Don Lemon: Democratic Party is ‘weak’

CNN anchor Don Lemon described the Democratic Party as “weak” while speaking on the podcast “On Brand with Donny Deutsch” that was released Thursday.

“I think they’re weak,” Lemon said when former advertising executive and MSNBC contributor Deutsch asked him to describe the Democratic Party’s brand.

“I think they have great morals, and they have great values,” Lemon added. “But I think that they are terrible at politics. And I think they have to become more cunning.”

Lemon was equally blunt when Deutsch asked a similar question about the Republican Party and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

The GOP are “liars,” Lemon said, and Graham is a “political chameleon” and also a “liar.”

CNN did not immediately comment on Lemon’s remarks or answer questions about its policy on CNN journalists taking public positions on the politicians and organizations they cover.

Graham’s office also did not immediately comment on Lemon’s remarks.

Lemon disagreed with Deutsch’s assessment that his job might be harder now that former President Trump is out of office because the former president was a “Bond villain that [Lemon] could play off of every night.”

“I think it’s actually easier now to do the news because we can actually do the news,” Lemon replied. “We can actually talk about real issues [and] about things that are important rather than someone trying to change the news cycle, … rather than someone just being sensational.”

Lemon also said Trump was elected because the media and the U.S. values fame more than it does substance.

“That was the president we deserved because I think we platform celebrities,” Lemon said. “We put celebrity over content, over context, over importance, over competency.”

“We were brainwashed by, ‘Oh this guy is a celebrity apprentice. Therefore, he can run the country,’” Lemon added. “We gave him some sort of credit. We gave him a false credibility that we should not have given him.”

Instead, CNN and other outlets should limit coverage of Trump — and of extremists groups like the Proud Boys once they’ve been exposed — Lemon said, to stop their ideas from spreading.

“I think that you don’t have to give false equivalence to lies and truth, to sanity and insanity. And so if you expose someone when they show you who they are, good, expose them. And then stop platforming,” he added.