Don Lemon Torches Republicans For ‘Bringing Up Race’ During Speaker Vote When They Constantly Deride ‘Identity Politics’
CNN anchor Don Lemon called out Republicans for “bringing up race” in relation to their speaker of the House election “while simultaneously saying race should not be a factor in politics.”
The big political story this week is McCarthy’s tumultuous bid to become speaker amid a revolt from House conservatives, a story which has culminated so far with five votes in which outgoing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy failed to secure a win.
In the latest rounds of voting on Wednesday, Republican Congressman Chip Roy nominated Black Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, and several members quoted civil rights leaders in support of Donalds.
On Thursday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Lemon welcomed former Congressman Adam Kinzinger as a new CNN analyst, and ripped Republicans for the “hypocrisy” of their invocation of those civil rights leaders:
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A congressman and has been outspoken about McCarthy’s impact on the Republican Party during his time on the January 6th committee.
We’re happy to have you. Good morning to you. And welcome to – to – to the family, as they say.
There’s so much to talk to you about, but I just want to get that – them invoking civil rights leaders. You know, times change, right, but is it just theater at this point and why even do it?
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think everybody can benefit — by the way, it’s great to be here. It’s good to be part of the team. But now back to business.
Everybody can benefit from like staying away from the race issue, getting this done, because there’s – it’s a really divided time right now. I mean both from kind of invoking, you know, Frederick Douglass and saying he wouldn’t be anything but a Republican, I’ll tell you, the Republican Party’s a little different now than it was when he was in. And, secondarily, hearing the groans in the background too was kind of, to me, a little like jarring. I didn’t – I can’t see the visual of it, but this idea that – you know, look, Byron Donalds, I don’t know much about him. He’s a second term member of Congress. He’s obviously in the Freedom Caucus. I don’t know the dynamics in there. But I don’t think it’s beneficial to go after anyway.
The times have changed. There are some members of Congress that are Republicans that I think hold the mantle of people like Abraham Lincoln, and there are some that – that aren’t. And I think these 20 out there that are doing their best to tear down government – and, frankly, some of those have been trying to tear down government since they’ve been in Congress — is not a great example of Lincoln Republicanism.
LEMON: But just –
KINZINGER: A guy who fought to preserve it.
LEMON: Just one more thing, though. The Republicans bringing up race, while simultaneously saying race should not be a factor in politics and identity politics should not be – you know, there’s not a place for it, it just strikes of hypocrisy to me.
KINZINGER: Well, yes. I mean, look, I think you’re a great person to be able to say, how does that impact you personally? And I think the idea that, hey, we’re going to put him up. Now we’re going to invoke race. Look, if you’re blind to race, and it’s content of character, then you need to stand up and say, hey, Byron Donalds, he’s the best man for the job, and here’s why. This is after having put up Jim Jordan and everybody else.
Look, right now all the freedom – I call them the freedom club. All they’re trying to do right now is to extract as much as they can from Kevin McCarthy. And they’ll extract it all. And they’ll probably put somebody different up eventually. It’s all a game to them and, unfortunately, there’s real consequences to this.
Watch above via CNN This Morning.
