“Think About Hitler”: CNN’s Don Lemon Joins the *Trump is a Nazi* Brigade

Imagine what the headlines would look like if a Fox News host had compared Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden. Howls of racism would echo off the mighty walls of the Grand Canyon. Democrats in Congress would be calling for hearings to judge whether or not Fox News should be officially censured by the government. Advertising boycotts would give the Murdochs no choice but to address the host with a suspension or maybe even a pink slip.

But a CNN primetime host can compare President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, and what happens? Um, as far as we can tell, not a damn thing.

On Wednesday night, CNN anchor Don Lemon was getting ready to hand off to his primetime successor, Chris Cuomo. As per usual, the two engaged in a bit of banter about politics before making the transition. As Cuomo mused about 2020 being the most “definitional” election of his lifetime, Lemon took a shot at the president’s supporters, wondering if they would “continue to fall for the okie-dokie” – whatever that’s supposed to mean.

At that point, Lemon speculated on the media’s responsibility when it came to covering the current U.S. President.

“Think about the most despicable people in history,” Lemon said. “Think about Hitler. Think about any of those people. If you could look back in history, would you say, ‘Well, I’m so glad that person was allowed a platform so that they could spread their hate and propaganda and lies,’ or would you say, ‘That probably wasn’t the right thing to do to spread that because you knew in that moment that was a bad person and they were doing bad things. And not only were they hurting people, they were killing people.”

Well, there he goes, earning his title as the Dumbest Man on Television. Hitler? Really? Does Don Lemon spend all of his off-hours commenting on ThinkProgress, Reddit’s r/politics, and Slate.com? How can someone with a multi-million dollar television deal be this ridiculous?

“I think that the example matters,” replied Cuomo, known for making absurd anti-Trump remarks of his own. “And that’s a very extreme example.”

“Listen, for people like me, how this the president feels about the Central Park Five, that could be a life or death issue for people like me,” Lemon said. “He took a big part of their life away and demonizing immigrants and talking about ‘sh**hole countries’ and saying that ‘there were very fine people on both sides.’ For people of color in this country, it is a life or death issue. So I’m just saying we just need to be careful about having ‘these are standard rules.’ This is not standard. This is not normal.”

What a fool. Trump is Hitler because he thinks the Central Park Five were guilty? Well, guess what, Don, there’s a lot of evidence that points in that direction. He’s Hitler because he wants to stop illegal immigrants? Half this country is comprised of burgeoning Nazis, if that is the case. And come on, who among us has never referred to a sh*thole country as a sh*thole country? Let’s be serious here.

Also, the idea that CNN has covered Trump in a “standard” or “normal” way is abjectly laughable. Almost as laughable as them employing a clown like Don Lemon.