CNN’s Don Lemon Has Had It With ‘Racist’ Donald Trump

Last December, The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump often “hate-watches” CNN, “especially Don Lemon.”

If he was watching Lemon’s 10 p.m. broadcast Thursday night, the first words he heard were, “The president of the United States is racist.”

“A lot of us already knew that,” the anchor added. But it has rarely been quite as apparent than it was earlier in the afternoon when Trump, referring to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations, reportedly asked members of Congress, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

“Those comments are frankly disgusting,” Lemon said. “There’s other language I would like to use, but we are on television. But you know what? They’re not shocking. Not even really surprising, because this is who Donald Trump is. This is what he thinks.”

From there, Lemon listed off a litany of similarly racist comments that Trump has made over the course of his campaign and presidency, from saying Nigerian immigrants “should go back to their huts,” to saying Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS” to calling black NFL players “sons of bitches” for protesting police brutality to saying “both sides” were to blame for the neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville.

“A White House official told CNN they’re not worried, this is good for them, the president’s comments will resonate with his base,” said Lemon. “Jesus. Admitting that for all their talk about making America great, the president is playing to a base that welcomes his racism and will enjoy it. That is disgraceful.”

“With that said, here’s what’s worse and probably the most important point,” Lemon continued. “This is for anyone who may be taken aback by my comments. I want to be clear here, I don’t care if you are. I hope you are.” For years, he said he and others have been telling Americans that Trump is “bigoted” and “racist,” but they continue to make excuses for his “vile behavior.”

“For all of you who have uttered over the last few years that tired, lazy, uninformed, uneducated ignorant response of calling me and others who point out racist behaviors ‘racist,’ you know what you can go do?” he asked. “I can’t say that, but you can read a book, a history book, because you might learn that some of these people from ‘shithole countries’ were slaves who were brought here by force to help build this country and start your learning process from there.”

“I have to be honest, I was not shocked that Donald Trump reportedly called the majority of black and Hispanic countries or continents ‘shitholes.’ I wasn’t shocked. I’m not outraged by it. I’m tired of being outraged as a matter of fact. I’ve been outraged too many times. It’s more important to be strategic than to be outraged.”

“Here’s why I’m not outraged,” Lemon said. “Because people of color warned you.”