No matter where you go on the internet right now, you're going to see it completely on fire thanks to the arrest of former CNN commentator and disgraced anchor, Don Lemon.
As RedState previously covered, Lemon showed up with a group of aggressive "protesters" who stormed a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, because they suspected the pastor there was an ICE agent. While there, they intimidated churchgoers, causing one family to hold their young son as he cried in fear. As all of this was going on, Lemon was practically interrogating the pastor, who was calling the mob's actions "shameful," while Don Lemon tried to frame it as a practice of free speech.
Of course, Lemon condemned himself with his pre-raid message, admitting that he had coordinated with the group that was to storm the church, and even used the language of "we" when referring to the group.
This, of course, led to his arrest and the total meltdown of the Democrats and the leftist media.
READ: Breaking: Don Lemon Arrested
The current narrative from the left, predictably, is that this is an attack on free speech and that Lemon is being arrested for the crime of wrongthink. As my colleague Bonchie covered, the meltdown on the left has been nothing short of a fireworks show of explosive takes, rage, and warnings about the country falling deeper into despotism.
READ: Left-Wing Politicians and 'Journalists' Go Insane Over Don Lemon Arrest, but the Receipts Loom Large
I find this awfully rich because the left has demonstrated time and again that it doesn't actually value free speech.
I mean, this is the same party that attempted to create their own Ministry of Truth headed by a woman who can't decide if she's a despot or a Broadway actress.
This is the same administration that arrested people for singing hymns outside of an abortion clinic.
Reminder that Biden's DOJ arrested all of the people in this video under the FACE Act for singing hymns outside an abortion clinic.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 30, 2026
According to the left, this was a legitimate use of the FACE Act, but not disrupting a church service.pic.twitter.com/9mFHa1ztGE
But if I'm going to compare apples to apples, let's talk about Steve Baker.
Baker was covering January 6 for The Blaze in a way that the Democrat Party did not appreciate. He was ordered by the FBI to show up at their Dallas field office in shorts and flip-flops for what he was told would be an in-and-out process. Baker showed up as he was ordered to, but in a suit, knowing that they were going to try to use his state of unprofessionalism as an optic against him.
According to Baker, they proceeded to cuff him, not just by the wrists, but also in ankle chains. He was perp-walked through a Dallas courtroom, where he noted people were being charged with felonies who weren't in leg chains.
To make matters worse, Baker didn't even know what he was being charged with when he was ordered to the FBI office. These were apparently going to be revealed to him during his court hearing. As it turned out, it was a non-violent misdemeanor, and Baker was released.
As Baker later told journalist Breanna Morello, the real reason he was under arrest wasn't that he actually did anything wrong, but because of what he said about January 6 and how he said it. That was his true crime. He practiced his First Amendment right in a way the Biden administration and the Democrat Party didn't like.
Just caught up with journalist Steve Baker just moments after being released from federal custody.
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) March 1, 2024
@TPC4USA details what he’s had to endure at the hands of the corrupt DOJ.
Watch my FULL report tonight at 7pm ET on Rumble and @BreannaMShow. pic.twitter.com/mPIjzG7JPr
Baker's punishment wasn't to show up to court and have a finger wagged at him; it was to show up to be humiliated, intimidated, and made a lesson for anyone watching, including right-leaning journalists.
Baker and Lemon are similar in that both are journalists who covered a tense moment inside a place where they legally shouldn't have been, however while Baker was merely documenting what he saw inside the capitol building on January 6 and not participating in the chaos, Lemon is on record premeditating this disruption of a church service and used language that he was in league with the group and its aims, which included intimidation.
If the Democrats and the left are so worried about free speech, they sure seemed okay with its destruction in the case of Baker.
If you ask me, the Democrats aren't mad that Lemon was arrested at all. What they're mad about is that it wasn't you.
