On Thursday, married men across the United States cringed as “CNN’s This Morning” co-host Don Lemon made the rookie mistake of saying women weren’t in their prime past their 30s and “maybe 40s.” Lemon is known for being something of a serial spewer of ridiculous claims, but this one got an immediate reaction from the public and his two female co-hosts, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.
The comment came on the back of a conversation about Nikki Haley suggesting politicians take mental competency tests as they get up there in age, to which Lemon responded by saying Haley wasn’t in her prime. As his two co-hosts came down on him, Lemon attempted to unsuccessfully blame that info he was relaying on Google.
He would later issue a non-apology on Twitter, calling his comments “inartful and irrelevant. Not putting “I’m sorry” in the tweet didn’t make the situation better.
Fast forward to Friday, and now a top women’s group is demanding Lemon face suspensions. According to The Hill, the UltraViolets want CNN’s co-host put in timeout:
“While Don Lemon’s egregiously sexist comments about women being ‘in their prime’ have no place on CNN or anywhere in the news media, this isn’t the first time Lemon’s bias has influenced his on-air reporting,” said Bridget Todd, director of communications at UltraViolet, a leading national gender advocacy group. “From athletes to politicians and even his co-anchors, Lemon has used his power and platform to consistently undermine and demean powerful women.”
Todd isn’t wrong. Lemon is apparently comfortable enough with berating women that he verbally berated Collins back in December until she ran away in tears.
To be sure, there’s absolutely no room on any staff for a diva who is so certain of his own importance at a network that he believes it’s perfectly okay to accost his co-workers and cause them emotional and mental strife. That certainly would be, in my opinion, a fireable offense.
However, the last thing I want is for Don Lemon to go away. I like him where he is. I hope he stays there for a very long time.
And that’s because I’m the kind of guy who likes to play the long game.
The invention of the internet has allowed for advances to be made, not just in technology and innovation, but in messaging. Even just a few decades ago, a person could say something on television, at a townhall meeting, or a floor speech, and only the viewers who saw it at the time would even know they said it. If the media didn’t see it fit to talk about, it was memory-holed.
But not in today’s age where a Don Lemon can say something ridiculous and the clip would be repeated and replayed on social media feeds ad nauseum. These ridiculous claims, declarations, and gaffes can be exposed to more people than ever.
In his very sexist rant, Lemon exposed, not just himself, but the left as being unflinchingly sexist despite its claims that it’s the side that cares most about women. As these instances pile up, people can really start to get a good idea of just how ridiculous and hypocritical the left actually is, and as they do they begin to question why they should be loyal to it in the first place.
This takes some time to do, but as I said, this is a long game. As the examples pile up, so does the disloyalty.
I want Lemon to stick around and do what he does best; say very stupid things. I want to then take those clips of him and distribute them to the wider world so they can see that the people the left celebrates the most are actually just the worst.
I want them to begin questioning what the left really believes in, hopefully leading them to see more mistakes, more gaffes, but ultimately more truths. I want the left to erode their support from within, and that means standing back and allowing them to have the spotlight they so desperately cling to.
