Bulwark Takes - Don Lemon Responds to Being Arrested and Put On Trump’s “Enemies List”

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Tim Miller moderated a conversation with Don Lemon at the 2026 New Orleans Book Festival. They talked about Lemon’s arrest and time in custody and the broader crackdown on Trump critics. They also d...iscussed the war in Iran, and the failures of the mainstream media during Trump's second term.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Booster juice is going crazy for hazelnuts. No, not crazy. Nuts. Booster juice is going bananas for hazelnuts. I mean, there are bananas and smoothies, but that's not the point. Banana juice is booster for hazelnuts. What? Just stop.
Starting point is 00:00:16 Booster juice is going nuts for hazelnut. Introducing the Nutty Monkey smoothie, holy hazelnut asai bowl and nutty booster ball. All made with rich, creamy hazelnut spread. Try them today. Only at booster juice. Canadian-born. Blending since 1999.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Booster juice is going crazy for hazelnuts. No, not crazy. Nuts. Booster juice is going bananas for hazelnuts. I mean, there are bananas and smoothies, but that's not the point. Banana juice is booster for hazelnuts. What? Just stop.
Starting point is 00:00:46 Booster juice is going nuts for hazelnut. Introducing the nutty monkey smoothie. Holy hazelnut asai bowl and nutty booster ball. All made with rich, creamy hazelnut spread. Try them today. Only at booster juice. Canadian-born. Blending since 1999.
Starting point is 00:01:00 Hey, everybody, it's Tim Moore from the Bullwark. Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of interviewing Don Lemon here in New Orleans. I adopted home. He's from Louisiana. We were in the basketball arena at Tulane and had a great crowd for 9 a.m. Hard to get up in 9 a.m. in Louisiana. And I got to see him for the first time since the Trump regime targeted him. We talked about that.
Starting point is 00:01:25 I didn't really know the full back story about how. he was detained and arrested, what happened to him when he was being held. So we got into all of that. We also talked about independent media. You should go check him out if you haven't over on his YouTube feed and talked about, you know, news of the day. It got a little heavy at some point. So I also decided we needed to do some little lighter fare, you know, have some jokes for the people. So I hope you enjoy it.
Starting point is 00:01:54 It was really great. Shout out to Cheryl Landrieu, who puts on the same. festival every year here in New Orleans and for letting us repurpose this for y'all. So stick around for me and Don Lemon. Out of town. How many y'all are from out of town? What in the hell are you doing? They're all here for Tim. Look at all the people who came to see us. You did not do New Orleans correct if you're in from out of town and you're at this panel at 9 a.m. I'm sorry. You got to fix that tonight. Good morning.
Starting point is 00:02:33 How are you? Wait, good morning. Yes. How many lemon heads in the house? Elimination, brother. Thanks for doing this, Tim. Why didn't you bring me any swag? I could get you some swag. I know some people. I'd like some swag. We're going to start with this. Let's pull up the pants. Do you have an ankle bracelet? Ankle monitor? No, all right. That's a free man right there.
Starting point is 00:02:59 Not that I know, but I did. I did, you know, I lotion. That is a free man. Boy, I had to be pretty fucking weird. You know, getting arrested. Can I tell you something weird? So yesterday, I'm sitting in the hotel room here, and I did my show from the room. Yeah. And, you know, after the show, I look up and I had MS Now on, which you appear on.
Starting point is 00:03:27 And Ali Belci had the president's sort of enemies list up there with all the people who he had, you know, targeted. And then it had Don Lemon, in terms. I was like, why am I up there? This is weird. I'm like up there with like Tish James. Like it's weird Like did they give you a heads up like were you in your underwear? Like what's No, no heads up? No heads up. No and look I can just so you guys know How are you? I can only talk about what's public. I can't talk to discuss much of the details of whatever But anything that's out there I don't mind talking about it and we can talk a little bit about the prison food You can ask me whatever you want.
Starting point is 00:04:08 But the thing is, is that, you know, I had heard them, excuse me, I was this changing this morning. I'd heard them talk about, you know, they were on TV right after it happened and saying, you know, Don Lemon, Don Lemon, Donald and Donald and Donald and Lemon. And so I got an attorney,
Starting point is 00:04:25 and my attorney sent them a letter saying, if you're serious, hey, we're ready, let himself report, turn himself in. Never heard back from them. And so, the idea, the motivation is to embarrass you, right? And as I said, when I was released from the pokey, the process is the punishment.
Starting point is 00:04:49 That's what they want to do. They want to embarrass you. They want to take you through, but they want to diminish your finances, diminish your ability to be able to make money, your credibility, your reputation, all of that. It's really maniacal. So how long were you in there? Like I've only been in one time. Wait, wait, what did you do?
Starting point is 00:05:11 Well, I had a minor in possession of alcohol when I was 18, and then I didn't go to the classes, and then I got a traffic arrest in Vail, and they were like, you have a warrant out for your arrest because you didn't go to your alcohol classes. So I was in the Vail count, the... I should be interviewing you, Tim. I was in there for about three hours,
Starting point is 00:05:31 and I got a T-shirt out of it. I still have it. It has the elevation on it. The veil jail is not exactly where the heavy hitters are. So I was okay. But what was your experience? It was, I was in there overnight. I think it was from about midnight to, so about full 12 hours, 11, 12 hours.
Starting point is 00:05:50 Midnight to, I think, noon the next day. Yeah. That's like by yourself? Yeah, but I was in. Do you make some friends? Steve Banner made some jail friends. No, I did not. I'm making him jail friends.
Starting point is 00:06:01 I was in a holding room. Never like an official cell, luckily. But I will tell you that the folks who, not the people who arrested me, they were jerks. But the people who were in charge of me and when they're in the holding part of it and processing, they could not have been kinder. I had the same experience. You did. You had the same experience. In bail, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:24 The cop was mean. So look, I know we talk a lot about federal agents and all of that, but those guys, those guys, there are career professionals who work for the department. of Homeland Security who are not the goons who are out there with 47 days experience robbing people of their due process rights to different people and they don't like being associated with those people you can tell we've talked about this a little bit I'm interested in your view that I'm like of I'm of multiple minds about this but your situation but also everybody's Jim Comey's and Tish change everybody on the list that you saw in MS now the like on the one hand I'm angry because it's it's
Starting point is 00:06:59 un-American and it's horrible and they deserve you deserve to be upset at them On the other hand, I kind of want to mock them because it's been so ham-handed. I mean, like, they came in with, like, we have an enemy's list, and they've unsuccessfully jailed a single enemy. You know, Barack Obama walks free. He walk free. Tim Walts walks free. The sandwich man walks free. Like, they're struggling.
Starting point is 00:07:23 Yeah. And so on the one hand, I think it's better to mock them. But on the other hand, like you're saying, the process is the penalty, and it's wrong. And I'm just wondering how you process that. Well, I'm sitting here now, you know, looking back with the perspective that I have now, that we can joke about it a little, because as I say, I'm not going to let them steal my joy. I'm from Louisiana. You know, I grew up a very churchy household.
Starting point is 00:07:46 Right? When we say, when we talk about New Orleans, we say down the road because it's south. Right up the road from Baton Rouge, or as we say Baton Rouge. Yeah, from. VR, VR. Growing up, going to, you know, everybody goes to the Catholic school. Like when I was growing up, back in the late 60s, early 70s. No.
