CNN’s Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo mocked “right-wing” media for reporting on rising crime in major cities, suggesting that the reports come when President Donald Trump’s “poll numbers go south.”
The two spoke briefly at the start of Lemon’s “CNN Tonight” show Tuesday evening. The hand-off started with a discussion about two Californians who have been charged with a hate crime for trying to paint over a “Black Lives Matter” street mural.
Cuomo quickly pivoted, trashing those around Trump and people concerned with what the BLM movement really stands for. He told Lemon that “it’s all about creating division” and called out “state TV” for allegedly pushing this narrative.
“It all fits together, D,” Cuomo said. “The lies about the pandemic. The lies about, you know, what this President will make happen, the lies of those around him echo of support. Lies about what Black Lives Matter is about. It’s all about creating division. And making, you know, in a country that is well over 70 percent white, if this happens, it is bad for you.”
Lemon responded by trashing the “the right-wing machine” and “media” for its reporting amid the BLM movement. The two CNN hosts then began to mock reporting from right-wing media, lowering their voices as they did so.
“Democratic cities are in chaos right now. Is this what you want from Joe Biden? And they’re gonna take your country away. And they’re taking down the statues,” Lemon said.
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“Crime is rising!” Cuomo replied sarcastically, followed up by Lemon repeating his comment.
“Defund police!” Cuomo added.
“Oh my gosh! It’s so bad and they get defunding the police,” Lemon continued. “And it’s like – And the people who you saw there for the most part, not, not them specifically. I’m talking about as a whole. Fall for it. They fall for it and that’s why they do things like what they did. They want to paint over signs and think ‘it’s our country.'”
The duo did not discuss numerous reports from various publications regarding rising crime in major cities. The New York Times reported June 23 on the rising gun violence in New York City, pointing out that “it has been nearly a quarter century since New York City experienced as much gun violence in the month of June as it has seen this year.”
In Los Angeles, the LAPD reported that homicides were up by 250% between May 31 and June 6 compared to the week prior, according to a June 9 report from CBS Los Angeles. Victims who were shot also increased 56%, according to the report.
The duo made no mention of the multiple children who have been shot – and some killed – amid growing violence across the country. (RELATED: 16 Children Have Been Shot, Some Killed, In Cities Across The US As Violence Spikes)
Lemon and Cuomo also ignored discussing warnings about the BLM movement, instead opting to trash those who are pushing “lies” about what the movement is about. Actor Terry Crews tried to discuss issues surrounding some people leading the movement on CNN just one day earlier. Crews noted that the movement has hints of extremism to it and pointed out that black-on-black crime doesn’t seem to matter to them.