CNN’s Don Lemon condemned President Donald Trump’s “dirty racist tactic” after he repeated a conspiracy about Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris being ineligible to serve as vice president.
Claremont Institute’s John Eastman wrote an op-ed published Wednesday in Newsweek that suggested there are “some questions” about Harris’s “eligibility” to run. The op-ed speculated about the definition of a “natural-born citizen,” per the U.S. Constitution and 14th Amendment.
Trump was asked about the false birtherism conspiracy Thursday and noted that he has “no idea if that’s right.” He also said that he “heard it today that” Harris “doesn’t meet the requirements” and praised Eastman as “a very highly qualified, highly talented lawyer.”
The president was given chances to refute the conspiracy, but he did not. (RELATED: Trump Floats False Kamala Harris Birther Theory After Being Given Every Opportunity To Refute It)
“This man is so full of it, y’all,” Lemon said Thursday on “CNN Tonight.” “Come on. He knows better than that. He’s the president of the United States. Shouldn’t he have a modicum of decency and class and just say, ‘Look, come on, let’s talk about something real. Lot of people have died from the coronavirus. That’s serious. Kamala Harris is on the vice presidential ticket. Move along.'”
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“The struggle is real,” Lemon continued. “I just — I want you to know I don’t repeat what this president said about this lightly. I hate to even read his Tweets on the air because they are so ridiculous. I don’t even follow him on Twitter anymore because his Twitter feed, what he puts out, is so toxic, it’s just ridiculous. A white man questioning a black woman’s birthplace in America in 2020. No other words but disgusting, racist. And purposefully so.”
Lemon also called out Republican senators for not backing Harris amid the attack. The CNN host said that his “producers spent the evening reaching out to all 53 of Senator Kamala Harris’ Republican colleagues in the Senate.” Just one, Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, responded, according to Lemon.
“His team was polite,” Lemon said. “Said that they hadn’t heard about the story until we reached out. Didn’t have anything to share. That’s it. Hadn’t heard about it even though at the press conference he was asked about it, right? Even if you hadn’t heard, wouldn’t you have a better answer than that?”
“The other 52 didn’t respond at all. Their silence speaks volumes. Their silence is complicit.”
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