A viral video clip of CNN host Don Lemon and a group of liberal panelists mocking supporters of President Trump has been turned into a powerful campaign ad by the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The clip, which originally went unnoticed because it aired on CNN, became a viral craze when a former digital producer for the network shared it on social media a couple of days later.
It features Lemon, New York Times columnist Wajahat Ali, and ex-GOP strategist Rick Wilson, the latter of which mocks the President for being too dumb to locate Ukraine on a map, then descends into mean-spirited jokes at the expense of those who voted for Trump.
Wilson sneered at what he called the “credulous boomer rube demo that backs Donald Trump” and proceeded to imitate them using a southern accent meant to portray half the nation as unintelligent, illiterate ‘rubes.’
The arrogance, the dismissiveness, the smug cackling, the accents.
If Donald Trump wins re-election this year, I’ll remember this brief CNN segment late one Saturday night in January as the perfect encapsulation for why it happened. pic.twitter.com/8kQ6zN9AZV
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) January 28, 2020
RELATED: Trump Shreds Don Lemon After CNN Panel Mocks President’s Supporters as Ignorant ‘Rubes’
GOP Fires Back
Steve Krakauer, the former CNN producer, shared the video of Don Lemon belittling Republican voters and wrote, “If Donald Trump wins re-election this year, I’ll remember this brief CNN segment late one Saturday night in January as the perfect encapsulation for why it happened.”
New York Times best-selling author Cliff Sims suggested the President’s “campaign should just trim this clip down a bit so it can be a 60-second ad and air it in swing states.”
The RNC must have listened, creating a video of Lemon, Wilson, and Ali looking down on Trump supporters, mixed with other famous comments by liberals doing the same.
Hillary Clinton’s famous remark that conservative voters belong in a “basket of deplorables” makes an appearance here, as does Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg who suggested Trump supporters “at best” have looked the other way on racism, and MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews who said the President “loves the low-information guy.”
“They think you’re a joke,” the ad concludes. “Prove them wrong in November.”
“In a matter of seconds, CNN summed up the elite left’s disdain for half of America,” RNC Rapid Response Director Steve Guest said.
He also notes that it isn’t simply the three individuals in the clip that feel this way toward voters – it’s the entire Democrat field.
“Reminder for voters: As Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders campaign across the South for your vote, Lemon, Ali, and Wilson just summarized what these candidates really think of you as they shake your hand and pose for selfies,” Guest added.
RELATED: CNN’s Don Lemon Insists Anyone Supporting Trump At This Point is ‘Mental’
Lemon Issues a Non-Apology Apology
Outrage over the CNN panel segment was so heated that Lemon was forced to address the matter on his show Tuesday night.
In his ‘apology,’ Lemon claims that he could not hear everything Wilson was saying because he was laughing so hard. But, he assures, he was simply laughing at the joke. Not the people. You know, the people who were the butt of the joke.
CNN’s Don Lemon responds to outrage over his segment where he and others mocked Trump supporters as rednecks
Lemon: “I didn’t catch everything that was said. … I was laughing at the joke and not at any group of people”
The joke was mocking a group of people: Trump supporters pic.twitter.com/21NOtCjTPT
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 29, 2020
“One final note that I have for you, because this is personally important to me to address this, OK?” Lemon said in his best somber voice. “Anyone, ask anyone who knows me, they’ll tell you, I don’t believe in belittling people, belittling anyone for who they are, what they believe, or where they are from.”
“During an interview on Saturday night, one of my guests said something that made me laugh and while in the moment, I found that joke humorous,” Lemon explained. “And I didn’t catch everything that was said.”
“Just to make this perfectly clear, I was laughing at the joke and not at any group of people.”
A sincere apology would have included sorrow for forcing people to watch a clip of his show for the first time in years.
