Don Lemon Goes Off Defending Maxine Waters: ‘People With Half a Brain’ Know She Wasn’t Calling for Violence

CNN’s Don Lemon said Monday that he didn’t think Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ comments in Minnesota were constructive or helpful, but he went on a tear saying everyone with “half a brain” understood her intent.

Waters joined protests in Brooklyn Center and, when asked what people should do if there is no guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin, she said, “We’ve got to stay on the street. And we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

Waters’ comments were raised by the Chauvin defense Monday, and the judge made a point of criticizing her remarks.

Lemon told Wolf Blitzer Waters is a “sharp-tongued rabble rousing lawmaker” who “makes a lot of people uncomfortable.”

“Now, look at me, everyone,” he continued. “Do you really think Maxine Waters is calling for violence? Maxine Waters is not calling for violence. Everyone knows that. She makes a lot of people uncomfortable, especially a lot of men, and, quite frankly, especially a lot of white men, because she puts them in their place.”

However, Lemon went on to say, “Do I think what she said was constructive? Absolutely not. Do I think that she should have said it? Absolutely not. Do I think that she gave her enemies ammunition? I certainly do. She handed it to them.”

He argued that despite that, “Maxine Waters is not the issue here” and even said “the people who are criticizing her, quite frankly, most of the people are the insurrectionists — people who supported the insurrection on Capitol Hill — or the people who support the lie about the election, or the people in many ways who are supporting state violence against Black people.”

“She needs to be more responsible with her words. And considering how long she has been in the Congress and the public eye, she should know better. But was Maxine Water really calling for people to loot and riot? I think most people with half a brain know that’s not what she was doing.”

You can watch above, via CNN.