Starting point is 00:08:05 Yeah. 1960? I just turned 60. Really? Yes. You look great. Thank you. I know.
Starting point is 00:08:12 It's all, look, it's all genetics. Because the shit that I've been through in the last. Maybe 90s. My forehead still moves, baby. Sorry. Tim, you know what they say? I'm trying not to say it. Black don't crack.
Starting point is 00:08:26 I was trying to wish you to say. But here's a thing. the thing good bays don't age either and so stay out of the sun I'm just saying but so I'm not gonna let them steal my joy I grew up with faith from a very faithful family and you know I am I'm not churchy I do you ask me the first thing said did you go to church you still go to church and I said yeah the last time they tried to arrest me yeah sorry the last time they arrested me for going to church but I can joke about it now somewhat but these are very serious charges
Starting point is 00:09:04 these are federal charges and like conspiracy for like you know it's crazy it's crazy it's crazy but yeah it's it's what perspective that I gain is that they are maniacal and I believe that they are not patriots I believe that they are they don't believe in the Constitution they don't believe in the Bill of Rights because otherwise they would not be conducting themselves in the way that they and they would not be going after someone who is who you consider your political rival. And you're right. They're not having much success, if any, in any of this.
Starting point is 00:09:37 It's a waste of resources. It's a waste of your tax dollars. For the number of people who came to arrest me and Georgia Fort and all the other people, even in different countries, these folks could have turned themselves in and saved you a hell of a lot of money. And it wouldn't be all the hoopla. But first of all, Well, why are they doing it anyways, you know?
Starting point is 00:10:00 Yeah, I like to mock them, so I want to start with that. Go for it. Because they just, they still haven't jailed anybody, which is pretty tough for them. Zero for, they haven't jailed anybody for the 2020 election theft, I've noticed either. The one that was stolen? Yeah, you think they'd be able to find the culprit by now? Gash has been on that. I know.
Starting point is 00:10:19 You know, but we'll see. We're still waiting. Cash is busy. He's got, he's got locker rooms to do beer. He does. Got to go see his girlfriend sing at Semis. pro wrestling matches on our plane. Here are the serious parts.
Starting point is 00:10:34 You're talking about the resources, and that is serious, the waste of tax dollars. But it's also like, these are, this is federal law enforcement. There's real shit to be worried about. We've got a war now, which we're about to start talking about. But, you know, obviously we have domestic terror threats. We've seen that over the course of the past week. We've got a lot of people who are experts who have either been fired or quit because they don't want to work for these guys or who are being redeployed to, like,
Starting point is 00:10:56 you know, do perimeter work outside the Home Depot. And like that's happening at the prosecutor level, at the agent level, at the FBI level, and like that, you know, you have to believe that there are real consequences to that at some point. These people do real jobs. These people do real. They're supposed to, used to at least. They do real jobs, and that's just, that's what I mean, they're not patriots and they don't believe in the Constitution because these people are career professionals. You see the brain drain that's going on at all of these agencies. They are, They are attacking very important systems and agencies and institutions in this country. So, yes, there's a real consequence.
Starting point is 00:11:34 But let's just think about it on a human level, that you have worked your entire life to do the right thing because you do love this country, and it is you are serving your country in a different way than the military, but you're still serving your country. And then all of a sudden you had this lawless administration, or regime, as I like to call it, I don't like to call it an administration. You have them come in, and there are people who are there that,
Starting point is 00:11:55 just spoke to a friend last night, who have been there for a while, and I mean working for the government and working in these institutions. And maybe they have two, three years left, right? And they're like, I just, I'm a couple years away from retirement. I can't change my career at this point. And all they just want to do is hang on. And all of these bogus bullshit indictments and all this stuff. Their names are on those things.
Starting point is 00:12:17 And they're like, I hope nobody notices that. Yeah, everybody had to quit in Minneapolis. And, like, they don't even have prosecutors. They're like, they tried to go after Renee Goods. spouse, they're trying to go out to, a lot of people quit. I got friends who are prosecutors in different other places like this, and they're just like trying to keep their head down. I don't want to say what district they're in, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:35 because they're just like, I hope that nothing happens where I live, so I can just survive this and do my job of prosecuting actual criminals. But you know what they're doing is they just keep prolonging these cases because they don't have the resources to fight, to adjudicate them or whatever it is. Or the facts. Or the facts. But it doesn't matter.
Starting point is 00:12:57 You know, people are going down looking around Georgia, you know, searching around for the ballots. I mean, those are all people that should be doing real work. Should be doing real work? And should I just say it? Let's do it. How can you have someone who is mentioned and who is accused of some very untoward things in the Epstein files and still not be brought into question to be questioned when there are heads. heads of state in other countries who have lost their positions, who have faced consequences,
Starting point is 00:13:31 simply for the association. Yeah. It's worse than that, actually. Yeah, we've got people actively who work for the government actively covering up. You know, like, the Pan Bondi basically was like, you have to give me a share file of all the times that the president and cabinet members are mentioned in here. Have you noticed how quiet she's been lately? Yeah, where is she?
Starting point is 00:13:50 The other thing you're saying about them not being patriots is, like, these are, like, These are our fun. This is when my old Republican comes out. Democrats care, you know, you all care about the Constitution, too, the Democrats, but I had a pocket constitution before I was arrested in bail. You know, I went through a pocket constitution phase in high school, then a troublemaking phase, and I came back around. Look, man, they went after you for your first amendment, right?
Starting point is 00:14:16 Alex Freddie and Renee Good are exercising their First Amendment right. Alex Freddie's exercising his Second Amendment right to carry that firearm. multiple people have been exercising their Fourth Amendment right to not have their houses or cars or whatever infringed upon. These guys are trampling over the basic fundamental rights in this country. Luckily for you, it was just one night in jail, but look what happened to Alex Prattie. Yeah, yeah. And Alex and Renee and Keith Porter in California. Yeah, I mean, it has real life or death.
Starting point is 00:14:53 consequences. And here's the hypocrisy and the irony of it all. We're in Iran, supposedly, this is one of the 10, maybe 25 excuses, okay, hundreds of excuses that they've given for to justify this unjustifiable war. The protesters? Yeah, yeah. I'm going with the protesters. They said, because they shoot protesters. And it's like, we do too in America. And or, you know, Maduro. Well, he tried to steal. an election. I said, so did you. So what happens if another country wants to come and arrest our leader for doing things that are unlawful? They have set a precedent to do that. Right, Mark Carney. Looking at you, Emmanuel Macron. Yeah. Let's send some French
Starting point is 00:15:41 lesionnaires in here in this bit. But think about it. Think about this, Tim. You have that, and then you have them saying, Pete Hexeth saying, well, this is how the headlines should be written. This is how the news stories should go. What happens when he put a Fox and Friends co-host in the Department of War? When he just realized, that's not how the media actually operates like Fox News.
Starting point is 00:16:05 We don't just put shit on the screen just because that's how we want it to be. It has to be factual, so he doesn't understand that. But the fact that he thinks that it should be state-run media, isn't that, don't you find that hypocritical because that's exactly where we're supposed to be fighting against Iran?
Starting point is 00:16:21 That's why we're in this war with Iran is because they have state-run media. They don't have a free press. People don't have rights in the Constitution as we do. It's a First Amendment. And so he's saying, hey, look, this is how the press should only write favorable things about this administration and the war. It's outrageous.
