CNN’s Don Lemon vilified all voters of President Donald Trump on his program Wednesday night, lumping them in with rioters at the U.S. Capitol as well as the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, the alt-right, and those who support slavery and bigotry.
What are the details?
While Lemon chatted with colleague Chris Cuomo, the subject turned to Trump voters and the Capitol riot last week.
“Now what you hear is, ‘Well, you can’t say that everybody who voted for Trump is like the people who went into the Capitol,'” Cuomo posed before asking Lemon for his reaction.
“You need to think about the side you’re on,” Lemon replied. “Principled people — conservative or liberal — never on the Klan side. Principled people — conservative or liberal — never on the Nazi side. Principled people who are conservative or liberal never on the side that treats their fellow Americans as less-than. That says that your fellow Americans should not exist. That says your fellow Americans should be in a concentration camp or that sides with slavery or sides with any sort of bigotry.”
“Right,” Cuomo replied. “And if they say, ‘I don’t agree with those people, I just like Trump’s policies—'”
“Well, then get out of the crowd with them,” Lemon shot back. “Get out of the crowd with them.”
“I wasn’t in the crowd; I just voted for Trump,” Cuomo replied, taking on the persona of a Trump voter.
“You’re in the crowd who voted for Trump,” Lemon answered. “If you voted for Trump, you voted for the person who the Klan supported. You voted for the person who Nazis support. You voted for the person who the alt-right supports. That’s the crowd that you are in. You voted for a person who incited a crowd to go into the Capitol and potentially take the lives of lawmakers, took the lives of police officers, took the … innocent lives of the people who were at the Capitol that day.”
Lemon added: “You voted on that side.”
What was the reaction?
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro took Lemon to task, calling his statements “vile.”
“It’s this deliberate attempt to lump together anyone who voted for Trump and the Capitol rioters that undermines the possibility of unity,” he added. “It also happens to be false and indecent.”
Here’s the clip:
Vile https://t.co/qF8VVjTX3j
— Ben Shapiro (@Ben Shapiro)1610627896.0