Available Tuesday Neue Day on CNN, Don Lemon defended the liberal double standard of obsessing over the January 6 Capitol Hill riot while defending the often violent left-wing protesters who rioted after the death of George Floyd.
The CNN host insisted that it was a verifiable fact that “systemic racism” was to blame for such police violence, and declared that those who compared the two are motivated out of “racism.”
After insisting that his debatable opinion was fact, he called social media to punish users who disseminate false information.
Host John Berman set up the segment by reading quotes from two judges involved in some of the Capitol riot cases who had conflicting views of whether the Jan 6 riot and the anti-police riots were comparable acts of political violence.
Lemon deemed last year’s protests against policing more valuable than the fact that the demonstrators had a valid motive.
The Capitol Rioters were doing exactly what? It is a different thing to try and undermine democracy than just protesting about something. One is breaking the law from a lie — built on a lie. There was nothing about the election that was stolen or anything that was untoward. This was the safest — and most secure — election we have ever seen.
One was built from frustration and anger over… The justice system is fundamentally racist toward people of colour. This is the truth. That is what the law says. These facts are clear. Both are lies, built upon lies. Both are built upon — from frustration at a flawed system.
Brianna, the cohost, raised the question of left-wing rioters looting shops:
There are many people who agree with the judge who conflates the two, right? They don’t see the difference between riots, where someone is breaking into a shoe store and looting, and a riot where you have people entering the Capitol while Congress is in session certifying an election.
Even though many more died and much more damage was done as a result of the anti-police riots that went on for months, in contrast with those from Jan. 6, Lemon downplayed looting as no one mentioned the arsons and other violence.
Also, it was not noted that just like homicides rose between 2014-2016 after anti-policing activism created the Ferguson Effect, 2020 saw a larger rise in homicides, most of which occurred at African Americans’ expense.
Lemon claimed that these conservative-minded critics “not living in Reality” and blamed “racism for comparing the events.
…people see what they want to see, and they allow their own racism to come to light. This is what we see. It’s not something you want. So those who are saying, “There is no systemic racism — there is not difference between those things,” come on. This is not something you should do.
The CNN host then moved to the issue of censorship of social media users, claimed that news media like CNN are more trustworthy, and demanded “consequences” for people who spread misinformation.
This April, CNN was an excellent example of deceitful news outlets like CNN. Neue Day, show regular John Avlon gave a “Reality Check” in which he misleadingly gave viewers the impression that most of the 1,000 police shooting victims each year were probably African American, even though the percentage was closer to 25 percent, which was in proportion with the FBI’s reporting of crime patterns from the Obama administration.
CNN has so far not faced any “consequences” for grossly misinforming the public on the racial breakdown of police-involved violence, and creating a false rationale that was repeatedly used by rioters.
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These transcripts are available:
CNN Neue Day
October 5, 2021
Eastern, 8:50JOHN BERMAN: So a Federal judge sentencing a Capitol rioter rejected comparisons between the insurrection and some of the civil unrest that arose from last year’s protest against racial inequality.
The judge said, “To compare the actions of people around the country protesting mostly peacefully for civil rights to a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and downplays the very real danger that the crowd on January 6th posed to our democracy.”
Just last week, a different judge on the same court suggested Capitol rioters had been treated more harshly, saying, quote, “The U.S. Attorney’s office would have more credibility if it was even-handed in its concern about riots and mobs in the city.”
(…)
DON LEMON – They did what? Aiming to destroy democracy is quite different from protesting over something. One is breaking the law from a lie — built on a lie. There was nothing about the election that was stolen or anything that was untoward. This was the safest — and most secure — election we have ever seen. One was built from frustration and anger over… The justice system is fundamentally racist toward people of colour. This is the truth. That is what the law says. These facts are clear. Both are lies, built upon lies. Both are built on frustration about a flawed system.
(…)
BRIANNA KEILAR There are many people who agree with the judge who conflates the two, right? They don’t see the difference between riots, where someone is breaking into a shoe store and looting, and a riot where you have people entering the Capitol while Congress is in session certifying an election.