Starting point is 00:16:41 Yeah, let's talk about, well, I want to talk about the meta-conversation about the press covering the war, but I guess before we do, just on the actual war itself, I mean, did you get this? Did you get as caught off guard as me? I thought that Trump was, I have a pretty low regard for Trump. I don't know if you know that. I expect him to make a lot of bad decisions when he got back in. I accepted him to be corrupt.
Starting point is 00:17:04 I expected it to be a shit show. I kind of didn't. I thought this was the one thing that I was like, you know, I don't think he's going to do this. I don't think he's going to get us into a stupid Middle East war. And it was the fundamental case that he made against my candidates back in 2016 that he wasn't going to do that. And I just, I've kind of been blown away.
Starting point is 00:17:23 That he did this? That he's doing it. You're not? Tim. And I'm just saying if you're not meeting my expectations as Trump, it's like you're really, it's really, when did you think he wasn't going to do it? It wasn't the time where he changed the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War? Like, and you're supposed to be a peacetime president, and we're going to get you out of it.
Starting point is 00:17:49 Every accusation is a confession. You know that. And so I had, look, the bar is in hell for this administration. And so I had, I'm not surprised about that. And this is coming from someone, did you know that I was a Republican in college? That was a young Republican, yes. Yes, at LSU. Yeah, you know, I was at LSU.
Starting point is 00:18:10 It was, you know, it was the 80s. Everybody was doing it. Just Reagan maxing and cocaine in LSU for Don Lemon. And ecstasy. Okay. Yeah. But then honestly, I grew up and I realized like, okay, you know, political parties are kind of BS. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:37 Booster juice is going crazy for hazelnuts. No, not crazy. Nuts. Booster juice is going bananas for hazelnuts. I mean, there are bananas and smoothies, but that's not the point. Banana juice is booster for hazelnuts. What? Just stop.
Starting point is 00:18:52 Booster juice is going. Nuts for hazelnut. Introducing the nutty monkey smoothie, holy hazelnut assay bowl and nutty booster ball, all made with rich, creamy hazelnut spread. Try them today. Only at booster juice. Canadian-born. Blending since 1999. The Bell Air Direct app includes crash assist, which detects an accident the moment it happens, and even offers you emergency assistance at the tap of a button. Okay, but what if I don't have an accident? Well, just keep on, keeping on. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. The coverage of this, though, I'm looking at your old network, and there's a lot of people doing good work.
Starting point is 00:19:31 So I don't want to impugn with a broad brush. And I do think that actually, before I start, before we do a little media criticism, let's acknowledge something. There's one limitation to what we're doing in independent media is like the bulwark doesn't have a Tehran Bureau. You know, like we don't get the, you know, the lemon heads don't have somebody on the ground in Beirut. You know, like, we can do what we can do. We can, like, try to, you know, find people, you know, in the moments to hire, bring in experts, all that kind of stuff, right? But, like, we do bring folks in.
Starting point is 00:19:58 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, of course. Of course, we do, we do. But, like, you need institutions that have the money and the research and the expertise to do that kind of stuff. And no one does it better than CNN. Yeah, and there's a lot of people doing good work at CNN. So I want to acknowledge that. Okay.
Starting point is 00:20:12 But now it does feel like there is this sense that they have to, like, you know, you got to hand it to the administration sometimes. Like that the panel can't just, like the people covering the news can't just be blunt about what this is, which is it's a corrupt war, it's a stupid war, there's no point, they have not offered any rationale for it. And so underneath that, just because, like, they did some impressive bombings, like, that doesn't, you know, what is, who cares? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:41 And I think that, and just because God loved the Iranian diaspora people, but, like, just because they're happy, like, does not take away. the fact that this war was brought illegally and on false pretences. And so I just don't know if they're capable of doing it in the old institutions.
Starting point is 00:21:00 There's this old habits. There's still some sniffs of how they would have covered the shit in the 90s. Well, I will say it's what you said. It's right. You're 100% right. And I say it all the time.
Starting point is 00:21:13 I don't know if you're watching, but I say it all the time. But I have, I think I have a bit more experience in corporate media than you do as someone who was a primetime host. I was there for almost 17 years and then NBC
Starting point is 00:21:25 before that. Can you believe I worked at Fox before it was Fox News? I worked at a Fox station in New York that was a Fox O&O station and it was called the Fox News Exchange. It was all the local stations that were owned
Starting point is 00:21:42 by Rupert Murdoch and those guys. And so we would all get together and file reports and it would go into this big batch and that we go out to all the Fox stations. This was before Fox News. And so, anyway, so I have a long history with corporate media, and you're right. It's hard to turn that ship around because they think that's the way it should be done. They also think, mistakenly, that they're going to gain an audience by trying to move a network into a certain direction. And these days, it's to move it to the right, because they believe that that audience is
Starting point is 00:22:11 going to come to them. Because I was speaking to Kevin O'Leary the other night, and he said, well CNN has to, they've got to come to the middle to gain more audience. I was like, you're out of your mind. That's never going to happen. Are you crazy? I was like, those folks are never, ever going to watch CNN, and they're never going to watch any network that is a factual news organization. So that's never going to happen. So they think that they have to get people... Can I give you an anecdote on this?
Starting point is 00:22:35 Yes, but hang on it. Can I finish my thought? So they think that they're going to get people who, that they'll have a conversation and pretend like, well, let's pretend this side is equal. to that side and you've got to give it to the administration. When the conversation should be this is all bullshit, there's no rationalization, they didn't do it, and why are you inviting these people on who are election deniers
Starting point is 00:22:56 and insurrection deniers and people who are lying and coming on just to insult people, people who are bigots and misogynists? Why are you giving them an equal platform as people who are speaking the truth, so you're right? And that habit is being broken, and people have stopped watching because they see through the facade. And people were
Starting point is 00:23:14 to say a different thing on TV than they do in the green room. All the time. You know that, right? I hate this guy. He's great. He's out of his mind. He can never be our nominee.
Starting point is 00:23:23 And you get on camera and it's like, I love him. And I'm like, who are you? Yeah, I know. No, this is a hard thing because I've been wanting to have people that are at least, you know, aren't quite as TDS filled as me on the podcast. You know, I'm in the James Carville. You have, like, I want the TDS to rain down on me from the heavens. Do you have TDS, you think?
Starting point is 00:23:42 I do. Well, I mean, I, well, no, I think that I see him clearly. I don't think you do. Thank you, Don. But I'm trying to bring on people that, like, you know, we're all wrong sometimes. I don't know. Maybe there's something I'm not seeing. But it's hard.
Starting point is 00:23:56 I finally had a guy on this week. I've been trying to get on who has this podcast on Breaking Points is a MAGA guy. He has a lot of terrible views and a lot of some of the things you just laid out. He has some of those sins. But, like, at least he is saying what he really thinks, which is the Iran War is stupid. And Trump is covering up the Epstein files, right? Like, he has pretty horrid views on immigration. but then at least we can kind of hash those out because I know you're not BSing.
Starting point is 00:24:18 That's not what CNN's doing. They're not having those people on. They're having people come on that just no matter what Trump does, they'll say that it's great, even if they think it's stupid. And that's not news. That's kind of their jobs there. It's like we need someone, and that's been, that's at every network. We need someone who's on the right, except for Foxx. I mean, do they have any legal, I mean, any liberal?
