Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Libraries Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

The Don Lemon Show

LEMON DROP | That Cabinet Meeting Was a Glaze Fest!

26 Mar 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What are the highlights from the recent Cabinet meeting?

0.031 - 23.102 Don Lemon

Donald Trump loves to be the center of attention. He loves to be on television. His ego is enormous, megalomaniac, but he just loves it. And I don't know if the media is helping to stroke that ego because they ran most of it live. I don't remember any cabinet meetings being run live for that long. And he's unhinged. He just rambles, even with a script in front of him.

0

23.74 - 42.406 Ahmed Baba

Yeah, it's unbelievable. He rambles. He spends, like, he gives the floor to a bunch of people, basically, so they can do these public glaze fests with the cabinet. Exactly. Cabinet members all just kissing his ass, going around the circle. He's the greatest man who's ever lived, yada, yada. And then he veers off-tangent, and today he has basically contradicted himself.

0

43.027 - 51.739 Ahmed Baba

I'm not sure if you caught this. Out of the two hours so far, it's still on as we're recording this, he, as part of that, said,

0

51.854 - 81.388 Don Lemon

basically that iran's begging for a deal but he doesn't know if we're willing to do that so he's kind of like walked back i thought we had productive talks i thought the war was won and we had productive talks on monday um or is that just market manipulation clearly yeah well and then he says and i teased you i teased you guys with a gift he's like what the fuck is he talking about i mean you're right basically it's a circle you know what um because they're just all all doing that but yeah he contradicted himself the thing is is that and who is he negotiating with i do think

0

81.672 - 101.613 Don Lemon

that there is some truth to this idea of market manipulation. I have been saying that Donald Trump has imaginary friends in Iran that he's speaking to. Like, I had imaginary friends when I was a kid, but I grew out of it. And, you know, I'm not trying to figure out how to end a war that I started for no reason. So... You know, I just don't understand.

101.653 - 108.582 Don Lemon

He's sitting there thumbing through the book. I was looking for like something that, you know, the folder and it's all laminated and it's written out for him.

Chapter 2: How does Trump's behavior reflect on his leadership style?

108.842 - 136.926 Don Lemon

And so he reads a little bit of it and then he goes off on a tangent and you see Marco Rubio's like, Pete Hex said this like, because they don't know where he's going to go and what he's going to say. And none of it makes sense. He took questions, didn't really have a good answer. Why are we allowing this loony person to run our lives and to run the country.

0

137.007 - 155.388 Ahmed Baba

Why? That's a question I wake up asking myself every day, Don. It's absurd. It's insane that we're allowing this guy to be in this position. He's the worst possible president for this moment. And we have this situation where he's effectively being managed like a child himself. Like you said, they have the papers out in front of him.

0

155.708 - 177.222 Ahmed Baba

There's reporting yesterday from NBC News that he's getting just his briefings are now just two minute montages. of things blowing up, an official told NBC News. So all the positive, successful strikes. He's not getting the negative information because they're trying to protect his fragile ego. And then you have the Republican Party inventing fake awards for him.

0

177.683 - 186.958 Ahmed Baba

He got a New America First Award after he got the FIFA Peace Prize. Like, they're treating him. They believe he's a chop. That's how they're behaving. And effectively...

0

187.343 - 195.168 Don Lemon

A participation trophy is what he got. Yeah. They rail against like everybody gets a trophy. Everybody, people are such snowflakes and they're doing the same thing.

Chapter 3: What contradictions did Trump express during the meeting?

195.188 - 198.518 Don Lemon

You're right. They're treating him like a, like a juvenile, like a child.

0

198.751 - 212.419 Ahmed Baba

Yeah, they're treating him just like a child and that's how he's behaving. His decision making is, I mean, have you seen anything like this? I mean, you've been covering this, you've been covering stuff for decades. Has there ever been a president that's been managed, stage managed, like a child holds two hour cabinet meetings of people glazing him?

0

213.08 - 230.089 Don Lemon

No, no, no. I'm glad you said that because that was really my next thought is that he's sitting there doing, you know, talking about He's going through the thing and he's like, and then we have bombs here and bombs there and this there. And we've done this. We've taken this. We've had this sort of what do you call a mine, whatever, mine, whatever. We're doing this.

0

230.17 - 252.624 Don Lemon

And it's like any time you are talking about, you know, what you're blowing up and how big it is and how bad it is, it means that something is not going right. I've never heard any president go through the specific artillery and what we're doing. And it's as if. Whoever's advising Pete Hexeth or maybe Pete Hexeth is advising him. It's the same sort of macho shit.

0

252.704 - 263.301 Don Lemon

It is the cabinet room version of a courtroom where you're losing and you start pounding the table rather than giving evidence.

263.281 - 285.373 Ahmed Baba

of what's really happening that's exactly what's happening because they're they know that they've lost the public on this we see repeatedly over 60 percent of americans oppose the war they think he's making terrible decisions and then like you said yeah he's just pounding the table because they know that they've lost the plot here and that's trump desperately wants out monday morning he's sitting there sending out posts saying oh we have very productive talks with iran

285.353 - 301.516 Ahmed Baba

Because he desperately wants to win that day and get those oil prices to drop so that, you know, I guess, I don't know. We don't know exactly whether or not his buddies are selling off those shares. Because we saw that spike, $580 million of oil futures flooded the markets 15 minutes before his post.

