Don Lemon’s Contempt for Trump Voters Is 2020’s ‘Deplorables’ Moment
Don't coastal elites like Don Lemon understand that this is why Trump won in 2016? | Source: CNN/YouTube
- Don Lemon laughed uncontrollably as two CNN guests mocked Trump supporters. The clip went viral on Twitter.
- Ivanka Trump ripped the elitist panel as “disgusting.” But even former CNN contributors are attacking Lemon for “blatant bigotry.”
- The CNN panel is reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 “deplorables” comment. But those “deplorable” Americans turned out in droves election day.
Don Lemon laughed so uncontrollably during a live broadcast on Saturday that he had to wipe tears from his eyes. What was so funny to the CNN anchor? Ex-GOP strategist Rick Wilson and CNN contributor Wajahat Ali calling Trump voters stupid. And using a mocking southern accent.
Don Lemon And Coastal Elitism
Lemon snickered when Wilson claimed:
This is an administration defined by ignorance of the world.
That’s par for the course in partisan presidential politics. But then Wilson took it a step further and began insulting Donald Trump’s supporters. He characterized them as proudly, stubbornly ignorant “rubes.” And painted them as small-town hillbillies, suspicious of intelligent people (like himself, presumably):
That’s partly him playing to their base and playing to their audience. The credulous boomer rube demo that backs Donald Trump. That wants to think that Donald Trump’s the smart one, and y’all elitists are dumb.
Ali joined in:
You elitists with your geography and your maps and your spelling…
Wilson piled on for good measure:
And your math and your readin’
So this is what the media elites think of people who live in the Central Time Zone.
Hillary Clinton’s Deplorables Redux
Don Lemon couldn’t conceal his pure contempt for red-state Americans during the ugly attack on them.
By the time Wilson and Ali were done hating on people with real jobs (keeping the lights on, and plumbing working, and the cars on the road, and the food in the grocery aisles), Lemon was laughing so hard he was literally in tears.
He had to use a tissue to wipe his eyes.
He thanked his guests for the rude volley of insults lobbed at half of America, telling them he “needed that.” This is the arrogant attitude of coastal elites that got Donald Trump elected in 2016.
Back then, Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables” at a private fundraiser.
You could put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.
Here’s Don Lemon himself back in 2008, introducing the clip by saying:
Donald Trump wasn’t the only one making questionable statements tonight. Listen to Secretary Clinton at a fundraiser here in New York.
This Is Why Trump Won
See, to coastal media and political elites like Hillary Clinton and Don Lemon, there’s no wholesome reason to support Donald Trump. To them, it’s only out of fear or hatred that someone could possibly be a Republican. They don’t respect that conservatives might have anything of value to teach them about the world.
But they’re wrong.
That’s why the backlash against Don Lemon was swift and fierce. Even his CNN colleagues rebuked the segment . Ivanka Trump ripped the divisive rhetoric . And the president stuck up for his supporters .
Here’s the thing about Donald Trump…
He’s a coastal elite like Don Lemon. Actually far beyond Don Lemon’s league! He used to be close to the Clintons. And he’s a media celebrity and New York City real estate developer.
But Donald Trump listens to the middle-class Americans in parts of the country very different from his. And he speaks their language. He understands them, and he’s looking out for them.
They love him for it. They’ll have his back again in November.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
