LEMON DROP | The Democrats Blew It...AGAIN!
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Why did Don Lemon wait to react to the government shutdown news?
I wanted to get on last night and I wanted to talk to you about all of this in real time, like when it was happening. But I have learned that sometimes you just have to take a breath. And I just wanted to sit with it. I wanted to think it through. I wanted to sleep on it. And I wanted to bring this to you today with a clearer head. So after reading the headlines, after watching all the spin, hearing all the statements coming out of Capitol Hill, I feel exactly the same way that I felt last night. Democrats caved and people should be furious now. Please do not get me wrong. I understand the pressure that they were under. I really do understand the pressure. I'm not a heartless person. But yesterday, I have to tell you that I was traveling.
My flight was delayed three hours before I even got on the plane. And then we sat on the runway for a long time after that. And in that time, making my way to the airport and spending time in the airport for so long, I got to speak with the people who keep this country moving. That's the TSA agents. That's the airport workers, the guys who show up day after day through All of this. OK, I didn't pull out the camera because I was going through security and I didn't want to break any airport rules. But one young man told me. that it has been rough. He said, man, fewer of us are showing up. People are tired. But somebody's got to do it. I mean, those were his words. The other man told me that he was about to miss his third paycheck.
And he said it quietly, almost like he didn't want to hear it out loud. He didn't want himself to hear it out loud. He didn't want other people to hear it out loud. And at one point, I asked one of them if I could give him a tip just to say thank you. And he gave me that look like, you know, man, I want to take it, right? And he looked like he wanted to. But then he looked up at the security cameras, and then he took a breath and he said, all the cameras in the TSA security are, and he said, man, nah, man, I just can't. Thanks, though. I wanted to hand him the money anyway, but I didn't want to risk his job. And that moment stuck with me because that's what this shutdown looked like. Proud, hardworking people doing their jobs while Washington played games.
So look, trust me, I understand why people were desperate for this to end. But that's what makes this even more frustrating for me. Because after 39 days, 40 days of chaos, after weeks of workers struggling, after poll after poll showed the public was on their side, Senate Democrats just folded. I mean, let's just be honest. They just folded. They didn't just blink. They walked away from a fight that they were winning. They took the same deal, this very same deals that Republicans were offering before this whole thing even began a short term funding patch, a promise of a future vote on healthcare taxes, a future vote. There was no guarantees. No reforms, no real protection for the families who are hanging by a thread right now.
So I'm asking the same question a lot of Americans are asking today. What was all of this for? What was it for? Meanwhile, the country is hurting. While federal workers were lining up at food banks, Donald Trump was living like none of it even existed, like it wasn't even happening. He expanded the ballroom, right, at the White House. And then he was at Mar-a-Lago throwing a great Gatsby-themed party while federal workers were going unpaid. And then last night, while the shutdown was still technically in effect, he shows up at the Washington Commanders game, his jet, like the Air Force One flies low over the stadium, and he waves and smiles, and he eats it up, and he soaks it all in. And by the way, your tax money is paying for all of that, for the fuel wasted?
It is a show, always a show. And the people paying for it are the same ones that he ignored. That's what people are tired of. They're tired of watching him perform power while pretending to care about struggle. They're tired of watching Democrats try to look responsible while Republicans play kingmaker.
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