And he was right to do it, actually.

Don Lemon – by no means a nonpartisan, to be clear – ended his show early on Friday night, after a pro-Trump panelist refused to stick to the topic at hand.

Paris Dennard, a political analyst and commentator, rather than address a legitimate point about security at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and the cost of keeping the Trump family safe on those trips, began twitching and vomiting out, “Fake news! Fake news!” all over the discussion.

Lemon interrupted to shut down Dennard’s use of the term “fake news.”

“Fake news is when you put out a story to intentionally deceive someone and you know that it is wrong.”

“This story that we’re doing right now is not to intentionally deceive anyone. We are simply talking about the cost to keep a President safe,” he continued. “Please stop it with that stupid talking point, that it is a fake news story. If you don’t want to participate in the news stories on this network, then don’t come on and participate. But don’t call them fake because you don’t agree with them. Go on.”

And like him or not, he’s right.

An example would be the story that Ted Cruz’s father was involved with Lee Harvey Oswald, or just about anything that comes from Breitbart or Gateway Pundit.

Dennard responded again, “this is a fake news story,” after which Lemon ended the segment altogether.

“Okay, Paris, thank you very much everyone,” Lemon said. “Thanks everyone, thanks for watching. Have a great weekend. Goodnight, all.”

As someone who has fought the battle of wits against the unarmed Branch Trumpidians, I share in Lemon’s frustrations.

Are we to feel sorry for these people, lost in their cult world?

Do we label them as enemies to the republic, as well as good grammar and basic commonsense?

As Lemon demonstrated, sometimes you just cut off their mic and walk away.

The “fake news” narrative has to go.

Biased media, maybe, but to continue with the “fake news” mantra reveals a “fake patriotism,” and a “fake” grasp on self-awareness.