CNN anchor Chris Cuomo appeared to defend President Donald Trump’s voters during a Thursday evening segment with colleague Don Lemon.
While Cuomo did not agree with them, he argued that there was a large swath of Americans who supported and voted for Trump but had nothing to do with the violent riot Jan. 6 that resulted in the breach of the Capitol Building. (RELATED: Don Lemon Says All Trump Voters Are ‘In The Crowd’ With KKK And Capitol Rioters)
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“I will tell you this. There are a lot of people who voted for Trump who don’t agree with you,” Cuomo said.
Lemon, who was criticized for saying just one day earlier that all Trump voters might as well have been part of the crowd that had stormed the Capitol, doubled down.
“That’s fine. They are allowed to their own opinion. It doesn’t mean they’re right, but they’re allowed to their opinion, and I believe what I said last night,” Lemon replied.
“Absolutely you do. But they look at this mob and they say ‘That’s not me,'” Cuomo pushed back.
Lemon argued that didn’t matter because Trump voters and the mob had voted for the same things, and Cuomo protested that voting for the same people did not necessarily mean that they believed in all of the same things.
“It puts you in the same crowd, yes it does,” Lemon replied, saying that similar votes indicated that people shared common interests. “That’s how voting works.”
“Right. But it doesn’t mean that you believe — but it doesn’t mean that a voter believes that their vote means what you think it means,” Cuomo continued to push back on Lemon’s argument.
“Well, but it also means that you share something with that person. And you must own up to it,” Lemon insisted. “And we have to stop saying — giving people an out for people who represent the worst behaviors. Stop trying to make an excuse for people who voted for someone who has those beliefs. You may think you don’t believe that, but in a way what you’re doing, you’re complicit with it because you’re voting for the same type of person.”