Don Lemon and Jim Acosta Mock Trump Sec Hegseth With Worst CNN Insult Imaginable

Former CNN stars Don Lemon and Jim Acosta roasted Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with perhaps the worst CNN-related insult imaginable, comparing him to an infamously failed executive at their former network.

On Tuesday’s edition of his Substack video podcast The Jim Acosta Show, Acosta ripped Hegseth by suggesting that, despite all the rhetoric about “merit” at the DOD, Hegseth was grossly unqualified based on the Signalgate scandal.

Lemon compared Hegseth to former CNN chief Chris Licht — whose tenure at the network was brief and widely seen as a disaster — without ever naming him:

JIM ACOSTA: You know, Pete Hegseth gets up at his confirmation hearing, you know, a guy who comes from Fox and he’s going to be announced as the defense secretary. He’s at his confirmation hearing. He’s going off on DEI. He’s saying we need merrit back at the Pentagon and he is in this job for what? Seven weeks?

And he puts war plans, he puts attack plans for airstrikes on the Houthis on Signal. Way to go. I’m sorry, that just blows a hole in all of the crap he was peddling up on Capitol Hill. It just pisses me off to no end.

DON LEMON: Well, it’s confirmation for– that he is not qualified.

Two things here. When has America ever been merit-based? When you actually think about it, right? And you think about all the people who are in positions of power, especially, and all the chances that they’ve had to screw up this country and they have in many ways.

When you look at the people who are now in, who have been appointed to positions and confirmed by the Congress and whoever, they are not qualified.

You think Pete Hegseth is qualified to be the defense secretary? Of course he’s not qualified to the defense secretary.

You know, he reminds me of this boss I once had who did not last very long at the company I was at, and he was extremely overconfident.

And it’s just basically the same sort of personality and attitude that–.

JIM ACOSTA: Mmm-hmmm.

DON LEMON: –you know, they think that they’re qualified for a job that they and they’re in way over their head and they don’t even realize it.

JIM ACOSTA: They don’t realize it. No there’s no ques–

DON LEMON: You may be familiar with that, I don’t know.

(LAUGHTER)

JIM ACOSTA: Yeah, there’s some names that are popping in my head.

DON LEMON: –vaguely.

JIM ACOSTA: Is there a thought bubble over here that has a face? Let’s not go down that road!

DON LEMON: We’re not going down that road!

JIM ACOSTA: We’re not going down that road.

Watch above via The Jim Acosta Show.