Starting point is 00:24:38 Well, we got my girl, Jesse Tarlov. Except for Jessica, I love her. And Harold Ford Jr., here, man, Harold Ford Jr. Yeah. Yeah. No, but Harold's pretty moderate. I think you need because that, no shade to Harold, I love him, but he's pretty moderate. But when you have a network that is that dedicated to carrying the water to the right,
Starting point is 00:24:57 you need like someone on the left who's that dedicated, right? And that's what they feel that they have, that most networks feel that they have to do that. I think you should just get smart people who are living in reality. And rather than someone who's just going to be like, well, the president is always right and then make faces and laugh at the other, you know, people on the panel who are actually smarter than they are. Here's some real talk. Yes, sir. There's just no market for highbrow right-wing news.
Starting point is 00:25:26 The viewers aren't there. Can I tell you how I know this for sure? Yeah. We could have a third person on this stage if we wanted to, and he could answer this, and that's Tucker Carlson. Yeah. Because when Tucker started The Daily Caller, 15 years ago now, do you know what his stated goal was? for it. He wanted to do the New York Times of the right. They were going to do investigative journalism, real news, but from a right-wing perspective. That did not do very well, because there
Starting point is 00:25:55 was no market for that. And so what ended up happening is a Daily Collar did like hot girls and conspiracy theories, and now Tucker Carlson thinks that Churchill is the bad guy in World War II, right? Like that's, like, we saw the whole pipeline. And you know who's doing really well? Carlson's podcast. And do you know what's not doing very well? The National Review. And so there just isn't a market for it. Well, maybe is a daily call or do I have no idea? It's still around. It's still there. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and so that's the problem. Let's talk about the Ellison's in this merger.
Starting point is 00:26:31 I mean, the Secretary of War literally said, Secretary of War literally said yesterday that he can't wait for CNN to get David Ellison in, which is insane. I think that's the government, the head of our military, saying that he's excited for a new propaganda network to come in. State-run media. That's what I... Yeah, that's what I said. Pete Hickseth wants state-run media.
Starting point is 00:26:53 This administration wants state-run media. Why do you think they're going after journalists? Why do you think they're going after... What's I forget, Ms. Natanson's first name, is it, Renee, from the Washington Post, where they raided her house and they took her phone. Why do you think they're doing that? Yeah. So, yeah, they want state-run media.
Starting point is 00:27:09 But I have to say, it's obvious that... this is what the administration wants. This is what MAGA wants, right, which means anyone who's supporting Donald Trump is MAGA, meaning the Ellisons and all that. But I have to blame the networks themselves and the corporate overlords and the companies that own them
Starting point is 00:27:25 because they are the ones, the gatekeepers, because they are the ones who are bending the knee. The journalists don't, they don't own anything except for this and what they say. And what they say can get them fired. And so it's the gatekeepers. Why do you think we're doing so well in independent? because we don't have gatekeepers.
Starting point is 00:27:43 Right. So they have, I blame them. And, I mean, I have to blame even the people who are working inside of the news organizations now, who are managers and supervisors and whatever, the head of the network, because they allowed this to happen. They did not push back against a corporation and say, stay out of our business. We are journalists the way people did, the Phil Griffins of the world,
Starting point is 00:28:08 the Jeff Zuckers of the world, who said, this is news, this is journalism. do your other things. And those networks were much more successful when they did that. Do you ever think to yourself, what in the hell would I be doing right now if I was still on 9 p.m. on CNN and the sale was happening?
Starting point is 00:28:24 Do you ever think about that? The Bell Air Direct app includes crash assist, which detects an accident the moment it happens, and even offers you emergency assistance at the tap of a button. Okay, but what if I don't have an accident? Well, just keep on keeping on. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply.
Starting point is 00:28:42 Hey Ontario, come on down to BetMGM Casino and check out our newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show. Only at BetMGM. Access to the Price is right fortune pick is only available at BetMGM Casino. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BenMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario.
Starting point is 00:29:13 Hallelujah. I think about it and I was like, this is a blessing in disguise when my friend called me and said, Don, if I open the dictionary that says, you know, timing and lucky, blessing and disguise, your picture is in there. Can you imagine being there right now? That's what I'm asking you. I can't imagine. If I were there right now, I would have been fired for cause.
Starting point is 00:29:37 Yeah. because I probably would have cuss some people out or... You don't miss the makeup people and the travel budget? No. No? No, because, I mean, I don't miss the makeup people. I love those guys. I mean, do I miss them as people?
Starting point is 00:29:54 Yes, but I don't miss putting makeup on because you don't need it. Have you ever won makeup on your show? No. No, I've never, unless I'm coming back from like... Sometimes it's a hangover, I'll do it. Under eye. I don't do that. I'll come on and say, hey, everybody.
Starting point is 00:30:08 everybody, good morning, because I do live, I'm like, I'm a little hungover. And I just tell them, right? I went out last night and had a little too many, and I get on with the news. People don't like the artifice anymore. So, no, I can't imagine. So you don't think, like, what if we have president, I don't know, AOC in 2029? And these corporate overlords are like, oh, shit, we got to tack back. And they called you and were like, I want to give you a prime time show again.
Starting point is 00:30:29 What would you? If only if they gave me a Rachel Maddo deal where I get to do what I want and work, like one night a week for the most part. and then come in on the big stories. Yeah, from New Orleans. Sitting on the balcony on like Bourbon Street or something. So maybe I would do it. But I will say that I worked with the best journalists. I'm talking about the corporate overlords.
Starting point is 00:30:50 The best journalists in the world at CNN. And there are journalists, as you know, doing really great things, especially in the war zone. And when I said that no one does it better than CNN, I'm not necessarily talking about their domestic product. I'm not a real fan of it right now. But internationally, there's no one doing it better. Clarissa Ward and all the folks who are, you know, overseas.
Starting point is 00:31:10 Gosh, who's my, I can't remember his name. Why can I'm having a senior moment? But who is in Iran right now on Safe Passage? Frederick Pliken, doing great job. Thinking about kind of the inverse of you, good timing, how about the worst timing possible to take over a news network and install people that are unapologetic warmongers? Not great over at CBS.
Starting point is 00:31:35 Yes. It's not. It's like this isn't real, like when right, like literally two weeks before the president started, I mean, I have to, I was about to say the stupidest war that I can, you know, of my lifetime. I guess Iraq, you know, there's some conversation there. At least they made the case for Iraq. I mean, hell, half the Democrats in the Senate voted for Iraq. Like, in this case, it's totally pointless. Like a completely pointless war, no rationale.
Starting point is 00:32:00 And that is right at the moment. CBS is put in people that are like, hell yeah. That's why I said it's kind of their own fault because I think CBS and other networks are bringing about their own demise because they are bending the knee. And what you're supposed to be doing is fighting back even against the people who own the corporations. And if those people were actually patriots and they understood the Constitution, the First Amendment, the bill of rights, they would not be doing what they're doing. But I will say, and I think you can apply it if you want to. But I will say, okay, no one. Please clap.
Starting point is 00:32:35 That's not what I was saying. That's a joke. That please clap moment was so taken out of context. For another time. That was you, right? No, it was funny. You were there. No, it was actually Parker's fault.
Starting point is 00:32:48 We'll do it in the green room. It was fine. Everybody in the room thought it was normal. But I do, look, I have been informed by some smart people. I mean, I say that they're going to bring about their own demise. I think CBS News might possibly go away. And I think that CNN will absorb that, and then it'll basically be CNN, and then CBS will be no longer. I think that's very possible, too.
