
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-don-lemon"><strong>Don Lemon</strong></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I recently finished a commentary as to why Don Lemon should be canned by CNN. It was entitled “Time for Don Lemon to go.” ; Ironically, he was canned before the commentary appeared here. ; In view of the firing of Tucker Carlson, I have decided to address them both in one commentary – incorporating the unpublished article on Don Lemon. ; ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>“I have been monitoring CNN since the news company was purchased by David Zaslav. ; At the time, he expressed a determination to stop the network’s rating decline by moving it away from its leftwing ideological bias – returning it to traditional journalistic standards.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Zaslav made a lot of correct moves early on. ; He dropped so-called media critic Brian Stelter – who misused his job description to present radical leftwing commentaries. ; Also canned was White House reporter John Harwood – who did more leftwing editorializing than reporting. ; The very biased morning team of John Berman and Brianna Keilar were demoted to less visible responsibilities.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>To replace the Berman/Keilar team, CNN took Don Lemon out of the prestige of his own nighttime show and teamed him up with Poppy Harlow and </em><em>Kaitlan Collins</em><em> as the new morning show triumvirate. At the time, I called Lemon’s reassignment a bad move if CNN was truly moving to the center.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Lemon also created a problem for CNN when he made sexist remarks about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. ; ;</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Weeell … I think I was right. ; Lemon just cannot give up his editorial license to spew personal opinions – or contain his arrogance. ; There have been a series of minor</em> but noteworthy<em> examples – from argumentativeness with more conservative guests to snide remarks and disdaining facial expressions. ; He has a personality conflict with Collins &#8212; one that brewed over as a gossip tabloid item not long ago.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>In a recent interview with Vivek Ramaswamy &#8212; one of the Republican candidates for President – Lemon lost it (again). ; He turned what was intended to be an informative discussion of issues into racist contretemps. ; When Ramaswamy pointed out that gun ownership was among the rights that were granted to Blacks as a result of the Civil War – but denied to them by Democrat administrations in the old Confederacy – Lemon went ballistic. ;</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Lemon said he did not agree with Ramaswamy … then said his guest was wrong … and finally called him a liar.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Lemon took the racist view that as a Black man, he is more qualified to speak to Black issues and Black history. ; Lemon said that “as a Black man,” he was insulted by Ramaswamy’s argument – and accused the candidate of insulting all Black people. ; ;</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>In fact, it was Lemon’s limited knowledge of Black history that was the problem. ; He lumped the era of Reconstruction – when freed slaves enjoyed Constitutional freedoms in the South – with the post-1877 era when Democrats violently took over the southern states and denied Blacks their constitutional rights for the next 100 years.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Lemon took up so much time in the interview that there was no time to cover the issues Ramaswamy came on camera to discuss. ; It was so obvious that in ending the interview, Harlow apologized to Ramaswamy and promised to bring him back in the future to talk about other issues, including China.</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>If CNN wants to regain a reputation for unbiased reporting, the network will have to address its “Don Lemon problem.” ; Basically, he has to go.”</em></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And now he is gone. ; Now I am hoping that CNN will eliminate Jim Acosta from the weekend programming.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Tucker Carlson</strong></h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I know that some readers will take exception to my positive reaction to the firing of Tucker Carlson from his primetime perch at FOX News. ; They should not be surprised. ; In a number of commentaries over the recent years, I have expressed my dislike for Carlson. ; I did not like him when he was doing guest shots on “FOX and Friends.” ; I thought giving him the top spot in the daily lineup was a bad decision – replacing Bill O’Reilly.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I never liked Carlson’s style. ; I found him to be condescending and arrogant. ; His mocking laugh grated on me. ; It was not just style, however. ; I had substantive issue disagreements with him – of two varieties. ; </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">First, there are those issues on which we genuinely disagreed.  ; The most notable and most current one has been his opposition to supporting Ukraine against an unwarranted and unlawful invasion by Putin &#8212; ; and the subsequent war crimes. ; I am a total hawk on the issue of Ukraine. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I believe it is in America’s existential interest to defeat Putin and restore the official borders of Ukraine. ; That means forcing Russia out of eastern Ukraine – including the Crimea.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Like President Trump, Carlson has a disturbing admiration for Vladimir Putin. ; I see him as another Adolph Hitler – a messianic madman obsessed with conquest and capable of unimaginable ruthlessness and cruelty. ; I recall criticizing Carlson for defending Putin because the Russian despot did not do anything to him personally, I mean … really? ; That is contemptibly stupid.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I am not surprised that Carlson would play to Trump and the hardline supporters on camera and offer a significantly different opinion of the forty-fifth President in private – at one point referring to Trump as a demon. ; I am surprised, however, that Carlson would allow his hypocrisy to be captured on permanent media – emails and text messages.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That is not to say that Carlson is a fool. ; No. ; No. ; No. ; You do not acquire and hold the largest audience in cable news by being a fool. ; He was selling a product – controversial commentary.  ; While his 3 million viewers swamp the competition, it is still less than one percent of the American public. ; He found a subset responsive to his alarming and too often irrational commentaries.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Carlson benefited from the time slot. ; He had the best time slot in the entire FOX line-up. ; His successor will do very well in that position after a period of adjustment – regardless of who it will be. ; The great American middle class has made FOX the number one cable news network. ; A change of host in that primo time slot should not change things too much. ; Carlson viewers are not about to switch over to CNN or MSNBC.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While FOX management gave the obligatory statement that the “departure” was mutual, it was most certainly a firing – and a sudden one, at that. ; Carlson closed of his Friday show with, “We’ll be back on Monday.” ; Even Carlson had no idea that Friday was his last show. ; That was a brutal dismissal – but what can one expect after dissing the bosses with locker room language – not to mention costing the network $780 million dollars? ; ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I compliment both CNN and FOX News for making a tough – but good – decision in removing two of the biggest names in cable television. ; If only MSNBC would impose the same standard of professional journalism. ; But then … they would be off the air.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, there ‘tis.</p>

Don Lemon Out at CNN … Tucker Carlson Booted from FOX … Both Good Moves
