Don Lemon opened his show Tuesday night spending nearly twenty long minutes fuming at Republican lawmakers and sneering at Americans who don’t share his anti-gun politics.
The CNN host used the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, to make a series of ugly smears against Republicans such as, the GOP won't defend black American lives but they will take away their right to vote (he got that beauty from former First Lady Michelle Obama). "She's absolutely right. For far too many on the right, that's what it's all about. They don't have to courage to stand up for our lives but they want to take away your vote," Lemon lectured.
He also sneered at Republicans defending every American’s right to defend themselves from violent criminals as “flaunting their devotion to the weapons taking away American lives.”
Lemon’s rant was aided by CNN’s chyron team, which put his melodramatic talking points on screen (and this wasn’t even all of them):
“When are we finally going to do something about the gun violence that’s killing us?”
“As pandemic restrictions are being lifted, the mass shootings are starting again and America is mourning again”
“Too many on the right don’t have the courage to stand up for our lives, but they’ll take away your vote”
“Why are we willing to tolerate an obscene loss of life?”
“Too many on the right flaunt their devotion to the weapons taking away American lives”
“The 2nd Amendment doesn’t require us to submit to a lifetime of mass carnage”
“Every single one of us is just playing the odds at this point”
The sour CNN host also sneered at Republican Senators John Kennedy and Ted Cruz defending the 2nd Amendment on the floor of Congress Tuesday, claiming they were against “common sense.” He also accused GOP Representatives Lauren Boebert and Madison Cawthorn of “posing with guns” and “trying to make it sexy” in campaign ads before downplaying the important right every American has under the Constitution to defend themselves:
But the Second Amendment doesn't require us to submit to a lifetime of mass carnage. That carnage is happening in our real life. Not their theater of the militia. Not in their role-playing -- because they're playing roles….You have the Second Amendment, which is a right in the Constitution, right? A privilege. But you also have the First Amendment that people can love this country and then want to analyze and criticize the Second Amendment and the rest of the amendments and everything. That's your right under the First Amendment of the Constitution. So by criticizing the Second Amendment and wondering if there are things we can do to improve the situation when it comes to guns -- doesn't mean you're un-American, doesn't mean you're anti-gun. It means you're exercising your First Amendment. See where I'm going here? To make things better for all of your countrymen. And to try to save lives. First Amendment, you can criticize the Second Amendment and everything that goes along with it. That's part of being a patriot and an American is holding our lawmakers accountable. And they must be held accountable for what is happening with guns in this country. So stop playing politics with our lives.
What Lemon didn’t mention, because it doesn’t fit the narrative, is gun violence continues to rise in Democrat-run cities with heavy gun control measures already, despite lockdowns. Study after study has shown there’s been a dramatic increase in domestic violence, in some areas homicides doubled in 2020 and gun laws or a pandemic hasn’t stopped a record high number of murders in Chicago.
As Senator Ted Cruz said in the clip that Lemon scoffed at, every time there’s a shooting, Congress gets together to propose “a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders” but instead aims to “take away guns from law-abiding citizens.” Lemon had no rebuttal to that because he knows there isn’t one. Like the rest of the media, he’s more interested in stoking the fires with emotionally charged rhetoric than addressing the facts about the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of anti-gun laws on stopping violent criminals.
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CNN Tonight
3/24/2021
DON LEMON: ….Here's what -- this is what normal should be. Instead of a shooting it should be a return to safety, right? We want to kids back in school. Should be a return to school and workle you want to go back to work. A return to people and places. The people and the places we love. Not a return to death and mourning. That should not be normal. That can't be normal. We cannot let this be the normal. Here's what the former first lady is say, Michelle Obama weighing in, and she's tweeting this. She said, quote, I am heartbroken by these recent tragedies of gun violence and I just keep thinking about all the leaders who won't take a stand to save lives yet line up to pass bills to make it harder for us to vote. Amen, Mrs. Obama. She's absolutely right. For far too many on the right, that's what it's all about. They don't have to courage to stand up for our lives but they want to take away your vote. And in the meantime, tens of thousands of people die every year in this country in gun violence. There's a reason for that. There are reasons for that. One, easy access to powerful and deadly weapons. Let's be honest, right? These weapons have one single purpose, and that's to kill and to kill multiple people in an instant. Why are we willing to tolerate an obscene loss of life -- friends, neighbors, coworkers, moms, dad, children?
…
LEMON: So, here we are again. The right just ramping up the rhetoric without being willing to do anything about the gun violence that is killing us.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: We have a lot of drunk drivers in America that kill a lot of people. We ought to try to combat that, too. But I think what many folks on my side of the aisle are saying is that the answer is not to get rid of all sober drivers.
LEMON: You know that makes no sense. It just makes absolutely no sense considering everything you have to do in order to be a driver. In order to keep your license. You have to follow the laws, you got to follow the speed limit, you have to have insurance. You get pulled over -- it just doesn't make sense. And he knows it. If he doesn't, then he should. Then that's a whole other thing. We pass laws to restrict drunk driving. We pass laws to make cars safer. Seat belts, speed limits, common sense. Where's yours, sir? Where's your common sense?
…
They love to talk about the Second Amendment. Love to talk about the Second Amendment. Love the pose with their weapons, right? Try to make it sexy. But the Second Amendment doesn't require us to submit to a lifetime of mass carnage. That carnage is happening in our real life. Not their theater of the militia. Not in their role-playing -- because they're playing roles. Playing a role there. Role-playing ads. Don't play good guy with a gun for your campaign ad while Americans are dying. Don't play politics with our lives.
Here's the thing about America. You have the Second Amendment, which is a right in the Constitution, right? A privilege. But you also have the First Amendment that people can love this country and then want to analyze and criticize the Second Amendment and the rest of the amendments and everything. That's your right under the First Amendment of the Constitution. So by criticizing the Second Amendment and wondering if there are things we can do to improve the situation when it comes to guns -- doesn't mean you're un-American, doesn't mean you're anti-gun. It means you're exercising your First Amendment. See where I'm going here? To make things better for all of your countrymen. And to try to save lives. First amendment, you can criticize the Second Amendment and everything that goes along with it. That's part of being a patriot and an American is holding our lawmakers accountable. And they must be held accountable for what is happening with guns in this country. So stop playing politics with our lives. And you know what I'm talking about, that crew. You know they're going to continue to play politics with their lives because that is their whole shtick. It's the same old song and same old dance while Americans are grieving.