LEMON: A shoe can be exchanged for one. The vote determines the shoe’s value. That is something that no one should do — anyone should not steal anything. Can you substitute democracy for the other?
(…)
There is a big difference. I think the people who see the same, want to see the same — again, not operating in reality. If you take a look at John’s reality check, you will see that George Floyd is the brother of John Floyd. You can also see the happenings in New York City Police Department. people see what they want to see, and they allow their own racism to come to light. We can see it, we understand it. It’s not something you want. So those who are saying, “There is no systemic racism — there is not difference between those things,” come on. This is not something you should do.
(…)
You say something to this network and it is false. The consequences are on our faces. You don’t face the consequences for posting that message on social networks. This is the Wild West. You can continue to say, “When was John? When was the last time your wife beat you?” These are just some of the things you can post on social media. It is true, but there are no penalties.
(…)
It should not be false what is shared on social media. It should not be true.
BERMAN – So, what is Facebook doing?
LEMON: You need to take it down. Take it down if you don’t believe it. Don’t let people put false information up. They must face their consequences
(…)
CNN’s New Day
April 15, 2021
Eastern, 7:56 AM
JOHN BERMAN: So the killing of Daunte Wright has reignited calls from some progressive members of Congress to defund or outright dismantle policing in America. Does that represent the correct path to reform? John Avlon is here to provide a “Reality Check”.
JOHN AVLON: There’s an overdue reckoning over theCops kill black young men, and there’s majority support for significant police reform. But there are also strident slogans from politicians that don’t help at all — like Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s tweet earlier this week calling for no more policing. We need to be very clear. This is a terrible idea as a matter of politics and practicality. It is an extension to the call for police defunding, which Donald Trump used to attack Democrats in last year’s election, despite Joe Biden refusing to.
Many defenders essentially say that “defund the police” should be taken seriously but not literally. Following the Trump presidency I felt that our agreement was that words are important. It doesn’t even represent the community it seeks to serve. Gallup found that 80 percent of those surveyed believed it represented the community they seek to serve. African Americans desire to maintain or increase the number of police officers in their neighborhoods.
The real issue is what kind of policing they’re receiving. Considering the alleged minor offenses that led to high-profile killings by police in recent years — Daunte Wright pulled over for expired plates; George Floyd for a counterfeit $20 bill; Walter Scott pulled over for a broken taillight; Eric Garner for selling loose cigarettes; Alton SterlingYou can sell CDs. These are just some examples. FBI statistics show that there are approximately 1.2 million people living in the United States. 30% of the arrests were made by black Americans for curfew violations or loitering — 29 percent of gambling arrests in 2019 — while local studies show they’re far more likely to be arrested for jaywalking. So much for former AG Bill Barr’s insistence that there isn’t systemic racism in police departments.
This needs to change, but gutting or cutting police departments is not going to achieve some utopia. The opposite will happen. Instead, there needs to be significant retraining and reform. Cops need to focus on de-escalating situations and decriminalizing some victimless misdemeanors to reduce causes of conflict. It helps that some 27 states have decriminalized or even legalized recreational marijuana, considering that black Americans are arrested more than three times as much as whites for possession despite equal usage rates.
In 2020, Republican Senator Tim Scott proposed a bill to require reporting standards for use of force and no-knock warrants. Democrats criticized it and suggested a ban against chokeholds and racial profiling. They also proposed a limitation on military equipment transfers to police and an elimination of qualified immunity which protects officers from being sued if they infringe a citizen’s constitutional rights.
Good people can disagree on the details, but we need to agree on the facts — like the fact that 991 people have been shot and killed by the police over the past year, according to the Washington PostThese are the facts. We also need to recognize that despite some fear-fueled appeals, violent crime and property crime have plummeted since the 1990s.
Finally, we should not fall into the trap of demonizing all police officers who do a necessary, difficult, dangerous, and often thankless job. We can support the vast majority of good cops while insisting on holding bad cops more accountable and invest in changing the culture that has led us to this crisis of confidence and the basic promise of equal justice under the law. That’s the “Reality Check.”
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