Lemon LIVE at 5 | Trump & MAGA Go Full Racist, Blame Plane Crash on DEI - January 30th, 2025
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, everyone. So glad you could join us today on Lemon Live at 5 on the Don Lemon Channel, the Don Lemon Show. We're so glad that you're here. We appreciate you joining us. We're going to take you on a journey that helps you to learn and maybe figure out some things. So hopefully this will be helpful to you. Now. As you guys know, you're here. We have the many, many hundreds of thousands of subscribers and members that we have is because you like the truth that comes from this program and the truth that comes out of my mouth. I want to play something that I said seven years ago about Donald Trump, and it caused quite a stir. Here it is. This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon. The president of the United States is racist.
That was in my former life as a cable news host. And when I said that, you would have thought that I punched someone's grandmother in the face. The outrage of all of it. And I was right. And right after that, I gave the receipts about why I thought, not thought, but the evidence about why Donald Trump is racist, including calling black-led and minority-led nations shithole countries. And there are many other things. His attacks on Black women and Black people. And at that time, he was attacking me and LeBron James. Well, today, Donald Trump and MAGA and his MAGA administration went full racist in front of the American people for the world to see in an unhinged press conference talking about Blaming this crash, unfortunate crash in Washington, D.C.
on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Let's get right to our guests now. Colonel Brooks is a civil rights attorney, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School, the former president and CEO of the NAACP, the National Association of Colored People. David Graham is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He won the Toner Prize for Excellence in National Political Reporting in 2021 for his coverage of the 2020 presidential election. And he wrote today so eloquently about what he saw at that podium and what he is seeing in this administration. First to you, Cornell Brooks. When you heard that unhinged press conference with the newly-minted Secretary of Defense, the newly-minted Transportation Secretary, the new Vice President, and returning President, all touting DEI, saying that they have to stop jobs from going to basically Black people and they should go to qualified white people instead.
What did you think?
Well, first of all, I take note of the absence of sympathy and the overwhelming abundance of blame. And I would call it like this a kind of melanated scapegoat. Melanated scapegoating, a kind of color-coded blaming. And I take note of the fact that the president has literally turned an acronym, DEI, into another acronym, REI, namely Race and Ethnic Incitement. Incitement as in... incitement to professionally marginalize black people, black workers. When you think about the fact that we have army pilots and air traffic controllers whose competence is being called into question with no facts, no evidence, the contents of the black box yet unknown. And the first act of the president the commander in chief, the consoler in chief is not to speak to the grieving victims, the families, a nation, but it is to literally scapegoat black people.
This shows a level of moral vacuousness uh that is hard to wrap your head around and going back to the clip that we began this segment with namely your clip calling the president a racist you were in fact true yeah you weren't necessarily prophetic or prescient you were in fact taking note of the facts so here we are today With President Trump in the White House for a second time, and literally his racism is manifest, it's obvious to anyone who's willing to take note of what's happening.
Let's go to David Graham. David has a piece in The Atlantic. Donald Trump is just watching this crisis unfold, but he is not taking charge. This piece is fascinating. David, you wrote this today, and as you were watching this all unfold, give us a history of this piece and why you came out so hard about what you were seeing at this press conference and what you're seeing with this administration.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:18–9:43
2
What happened at the Washington D.C. plane crash and why is Trump blaming DEI?
9:43–12:12
3
Who are the guests (David A. Graham and Cornell William Brooks) and why were they invited?
12:12–15:52
4
How did Cornell Brooks characterize the White House press conference as 'melanated scapegoating'?
15:52–23:47
5
Why does David Graham say Trump is commenting instead of leading during the crisis?
23:47–40:07
6
What examples from the press conference show officials blaming DEI for the crash?
40:07–43:59