem, and look, I went from battleground state to battleground state to battleground state,” Lemon said during the segment.
“When they invited me to the convention, I didn’t just want to fly there. I said I’m gonna go talk to voters in battleground states, and I did.
“It was not curated. I went up to people just doing man on the street and said, ‘Who are you gonna vote for, black men?’ And time after time after time they said, ‘I’m voting for Donald Trump.’
“Now the reasons why, most of the time they said, ‘Oh, for economic reasons’ or because ‘he gave me a stimulus check.’ And I had to correct them over and over and tell them that stimulus check came from a Democratic Congress and Nancy Pelosi and that Donald Trump actually held that check up, so his name could be put on the check, so they think they got the check directly from him,” Lemon said.
“Meanwhile, Joe Biden has given one or two stimulus checks, as well, but they seem to not know or understand that,” he added.
“You can vote for whoever you want to vote for, but the reasons that you’re going to vote for them, I think, should be accurate and factual, and you should know why you’re supporting someone.”
NEW: Don Lemon says he traveled to swing states to “correct” black men, implies they are ignorant for wanting to vote for Trump.
During a segment on CNN, Lemon talked down on black men who wanted to vote for Trump.
“I went up to people just doing man on the street and said,… pic.twitter.com/8vL4YhAZiB
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 16, 2024
First, you may have heard the old saying about the plural of “anecdote” not being “data.” It might also be rewarding for CNN to note to viewers that the singular form of “anecdote” isn’t “data,” either. In this case, Lemon’s experience isn’t backed up by minority voters who haven’t had the scales fall from their eyes like Paul on the Damascene road yet. They certainly haven’t had a shortage of media voices shouting it at them, least of all on CNN.
Second, if having a former president blacksplain why you’re not voting the correct way to you isn’t condescending enough, how about having a fired former cable news host who’s foundered on social media explain it to you?
Because that’s apparently what the liberal establishment is hoping for here … with Don Lemon.
One New York Times poll released last Saturday found that Harris was ahead among black voters by 78 percent to 15 percent for Donald Trump. While that looks OK, keep in mind that this was a relative low compared to the estimates that showed the Democratic presidential candidate getting north of 90 percent of the vote in 2016 and 2020.
“Ms. Harris is no doubt on track to win an overwhelming majority of black voters, but Mr. Trump appears to be chipping away broadly at a longstanding Democratic advantage. His campaign has relied on targeted advertising and sporadic outreach events to court African American voters — especially black men — and has seen an uptick in support. About 15 percent of black likely voters said they planned to vote for the former president, according to the new poll, a six-point increase from four years ago,” the Times noted.
“Much of the erosion in support for Ms. Harris is driven by a growing belief that Democrats, who have long celebrated black voters as the ‘backbone’ of their party, have failed to deliver on their promises,” the poll showed.
“Forty percent of African American voters under 30 said the Republican Party was more likely to follow through on its campaign commitments than Democrats were.”
But Don Lemon coming into the community to read “the brothers” the riot act, just like President Obama did, is going to help? That was from an actual office holder, not a kinda-employed anchorman who once entertained thoughts on air that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 might have disappeared into a black hole.
This is the exact opposite of the real problem that Democrats face: After too long of taking their vote for granted, minority communities are starting to wake up to just how empty the party’s promises are and are making up their own minds. With a few weeks to go, the thought that a talking-to by the guy who got himself fired from CNN’s morning show is going to help matters much is part of the problem itself.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
