Don Lemon Wants Rioting To Stop Now That It's Hurting Dems 'In the Polling'
Sometimes it takes CNN-level cynicism to understand what really matters to Democrats.
As Kenosha, Wisconsin, became the latest American city to go up in flames at the hands of “protesters” who think rampage and looting are normal political discourse, CNN anchorman Don Lemon urged rioters to stop torching their own towns.
But his reasoning had nothing to do with the hundreds of millions of dollars in private property destroyed, the American businesses forced to close shop or even the potential for injuries to law enforcement, civilians or the rioters themselves.
For Lemon on Tuesday night, it was all about the election in November. Voters, he seemed to realize, are starting to link widespread, pointless destruction with former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
CNN’s Don Lemon says that the riots across the country have to stop because it might hurt the Democrats’ chances in November:
“It’s showing up in the polling. It’s showing up in the focus groups.”pic.twitter.com/s6lea8slwr
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 26, 2020
“What’s happening in Kenosha is a Rorschach test for the entire country,” Lemon told nodding fellow CNN “journalist” Chris Cuomo. “And I think this is a blind spot for Democrats. I think Democrats are ignoring this problem or hoping that it will go away — and it’s not going to go away.”
What’s happening in Kenosha, of course, is a spasm of violence in response to the shooting of a black man by police on Sunday. The shooting remains under investigation, but that hasn’t stopped the Black Lives Matter mob from drawing its own conclusion that it was “racism” that resulted in Blake being shot. (Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers didn’t help matters when he issued a statement that implicitly blamed the police officers involved.)
That, in turn, has led to a continuation of the destruction that has been happening across the country in violent outbreaks that start as ostensible “protests” against police brutality but quickly devolve into orgies of arson and theft.
[firefly_poll]
Thanks to the Democratic National Convention, Democrats at every level were in the national spotlight for four days last week, but couldn’t bring themselves to issue a forthright denunciation of the destruction Americans have been watching for three months.
A truly patriotic political party would have demanded a halt to the violence long ago. But Democrats clearly hoped to leverage the unrest for electoral advantage against President Donald Trump.
A truly honest mainstream media would have been demanding Democrats take a stand on the violence, particularly during their convention. But the mainstream media has cast its lot with Biden’s party.
And that left it to Lemon on Tuesday to put the case in starkly cynical political terms: The American public is sick of watching lawlessness in the nation’s streets — and Biden and his party are getting the blame for it.
Biden, Lemon said, has “got to come out and tell people that he is going to deal with the issue of police reform in this country, and that what’s happening how is happening under Donald Trump’s watch — on Donald Trump’s watch. And when he is the president and Kamala Harris is the vice president, then they will take care of this problem.
“But guess what? The rioting has to stop,” he said. “It’s showing up in the polling. It’s showing up in focus groups.”
Well, if anyone needed confirmation that the Democratic Party and its media allies care nothing for the actual country, but do care deeply about winning the upcoming presidential election, Don Lemon just provided it.
And it drew the kind of backlash it deserved:
TRANSLATION: Dem local leaders purposely ignored riots, hoping people would blame Trump but it’s too obvious and the voters are aware what’s going on. Voters know governors and mayors rejected federal help, and local DAs are not charging rioters.
— ?Champanic ? Attack ? (@ChampanicAttack) August 26, 2020
Seriously! Now they’re only starting to talk out about it because it might hurt their votes!?
— Volforlife (@beachbum201) August 26, 2020
That’s the only reason? ?????
— Robert (@darkmoldovan) August 26, 2020
How about they are wrong in every way?!
— Greg Feitl (@TheHammer_22) August 26, 2020
Plus, it’s wrong to burn down buildings.
— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) August 26, 2020
The rioting has to stop, not because it’s killing people, not because it’s destroying businesses or causing chaos and destruction in our cities. But because of the polling. Don Lemon has no soul. https://t.co/8d1JjnfZGx
— Aldous Huxley’s Ghost™ (@AF632) August 26, 2020
To be fair to Lemon, that conversation took place before news broke about two killings in Kenosha overnight Tuesday. But the riots that erupted following the May 25 death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes had claimed at least two dozen lives before that, according to the Daily Caller, and the toll could well be higher.
Democrats and liberals like Lemon shrugged off that violence, though, confident that it could only help their chances of winning back the White House.
Now, Lemon wants the party to change gears — and it’s a good chance it will try.
The big problem is, Trump might be in the White House, but it’s Democrats who are in charge at virtually every place that has been hit by riots.
Floyd’s death took place in deep-blue Minneapolis, riots have been at their worst in leftist Portland, Oregon; and Seattle Washington. Kenosha, Wisconsin, has a Democratic mayor, as The Federalist has noted.
It’s a pattern seen throughout the country. As Republican congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik — who’s running to win the Baltimore, Maryland, seat formerly held by the late Elijah Cummings — put it in an a viral campaign video: “The worst place for a black person to live in America is a Democrat-controlled city.”
Biden is probably going to be forced to address the continuing violence, but he’s going to be stuck between the Scylla and Charybdis of Democratic grievance fantasies and reality for American voters.
If he condemns the violence too strongly, he risks losing the support of the stormtrooper base of the Democratic Party — the mobs currently burning down cities, attacking public buildings and tearing down statues of revered Americans.
If he does condemns the violence too weakly (which, in all likelihood, he will), he will simply confirm to the sane part of America that he and his party don’t have the spine to stand up to anarchists who are battling more than police brutality — they’re waging war against the country itself, and the laws that hold it together.
The reality is, Biden is in a bind of moral bankruptcy. In the summer of 2020, Democrats have made it clear they value the mobs in the streets more than they value the average voter — and voters are getting the message.
Even CNN-level cynicism — the idea of finally denouncing the violence because it’s making Democrats look bad — won’t get Biden out of that.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