Starting point is 00:33:14 There's one more on the war just like why they want the disinformation, like back to the substance of it, right? And we have this bombing the girls' school. You know, and luckily is absolutely the wrong word, but because it was so obviously us, they haven't gotten away with it. I guess it's the way that I'm trying to put it, right? Like, they were going to try to say that Iran did it. Oh, I mean, they're still trying to say that Iran. Yeah, I know, but it's extremely ham-handed. You know, I mean, like, at this point, we have video of the Tomahawks,
Starting point is 00:33:45 and even some people on Fox are like, but it seems like this is us, actually. But the president is trying to say that it wasn't us still. You know, some of his biggest advocates and commentators are still trying to say we don't know for sure. It's insane, you know, that a government, you know, it's North Korea type behavior for the president of this country, just to lie to our face about the fact that we wrongly killed a bunch of girls.
Starting point is 00:34:08 It's part of this illegal war. And, you know, but we don't really, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that is a serious crime. But, like, we also don't know exactly what's been happening with the other people who are injured. Like, we know the number of fatalities that we have in this war, American fatalities. But there's a lot we don't know because they're lying and they're hiding from us to a degree that, like, is unusual. It's not old-style-type spin that we've seen from past administrations. It's like they're just lying and covering things up. Look, you've got Minnesota and you've got, you know, Alex Preti and Renee Good.
Starting point is 00:34:40 Yeah. You know, and keep Porter. But then you have 175 girls. So the lying and the covering up and not allowing the investigations to happen, we've seen that. We know that it happened in Minnesota and other places. And the cover up, and the cover up is not, it can be worse than the crime, but this is pretty bad. Yeah. What happened into that girl's school is an atrocity.
Starting point is 00:35:05 It should be investigated as a possible war crime. And we should be investigating how it happened. If it had anything to do with intelligence, there's possibly, reportedly, an anthropic connection and, you know, what the defense secretary or the secretary of war, whatever it is, what he signed and deals or whatever that happened before that happened. And so I think that, I don't think,
Starting point is 00:35:31 I think this is something that they will know. not be able to get away with. Yeah. And if there is a military tribunal or a war crime or whatever, I think that some people in our government and in possibly the military, but mostly in the government, they're going to face some consequences for it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:48 I hope so eventually. Because imagine if that had happened anywhere else in the world. And we know that other places that they don't have Tomahawk missiles. And if they do, either we sold them to them or the fact that they got them should be concerning to us. So there's a whole lot of stuff going on there.
Starting point is 00:36:08 And look, in wars, mistakes happen, right? People die. That's why we should have serious people in charge. That's why you should be judicious about deciding if we're going to use violence, right? In the past, in this country, I don't want to glorify the past of America. Like, we've done a lot of terrible things in various conflicts.
Starting point is 00:36:26 Like, even going back to Iraq, right, like, think about Abu Ghraib. there were internal people who blew the whistle on that. Yeah. Right. Scott McClellan, who was the spokesperson, who was the Kaylee McAnney for, or I guess it's not Kaylee anymore words. I'm mixing my blonde. Oh, uh.
Starting point is 00:36:46 Caroline Levin. Caroline Levin. It's early. I'm mixing my blonde. My MAGA blondes up. Here's the Caroline Levin. I mean, it's kind of crazy that MAGA. Have you seen the MAGA, like, makeover?
Starting point is 00:36:58 Yeah. It's a look. It's a look, you know? It's a little cultish and a little, what do you call him? No. I don't know. It's not as cultish as the shoes. Now the men have to wear the same shoes and the ladies have to have the same lips. Was it floor shine? It's strange. It's foreshyme, right? It's floor shine. Donald Trump just discovered floor shine? Like, where is it?
Starting point is 00:37:18 But I mean, do you're not old enough to remember Tom McCann? Do you remember Tom McCann? Anybody remember? Anybody remember? Was it Paul Parrot shoes? like, pennylovers, I mean, I'm old enough to remember, but I mean, he just discovered Floorheim shoes? Ording it back to the point. It's always an important point, but while we're here. But they're all wearing them, which is frightening. And it's like, the psychological torment, it must be, I think about how submissive you have to be,
Starting point is 00:37:45 to walk around in shoes that don't fit. Yeah. To make your boss happy. Yeah. Like, that is, like, you're the Secretary of State, and you're walking around in clown shoes. Your foot is sliding around. and like you've got to make to have serious meetings and you're like man I have blisters and it's like I do
Starting point is 00:38:03 why that you know why they don't fit making me you know why they don't fit because you lied about a size you wanted the boss to think he had bigger I didn't think about it but he said we're going to let's hold that thought because they're not wearing the right socks they should be wearing some compression socks okay and it make it a little thicker and maybe they would fit because you know along with the shoes go the cancles yeah yeah well tell Markle about that they put that But, I mean, Donald Trump is obsessed with size. Donald Trump, shoe size. Donald Trump is the gayest president, I think, that we...
Starting point is 00:38:33 And he talks about it all the time. He's like, oh, and these guys, they were straight out of central casting. They were so handsome, you know, built. And I'm like, dude. He would dominate me in Broadway trivia. Like, he would run circles around me in Broadway trivia. It's so, it's so, he's... The makeup?
Starting point is 00:38:56 It's the gayest. thing I've... And another thing, back to the Mar-a-Lago face, I promise you, we're going to come back to Scott McClellan. On the Mar-a-Lago face, they look like drag queens, too. It's like the aesthetic is of drag queen aesthetic, you know, the big lips, the big lashes, big makeup. It's very, but it's also very like showbiz, broadly, right? But it's, it is, like, drag queens. But, you know, I have, honestly, I have friends who are in media, and they say, I learned how to do my makeup for drag queens, because drag queens do out of paint on a whole new place.
Starting point is 00:39:31 And they can show you how to work some makeup. And so I think the Mar-Lago folks. A lot of people with whole new faces. Yeah, but look, I don't know insults to drag queens. It has become clownish for these women, though, now with the Mar-a-Lago face. They look like clowns. Yeah. I mean, have you seen, what was the one, Don Jr.'s ex-girlfriend?
Starting point is 00:39:49 Kim. Wow. Wow. Wow. And Christy Nome has a whole new face. I'm pro-plastic surgery. Look, people got to do whatever they want to do to make themselves feel good. I'm pro.
Starting point is 00:39:59 If you want to do gender affirming care, that's fine with me. But I do think it's a strange. I'm not talking about plastic surgery. I'm talking about just the makeup. I don't know what surgery they have. There's some surgery happening. I think it's a strange thing to decide. I want to wake up one day and look in the mirror and have a whole new face.
Starting point is 00:40:13 My friends from high school don't even recognize me anymore because I have a whole new face. There's a compulsion there. You know what, though? If you did what they did, you probably couldn't look at yourself in the mirror either. That's a good point. So, you've got to change your face in order to be able to... Especially Christy, no. Can you believe this woman went down to El Salvador to a foreign gulag
Starting point is 00:40:37 and did a, like, a pin-up girl snuff photo in front of people that we had wrongly sent there? Yeah. It turned out to actually not be those people as the Salvadorans that she was in front of, but like we sent these Venezuelans who did nothing based on their tattoos who came to this country, fleeing communism. Speaking of your Reagan-Maxing from the 80s, these people are fleeing communism, looking for freedom, coming to the Shining
Starting point is 00:41:01 City on the Hill, we grabbed them and said, no, we're going to send you to a gulag in El Salvador, and we're going to have our stone-faced Secretary of Homeland Security do a fucking photo shoot in front of you, like your animals. It's sick. That's serious. It's a sick person. It is. It is sick.
