Top 10 Worst Media Reactions to Don Lemon’s Arrest

Geoffrey Dickens
February 4th, 2026 9:50 AM

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Members of the elitist media are flipping out over the arrest of former CNN anchor and current podcaster Don Lemon calling it “terrifying” and warning that it will have a “chilling effect” on journalists. 

However, as NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham pointed out, liberal journalists “never cared one whit” when “Steve Baker of The Blaze was arrested for accompanying January 6 protesters -- in March of 2024, more than three years after the riot,” or when the “FBI raided right-wing journalist James O’Keefe.” 

Since Lemon was arrested for his part in the invasion of a St. Paul, MN church broadcast and cable hosts and reporters have filled their shows with dire claims of Lemon being a victim of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian” tactics that are reminiscent of “Russia, China, Turkey” and even Nazi Germany.

The following are the 10 worst examples of the leftist media losing it over Don Lemon’s arrest: 

 

1. U.S. Like “Russia, China, Turkey”

 

 

Co-host Jonathan Lemire: “The context here is that Don Lemon has been an enemy of the MAGA movement for quite some time. He’s disliked by the Trump administration. That doesn’t matter. What matters here is he was being a journalist who was doing his job and has now been arrested for doing his job.”...
New York Times columnist Molly Jong-Fast: “Think about the countries where journalists are targeted by the federal government — by their governments: Russia, China, Turkey, they’re not democracies. I mean, this kind of thing, it's a shot across the bow, right, towards the free press. And it’s scary.”
— MS NOW’s Morning Joe, January 30. 

 

2. On CNN: Lemon Arrest is “Terrifying,” “Journalism Is Not a Crime”

 

 

Host Sara Sidner: “He [Don Lemon] also spoke to the pastor that day. And we should be clear, committing journalism is not a crime. It is not a crime in this country. It is a crime in other countries, but not here….It is very, very fascinating to see this happen, but also terrifying to a lot of journalists who are watching this and seeing what happens.”…
Correspondent Brian Stelter: “You know, this idea of a chilling effect, yes, it is real. There’s been a chill in the air for the past 12 months or so when it comes to reporting in the U.S….A disturbing escalation against reporting in America.”
— CNN News Central, January 30.

 

3. Lemon’s Friends Fear Lemon Arrest Is a “Prize,” For Trump and “Gift to Authoritarian Governments”

 

 

“I’m reminded of what one of Lemon’s friends, Jennifer Welch, said to her on a podcast, Lemon — Lemon was talking to Welch, and Welch said to Lemon,‘You are a prize for them: an independent, gay, black, happy, successful man. And this is an attempt to intimidate and beat you down.’ So, that’s how Lemon’s friends see this situation, this attempt to charge him and now this actual arrest of Lemon. He’s in jail in LA now as an attempt to target another Trump foe. And let me also quote Sara, our colleague Larry Madowo, who’s based in Nairobi, who covers Africa for CNN. He wrote on X a few minutes ago, ‘This arrest is a gift to authoritarian governments worldwide who can now justify arresting journalists they don’t like, because even America does.’”
— Correspondent Brian Stelter on CNN News Central, January 30.

 

4. Joy Behar: Lemon is Just Like Dwight D. Eisenhower 

 

 

“I was reading something the other day about World War II. When the Americans liberated Dachau, after World War II during the Holocaust – after the Holocaust, Dwight D. Eisenhower said take pictures of these concentration camps because years will go by and people will not believe this happened. So, this administration does not really like somebody like Don Lemon who has a camera, who [has] a position - like we do in a way - to speak to the people and tell them what really is going on. So, you know, God bless Dwight D. Eisenhower and Don Lemon.”
— Co-host Joy Behar on ABC’s The View, February 3.

 

5. White House Scaring and Sending “Chilling Message” to Journalists  

 

 

Co-host Ana Navarro: “This was about gaslighting, this was about going against Don Lemon and other journalists. By the way, all of whom happen to be black. Happy Black History Month. And I think it’s to send a chilling message to anybody who is covering facts….This administration is afraid of people seeing the truth and being informed.”...
Co-host Sunny Hostin: “This is about scaring other journalists, so that other journalists will not cover this administration!”
— ABC’s The View, February 2. 

 

6. Jim Acosta: Trump is “Trying to Criminalize Journalism,” This Is “Dangerous, Dictator Stuff”

 

 

“We’ve now reached the arresting journalists phase of Donald Trump’s authoritarian project in America. And we just have to push back on this with all our might….This is a direct attack on the First Amendment. It’s a direct attack on free speech in this country. He’s trying to criminalize journalism….We’ve reached a point where it’s going to take collective action on the part of journalists around this country. The message needs to be sent to the Trump administration that you just can’t do this, and there are gonna be consequences….This has been an authoritarian week in Donald Trump’s presidency. And this is dictator stuff. This is dangerous dictator stuff.”
— Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta on MS NOW’s Velshi, January 31.

 

7. Jim Acosta: Fascist MAGA is the Only Group Not Angered by Lemon’s Arrest 

 

 

“It [Don Lemon arrest] should piss off every American, and it will piss off, I mean, every good patriotic American, non-crazy MAGA Americans will be pissed off about this. In MAGA World, they will whip this up into a frenzy and say, ‘Aha, see,’ but that’s because they are part of a fascist movement in this country, and Americans are just not fascists.”
— Jim Acosta on his podcast, January 30. 

 

8. Rick Wilson: This is Just Like Nazi Germany In 1936 

 

 

“They’ve got people in the street shooting Americans because they want us to shut up. They’re arresting journalists because they want us to shut up. If you’re wondering, folks, what you would have done in Nazi Germany in 1936, this is the day.”

— The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson guest-hosting on The Don Lemon Show podcast, January 30.

 

9. Harvey Levin: Neville Chamberlain Didn’t See Hitler Coming Either

 

 

“So the Trump administration wonders why people are saying that they are trying to form a dictatorship? Well, look at the landscape. Arresting Don Lemon - who covered a protest in Minneapolis - is just insane, ridiculous, dictator-like. This is the playbook that dictators use to destroy democracies and take the will of the people away….Neville Chamberlain should have saw it coming and he didn’t. And we don’t want to be in that position. So, wise up everybody.”
— TMZ founder Harvey Levin on The Don Lemon Show podcast, January 30.

 

10. Jimmy Kimmel: Don Lemon “Arrested for Committing Journalism”

 

 

“Our first guest tonight is a longtime TV and digital newsman who on Thursday night was arrested for committing journalism, which is a very serious crime under our current administration.”
— Host Jimmy Kimmel on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, February 2. 

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