CNN's Don Lemon says 'we are teetering on a dictatorship' following Trump's George Floyd address
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News
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CNN anchor Don Lemon offered a dire warning to the country following President Trump's Rose Garden address about the George Floyd protests.
On Monday evening, the president expressed sympathy over the police-involved killing of George Floyd but also wielded the power of the military, vowing to deploy armed services if states don't have the riots under control.
Lemon, who over the weekend demanded to hear from Trump after previously insisting that "nobody wants to hear" from him, indicated that he did not like what the president had to say.
"This was a made-for-television moment," Lemon began. "And what I wanted to say after that and that I believed to be true and that I know to be true now is that earlier on that phone call ... when the president said, 'You are being weak, you have to show strength' ... those were the orders from the commander in chief."
He continued, "For this very moment that just happened right before our eyes, why were we pretending otherwise? Open your eyes, America. Open your eyes. We are teetering on a dictatorship. This is chaos. Has the president -- I'm listening, is the president declaring war on Americans? What is happening here? He is saying that he wants to protect peaceful protesters at the same time sending law enforcement and military into the streets to push peaceful protesters back, to be aggressive with peaceful protesters. He is doing the exact opposite of what he said in that speech."
The "CNN Tonight" anchor warned his colleague Wolf Blitzer that Trump is "playing a very, very dangerous game here," noting that many people are "angry," adding that he hopes that they "fight for their right to peacefully protest."
"This will backfire," Lemon insisted. "People are upset and they're angry. These people ... feel like they're occupied in their own communities by police departments, many of them militarized police departments. Now the entire country, according to his orders, we are living under a militarized country or we will be soon and it will play out in front of our very eyes on national television. "
Last week, Lemon suggested that Trump "contributed" to the environment that led to George Floyd's death.
Back in 2018, Lemon raised eyebrows with his defense of Antifa, the so-called "anti-fascist" movement that is believed to be responsible for fueling violence recent days and in previous demonstrations.
"Listen, no organization is perfect. There was some violence. No one condones violence, but there were different reasons for Antifa and for these neo-Nazis to be there," Lemon said at the time in reference to the 2017 violent clash in Charlottesville, Va. "One, racists, fascists, the other group, fighting racist fascists. There is a distinction there."
Dems trash NY Times over front-page headline deemed too favorable to Trump
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News
The New York Times faced an overwhelming backlash from Democratic lawmakers and liberal members of the media over its front-page headline that may have been too favorable towards President Trump.
During a Rose Garden address on Monday, Trump threatened to use military force to quell the riots that have broken out following the death of George Floyd if governors and mayors don't take enough action.
The Times print editor Tom Jolly previewed the front of Tuesday's paper attempting to summarize the day's events.
"As Chaos Spreads, Trump Vows to 'End It Now,'" the top headline read with various images from the protests.
However, the front-page cover sparked a major uproar from the left, including top Democrats on Capitol Hill.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reacted.
"The New York Times headline writers are going to Both Sides the country to death," Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz quipped.
"The President is acting like a budding dictator. Headline fail, @nytimes," former 2020 candidate Julián Castro scolded the paper.
"This is a terrible headline. The Times is erasing the reason for the protest. This is exactly what Trump wants. To erase the treatment of Black Americans as the rationale for opposition. Shame on The New York Times," Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden wrote.
"If the New York Times thinks this accurately describes what happened today, I have no idea what country they've been living in - they should just let Trump write their headlines," former Obama adviser-turned-MSNBC contributor Ben Rhodes said.
Even several members of the media piled on the revered newspaper.
"Possibly one of the worst headlines ever written, and I used to write headlines for a living. NYT editor Dean Bacquet is a disgrace to journalism and ought to be fired," former Baltimore Sun correspondent Michael Dresser said. "Bacquet is a disgrace. He consistently panders to Trump. He didn’t write the headline but set the tone where that government organ headline could be written."
"You done f---ed up this headline," The Nation sports editor Dave Zirin tweeted.
"Hey, @nytimes this looks like authoritarian state media. Try again for the second edition!" Philadelphia Inquirer Will Bunch exclaimed.
Last year, the Times caved to similar outrage over a headline attempting to capture President Trump's remarks following the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
The newspaper summarized Trump’s comments, in which he denounced hate and white supremacy, with the headline “Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism” on the front page of its first edition.
The headline was later changed to “Assailing Hate But Not Guns.”