Starting point is 00:41:17 And she could have used the makeup artist that you interviewed to help her. He would have helped her out. But, I mean, imagine what these people had to go through or still are going through. And many of them, the people that they have rounded up are U.S. citizens, by the way. Yeah, some of them. Right? And some of them have been, some U.S. citizens have been shipped off to places or in detention for no reason. And from the very beginning, I went to Chicago, an early part of this, and I started interviewing people, and they were like,
Starting point is 00:41:47 Don, I'm a U.S. citizen. I was born here in Chicago. I had my birth certificate and all this stuff in the house, and they didn't want to see it. And so you have that, and you have Christy Gnome standing in front of that jail cell with the shaved heads and the prison outfits, for what, for a show? But you know, karma's a bitch. And every dog has its day and sometimes, too, and I think that they are all, again, I think that they're all going to suffer some consequences. As you know, you're more political, you have more political history or you have a better
Starting point is 00:42:21 political resume than I do. but every administration thinks that, you know, that they're going to be there forever. They're going to be in power forever. Yeah. And they forget that it's going to be over one day. I mean, look at, you know, the Reagan era, everybody, oh, the Republicans were great.
Starting point is 00:42:38 And then it was over. Yeah. Right? And then you look at the Clinton era. Oh, this is great. And then it was over. Even Obama, over. And one day Trump is going to be over.
Starting point is 00:42:47 And they're going to have to. And unfortunately, and they're going to have to, They're going to have to answer for what they did. Unfortunately, Trump's going to get away with it, but some of these other people are going to experience consequences. I think they're going to be in jail longer than you were. I agree. He's going to try to pardon some of them, but, you know, there's state crimes.
Starting point is 00:43:06 The state crimes. And also, I've been speaking to the legal people on background, and they say if he does go in and he overuses these pardons, they will probably go, it will probably go to the Supreme Court. And some folks, and we'll see what happens with the Supreme Court, I mean, he's kind of stacked the Supreme Court now. But some of these folks may not be, you know, saved by pardons that were handed out before. Which takes us back to Scott McClellan.
Starting point is 00:43:34 Yes. He quit. Nobody quits this administration, right? There's no whistleblowers. Like, in the past, our government has done bad things, but people from inside said, this is too far from me. This is past my red line. You mean now? Yeah, now.
Starting point is 00:43:47 Because John Kelly quit. Right, right, now. No, because here's why this is my theory, so I was going to get to. is that if you signed up for this after January 6th, you basically said, I don't have a red line, right? And I know that he's going to do illegal stuff. You know, that first group, very misguided, I've said very nasty things about all of them
Starting point is 00:44:08 because it was clear to me what his presidency was going to be like. But they thought that they were, like, putting the bumpers on the bowling alley, and nobody thinks that now. And so that's why these guys can go and they can commit crimes, they can commit heinous atrocities, whether it be in El Salvador or Iran or domestically in Minneapolis, and the people that have signed up aren't,
Starting point is 00:44:28 there's nobody there to blow the whistle. I mean, they're the career officials, like the prosecutors we talked about, but of the political people, they're all in. Well, that's why, you're right, and that's why I don't believe in the false equivalence that I see in, you know, in corporate media now, because we're in a whole new place.
Starting point is 00:44:42 I don't believe that, you know, you can work with that side of the aisle anymore, with the people on that side of the aisle anymore, because there are no levers for the, them. There's nothing that they won't approve from this administration. And people get upset with me, and they're like, that's insulting when I say that many people in the MAGA movement are racist, right? And if they're not racists, they had to overlook the racism in order to support this president or the misogyny or the anti, you know, are the, um, I love the people
Starting point is 00:45:19 like, don't want you to say that they're like, oh, don't impugn their motives. It's like the campaign was literally about how Haitians eat dogs and cats. Yeah, and how he was going to deport immigrants and it was going to be nasty. That was what it was about. But if you had to, if I say that a lot of them are racist, many of them. And if not, you had to overlook it. And I think that's even worse if you can overlook the racism, the misogyny, the election denial, the insurrection denial, the anti-vax and all.
Starting point is 00:45:47 You have to overlook that. I mean, that, I think that, okay, if you know you're racist, okay, fine. But if you're not, and you go, I'm going along with it, a lot of them go along with it because of the white supremacy. And that's where we are right now. Let's talk about the other side. I presume, given that that is the type of material that you're offering on the Don Lemon show, that most of the viewers of the Don Lemon show are going to be in the Democratic primary electorate, not all necessarily, but most.
Starting point is 00:46:14 So you have a sense of this from your audience. There are two things that I'm interested in, like kind of looking at how the Democrats are going to respond to all of and things that worry me a little bit about fissures within the Democratic side. Because, look, our, you know, we're, people, emotions are high right now. Yeah. Right. People are fucking pissed. And so when emotions are high, you know, sometimes there's food fights on your own side, right?
Starting point is 00:46:40 And there are two kind of fissures I'm looking at. One we saw in Texas, which is like a really racialized, I think, fissure between that Jasmine Crockett and James Tolarico primary. Yeah. And then in some of these other primaries, we're seeing it over for me. policy over Gaza and over Israel, where they're like some one side of the Democratic electorate is, you know, very hostile towards Israel's actions in Gaza, that like that is their primary issue, and then there are folks on the other side that are more national security oriented, more,
Starting point is 00:47:07 you know, Israel is our ally. Like, among your audience, like, how do you sense those kind of conflicts are going to be resolved inside the, inside the Democratic coalition, or are they? It's tough. It's tough. I don't know that they are. It should be. especially considering the moment that we're in. But I don't know. I think that on the Democratic side, they've got to take, quite frankly, a lesson from the Republican side, and they've got to fall in line.
Starting point is 00:47:34 And they have to realize that, you know, they're always going to be disagreements. Some of them small, especially small disagreements, because it happens in families. And if it happens in families, I don't agree. I love my mom, like, you know, at most. My mom and my husband and whatever in the world. And I don't agree with them all the time.
Starting point is 00:47:49 Yeah, right. And so we have arguments, That doesn't mean that I'm going to, you know, I wouldn't vote for them. Yeah, right. Of course I would vote for them. You'd vote for your husband? Yeah, of course I would. Yeah, I know.
Starting point is 00:48:01 Not sure. So, you wouldn't? I'm just sure. He didn't come to the panel. He stayed at home, so I was going to tease them. Democrats are going to have to get over the idea that there's a perfect candidate or that they have to fall in love with the candidate. And I'm not going to say please clap again.
Starting point is 00:48:18 So that they have to fall in love with the candidate. And they have to realize, which they didn't during this last election, and I thought that they would, that I compare it to public transportation and having a private driver, right? Politics is like a public transportation, whichever gets you closest to your goal or to your home. Yeah. Is what you want to do. And the candidate is not going to drop you off at your door and take your bags in the house. That's just not how it works.
Starting point is 00:48:45 It's too many people that they have to serve. And there are so many different ideas in the Democratic Party, but they're going to have to realize that this is the most important election. I don't know if they're going to do it. And what the Democrats should be doing now, and this is what I thought about, and I said, what am I going to stress when I'm with Tim today, is that if you're a Democrat or if you are a person who's not,
Starting point is 00:49:12 you can be an independent or a Republican who has become disillusioned with the Republican Party, if you are anywhere in that, you should start preparing for the election now. You should start galvanizing people. You should start reaching out to neighbors or people you don't even know. You should start telling them, hey, is your identification match what's on your voting records? If it doesn't, you need to go fix that. Because the win has to be so big that there is no question about it. Because Donald Trump and the Republicans not might.