301.536 - 318.572 Ahmed Baba

So he's got that going on while he's simultaneously over here just contradicting himself left and right. And it's, I just can't. Republicans just need to do better, man. Like, it's insane that we accept this behavior from the president when these Republicans wouldn't accept this behavior from their own children.

320.134 - 334.834 Don Lemon

Well, you're right about the Republicans. And there was, I don't know if you saw, the Republican guy who was on C-SPAN and the caller called in and said, why are you turning your party over? You're letting this country, and you're just, you're acquiescing to, they called him a pedophile president.

Chapter 4: How is the media influencing Trump's public persona?

335.084 - 354.989 Don Lemon

It's crazy. Something. They said, Nicholas, why are you doing it? And the guy never really defended Donald Trump. He just said, well, I act as an individual and I work on a bipartisan basis, but didn't really address the question. They cut the guy off. But what I want to say is that when I say that, you know, lunacy or bonkers, it is because of the contradictions.

0

355.009 - 377.995 Don Lemon

And no one can tell me that something is not up when you have them saying, because he said during this cabinet meeting, things like, I'm very disappointed in NATO. Our allies didn't want to help us. And then in the next breath, he says, we don't need them. We don't need our allies. And it's like, well, if you don't need them, then why are you talking shit about them?

0

378.376 - 402.773 Don Lemon

And then, you know, the UK said that they were going to send aircraft carriers after the fact, but we don't need, if you don't need them, then why are you pissed? Or we have won the war. if the war is won, why are you asking for more help? If you don't need your allies, why are you asking for more help? Why are you mad at them? If, if the war is won, why are you asking for more money?

0

403.414 - 429.077 Don Lemon

And, but no one stands there and challenges them. Like the press, they just, it's like, why are you, why? And then if they do it, it's just like one question off and then on. It's like, you know, so I, None of it makes sense. We have destroyed their nuclear capabilities, but we're in there because they had nuclear capabilities that they were about to use on someone. What are you talking about?

0

429.518 - 453.323 Ahmed Baba

It makes no sense. We're living in the volatility of this guy's mind. He's negotiating with the voices in his head. He's just left and right. He's going back and forth. Like you said, one second... The uranium enrichment sites are pleading obliterated. Like we talked about last time, Tulsi Gabbard saying basically that there are no more. There's no more nuclear threat.

453.343 - 471.804 Ahmed Baba

But then suddenly it's imminent within days, so we have to go in. And then now apparently the war is won, but the Strait of Hormuz is still closed simultaneously. So that doesn't make any sense. The war is won, but we need to send more troops in. But then now actually, no, the war is not won today. Today, yesterday, the war was won. But today in the cabinet meeting, war is not won.

471.885 - 484.803 Ahmed Baba

He's saying it's up to Iran. whether the war ends and whether they come to the table and negotiate in good faith. But wait, I thought on Monday that we had, they were already at the table and that we had productive talks. It's like every other day, it's so hard to keep up.

485.123 - 497.876 Ahmed Baba

Within hours, the entire narrative changes because he is a walking contradiction and we're just supposed to accept that this is normal in wartime? That the president is operating like this? I just can't.

498.557 - 516.112 Don Lemon

It's unbelievable, man. I mean, is he just, is he possibly, I don't know if it's possibly. He doesn't really know what's going on, but he is the slogan guy that can sell. You know, when you bring in the analytics people and the facts, and then you bring in the guy that's the closer.

Chapter 5: What implications does Trump's approach have for U.S. foreign policy?

537.025 - 558.859 Don Lemon

The other hand doesn't see it. So maybe he's just a slogan guy and maybe he truly believes what they are telling him. but he's such a good liar that there's also that aspect on top of it. He lies at every turn. However, he is the salesman and he is the closer, but he doesn't really know what's going on. He's not really making any policy decisions. It's the folks around him.

0

559.1 - 563.406 Don Lemon

And maybe it's like, maybe they're the puppeteers. I, I,

0

563.673 - 581.777 Ahmed Baba

I mean, I think that's a reasonable possibility. I mean, I think it's very clear he's not in the details. He's not in the weeds. I think he gets these two-minute briefings of stuff blowing up. He gets told, you're great, you're incredible, war's being won. And then he might hear some off report, maybe from Fox News of some negative information. That's how he gets reporting.

0

582.038 - 588.967 Ahmed Baba

And that's how he discovers some new information. And I think right now he's like A, B testing different outcomes in real time.

0

589.147 - 589.708 Don Lemon

There you go.

589.728 - 609.468 Ahmed Baba

You know, it's like out of both sides of his mouth. He's saying that's what he did the weekend the war started. He was calling different reporters and in the same day had six different objectives, six different justifications that were all contradicting each other. He's trying to see which one works, but that's not how it works in war, man.

609.488 - 614.875 Ahmed Baba

This isn't a marketing department where you can A-B test Facebook ads. This is war, you know? Yeah.

614.855 - 635.219 Don Lemon

But if you're just seeing what they're showing you and they're showing you things that America, the United States is blowing up or Israel, maybe they're not even showing all of what Israel is blowing up. But if you're just seeing that and then you actually turn on the news and you hear, wow, Iran is still bombing Israel, but they told you that we've obliterated this.

635.239 - 652.061 Don Lemon

And you're like, well, wait a minute. How are they still bombing Israel and how are they still going back and forth if we have obliterated? The news must be wrong. They must be lying about this. Yes. Or the Strait of Hormuz. Or if there's going to be ground fighting. Or if they're saying, maybe the cabinet people are saying, well, we're negotiating with these people.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.