Starting point is 00:49:43 they are going to try to steal this election no matter what they have to do. And so you've got to get out there and drove. So start now. Today is the day that you're going to the polling place. I agree with you. Every time this topic comes up when I'm on Nicole's show or on my show, I try to, I'm usually the pessimist. I don't know if you know that about me.
Starting point is 00:50:06 On campaigns, they called me raincloud. And I always said to my boss, I was like, actually I'm reality. Cloud. We're losing. Yeah. Okay, I lost most of the campaigns I was on. Not all of them, but most of them. And so I was like, you know, I was rain cloud because I was telling you what was happening. In this one, I think it is going to be too big to steal. You do.
Starting point is 00:50:25 They are going to try. They are going to try. And I just, I worry sometimes that people in that big coalition that you're talking about are too, they're too negative about the trajectory. You know, and it's almost like, it leads to nihilism. like it leads to giving up and checking out, right? If you believe that they're just going to steal it. Like, we're not going to have elections anymore. And what actually is true, what you've seen in the past,
Starting point is 00:50:52 this is not true in like very extreme cases like the Jim Crow South, right? But in recent years, when they've tried to do voter suppression, more times than not, not every time, more times than not, it's backfired. Because it draws attention to it. And I was kind of like when Steve Bannon was out there saying, we're going to put ice outside the polls, everybody else was very freaked out about that. my message was put ice outside the polls, because you know what that's going to do?
Starting point is 00:51:15 A bunch of people who don't usually vote in the midterms are going to be like, fuck you. Right. Okay, I'll vote by mail. I'll vote early. I will walk past those ice guys and give them a big middle finger. And I do, and I expect, I don't know, but I kind of think that's the direction we're on.
Starting point is 00:51:32 I think you're right, but what I'm trying to convey to people is that you can do all of those things. And then when you get in there and they say you can't vote. I agree with this. Then your vote doesn't count. because it's not, you can't vote. And so you have to make sure that everything is in place so they can't say, oh, you can't do this. We saw this in Texas during the primary, right?
Starting point is 00:51:52 It was just like, yeah, we saw this in Texas. They changed the rules. Like you always voted this one precinct. They made it harder, many fewer precinct. People were shown up to the wrong place. We saw this last week or two weeks ago. We did, which was, I mean, it was an interesting election because there were two good candidates, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:07 Both had very positive, every candidate has positives and negatives. And I think that Texas will be, would it be, will be, and okay with either one of those people. What is your audience like, what has their passions going? Like, what do you think, if you're saying to a Democratic candidate, you're like, I'm not giving you political advice, I don't know, I can only speak from my audience. Like, here are the things that get them riled up. Well, you said that, you know, most of my audience said, you thought that they were Democrats or liberals or whatever. I think, yes, I'm sure that's a big part of it, but they are mostly people who have become disillusion. with America, not just the political process.
Starting point is 00:52:44 And I think it's people, and there are Republicans who watch, and by the way, if you don't agree, I want you to be there. As long as you're not trolling, right, I want you to be in the audience. I put my audience on the screen. You have a membership in my audience. You can actually be on the show and voice whatever it is that you. Risky business. I've been on there with you in some of the audience.
Starting point is 00:53:04 Yeah. But that's what you have to do. You got to worry about that Jeffrey Tubbins. But, yeah, I asked you this question because the audience is on the screen, sorry, it's just a joke. Come on, guys, just a joke. I ask you this because the audience is on the screen, though, because I think you're more in touch than maybe you probably were as an anchor at CNN, right?
Starting point is 00:53:28 So I'm just curious, like, what are you hearing? I'm hearing that people want to know what to do, and they feel, as I said, disenfranchised, and they feel powerless in that they don't have agency. So I tried to get them to understand that they do by saying some of the things that I've said now. You do have, there are things that you can do. You do have elected representatives who do depend on you for their jobs. So you have to make sure that, and what they don't know, which I tell them, I know this may sound crazy, is that you can, any American citizen can go and visit their congresspeople in Washington.
Starting point is 00:54:02 If you have enough resources to do that, you can go to their office and schedule a meeting with them. You can go and talk to them. You can go and bump into them as they're walking back and forth from whatever the Russell building or whatever it is to the Capitol. And most people don't realize that. So you do have agency. But what I tell them is that you've got to vote. You've got to vote. I want to get you in trouble with the Democratic politicians for a second.
Starting point is 00:54:26 I think one cool thing about our platforms is that you do get a real sense for people. You get to kick the tires on them. You know, if they're going to come on the Don Lemon show, it's just a little different than it used to be on CNN. You know, a lot of the politicians, you get into your rote system. You're like, I can survive this TV segment. It's eight minutes. You know, I'm going to do this and that and the other thing. And on the Internet, it's different.
Starting point is 00:54:48 And so I'm just wondering, is there anybody that's been impressing you? They came on and you're like, oh, man, they've got really chops. The audience loved them. Or anybody that came on, you're like, boy, they struggle outside of the confines of their talking points. Well, I think they're learning. The people, I mean, there's this guy on the bulwarks. his name is Tim Miller, but he's okay. I'm at the politician.
Starting point is 00:55:10 I'm not running for shit. I have been, I am impressed with the younger people who are in the Democratic Party right now, the AOCs of the world, and the Bernie Sanders, because Bernie Sanders has young ideas, right? And I believe, and Jasmine Crockett and all those people, because I believe that the energy on the Democratic side is in the progressive, movement of the party, when you think if you want people to have living wages, right, and you want to raise the minimum wage to something that's so that people can afford to be able to live, that's a progressive idea, but that's like a universal idea, that people should
Starting point is 00:55:50 have affordable health care as a progressive idea, but everyone should have affordable health care in this country. We're a very wealthy nation. Look, what is it? I think Elon Musk is worth somewhere in the $800 billion, right? And so we have enough money. money in this country to be able to make sure. Even my inner burning starts coming out. Yeah. Start seeing, you know, the amount of money. Jeff Bezos, like, went from, since he's owned the Washington Post, I don't have this in front of me, but he went from, like, being worth something like $50 billion to being worth $800 billion in the last 12 years. I mean, it's enough to, it's like they're begging for the French government. It's enough to feed an entire, you see
Starting point is 00:56:29 Kai Trump at the Irwan? Yeah. It's like the Trump kids are the Irwan. They're stealing our money. They have crypto deals. Well, Trump is finally a billionaire. Yeah. That he's made it off of the presidency since he's been in office just this time, this one year. So it makes sense why the energy is on the progressive. But you ask, the energy is on the progressive side. So I'm impressed with those people when they come on.
Starting point is 00:56:50 I've been a little bit nervous about the establishment because, and look, much respect to the folks who have been. Has Hakeem been on the show? Nancy Pelosi hasn't been on the show, but I saw her recently in person. and I ask all of them, do they think they're going to have an election, a fair election in 2026, and they all say, oh, without a doubt, 100%, and then I go, uh, but I think that finally they are starting to get it
Starting point is 00:57:12 and starting to realize that they need to have some fire in their bellies, and it can't be the same old way that they operated. And, you know, if someone, like an Al Green is a rabble-rouser and, you know, creates a bit of a stir, they've got to stand by that person because that's what's going to get the people to go to the, polls and vote. It's not going to keep them on committees, maybe, but that's what's going to get them people to vote. I've been talking to my girl, Liz Smith. We're not doing Q&A, are we doing Q&A? Are we doing
Starting point is 00:57:40 Q&A? Are we doing Q&A? No, it's just me? I don't think, I don't think anybody wanted to hear from the people. Okay. They got up at night and answering your bad questions. No, do you want Q&A? Are you sticking my questions? Oh, no, I was just wondering because, you know, time is running out of time. I've got a couple good ones left. Okay, go for it. We're want to go through your sex life. You know, E. Jean Carroll, when she was on my show, listed to me every person she had ever had sex with, and it was the most impressive list I've ever heard.
Starting point is 00:58:08 She did? Yeah. She's had sex with, like, six people, but they all, like, were Olympians, and there was an Oscar winner. It was an astronaut. I was like... Wow. What?
Starting point is 00:58:20 And you? It was a great podcast. My list is larger and less impressive. Than E. E. Carols. Shit. I did have good questions left, but I forgot
Starting point is 00:58:33 what they were now. We got distracted. I saved myself until I got married. You got distracted. Oh, did you? Good for you. That's because we're at Bookfest. That's because you wrote a book about how you once were lost. Yeah, I did. You wrote a God book. I wrote, I did. I was thinking about that. I was like, I have to talk
Starting point is 00:58:49 to Don Lemon for an hour. I'm going to talk to him about how we bombed a girls' school, how you got arrested, we're sending people to Gulag. And, and, And, you know, that might shake your faith a little bit. No, it actually strengthens my faith. And I think people, when I wrote the book, it's called Once I Was Lost My Search for God in America, and I talked about my, you know, struggles with grief because I lost my sister in
Starting point is 00:59:13 2018. And then this was after the book. I lost my sister recently, May of last year. And so my two siblings are gone. So it's just me. And I've got to stay around because my mom was like, okay. You need to be okay. So it strengthens...
Starting point is 00:59:32 My mom's still around? My mom's still around. My mom is up the road in Baton Rouge. I said, Mom, do you want to come? She goes, no, I'll watch you on the C-SPAN. You're not... Are you going to go see her while you're in town? Yeah, I'm going to go see her.
Starting point is 00:59:43 But look, I'll go see her or... Look, she'll be at my house this summer for a long time. Last time she was there, I was like, Mom, I love you, but you have a life in Louisiana. And she's like, yeah. And she goes, well, you know, I'm just hanging out. I said, Mom, you've been here for seven weeks. Way too long. I love my mother.
Starting point is 01:00:03 That's way too long. Seven weeks. And then she's like, yeah, I guess you're right. And then she goes, I'm going out to Baton Rouge to the LSU girls game next week. And let me know if I need to check in. Yeah, go say hi to my mom. I'll give you her address. But so it strengthens my faith.
Starting point is 01:00:18 And I think people didn't realize that I have a faith that I had such a strong belief and that I am a Christian. But I also live in real. reality and I understand that there is a separation between church and state. And one of the reasons that I wrote the book is to talk about that, about the erasure of that line, not just blurring that line, and how religious nationalism and white nationalism are sort of, are not sort of, but they're combining and they're trying to erase the line between church and state, and that is a very dangerous place to be in. And that's where we're up politically right now. I wonder, this is
Starting point is 01:00:55 another thing I think that has hurt the Democrats a little bit. Look, I'm a lapsed Catholic. All right, the Catholics made some mistakes. And it hurts my mother's feelings. And so it's easy for me to say this because it doesn't reflect my life from my experience. But I think that to the extent that there are Democrats, are people on the left who are authentically, people of faith. Like, they should, I feel like they used to talk about it more. You know, Jesse Jackson just died. And he was very comfortable. I'm more than comfortable, right? Mr. Reverend talked about his faith a lot. And you, And I think that there are a lot of people out there who maybe feel like those on the left are godless or whatever. And it's obviously fake coming for the right.
Starting point is 01:01:33 But there's something to be said about, I don't know, I feel like there are a lot of people, particularly older black voters, to be honest, but also Hispanic voters who vote Democrat, who go to church, who have those values and are maybe feeling less seen. They are less seen because they're not quite as loud. The loudest voices will always get more attention. but I believe that those people understand what having faith means, whether it's being Muslim or Christian or whatever. They understand that we live in a country that is religious freedom,
Starting point is 01:02:01 so they're not trying to push their values on other people, and they're not trying to use the media and their politicians in order to do that. And so as someone who is a person of faith, and however I feel about abortion, if I don't believe in it, I'm not going to have one, but I'm not going to tell you what you can do, because that's what our Constitution says. And so I think that, or however you feel about anything, you, what I don't wear my faith on my sleeve. It's like, it's going around with the Bible and this and that's not what faith is about.
Starting point is 01:02:33 And I think those people actually understand even more so than sort of the right-wing ideological folks, what real faith means. So what it means. Rapid fire. We have 30 seconds left. You're Louisiana and we're in Louisiana. And I want your favorite Creole dish, your favorite Louisiana musician, and your favorite Louisiana musician, and your favorite. favorite Louisiana homosexual. Oh my God.
Starting point is 01:02:57 So one would be Tim Miller. Well, you know where that one goes. Or I was going to say, Lindsey Grant, but he's not from Louisiana. No, South Carolina. I don't want to insult people because there are so many folks here in Louisiana who I love.
Starting point is 01:03:18 You can just say juvenile. Or MasterP, or something like that. So I won't say that. But I like, Louisiana is so rich, especially New Orleans. I mean, they're just artists that just like on every corner and it's fantastic.
Starting point is 01:03:34 And the other thing was my favorite food. So obviously I love gumbo, right? Amazing. But my favorite thing in the world, oil crawfish. And so when I went to the reception at the president's house last night, which apparently I was invited to,
Starting point is 01:03:50 You were invited, but you didn't read your email. I learned about that. And when I left, the first place I went, I asked the driver, I was like, you know where I can get crawfish? Yeah. And he said, yeah, I'm going to take you guys know where Zara's supermarket is? Oh, yeah. I went to Zara supermarket, and they said, you better, he called him, he says, you guys have boiled crawfish? And he said, yeah, we got some crawfish, baby.
Starting point is 01:04:10 But you better get here. You got 10 minutes. We're going to close. I was like, that is going to be some good crawfish. There we are. So I went and got almost four pounds of crawfish. I took them back to my room. I made them give me a bunch of plastic bags from the restaurant.
Starting point is 01:04:27 And I sat in my room and ate crawfish and then called the folks to come get them. I love that. I know. So that's my favorite. Blessies is it for me. Thank you all so much. That's Don. Levitin is free.
Starting point is 01:04:38 A free man. Thanks, Tim. Colani Kitchen and Bath can help you? Are you giving away a free faucet this week? Yes. We're giving away a free house of roll faucet. or shower kit. What's the cat?
Starting point is 01:04:52 No catch. You don't need to buy anything. Just follow us on social media and watch for an announcement of which of our seven stores will give away a free product that week. I love this. It's as crazy as the Kalani upside down sign
Starting point is 01:05:03 at the Berry store. Even crazier? Our price is upside down too. Don't miss out at Kalani Kitchen and Bath.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.