King Solomon knew CNN’s Don Lemon. Oh, not personally. He just knew the type. “‘Proud,’ ‘Haughty,’ ‘Scoffer’ are his names, who acts with insolent pride.” (Proverbs 21:24)

Solomon’s father David knew Lemon’s now infamous panelists. “The smiters whom I did not know gathered together against me, they slandered me without ceasing. Like godless jesters at a feast, they gashed at me with their teeth.” (Psalm 35:15-16)

In case you missed it, two Saturday nights ago, Don Lemon and guests Wajahat Ali and Rick Wilson launched an astounding 80-second mockfest, ridiculing half the nation as “the credulous boomer rube demo.” You must watch. Words can barely describe.

America, this is what CNN thinks of you…
pic.twitter.com/puuVjRLlw1

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 28, 2020

And oh, Lemon’s hysterical laughter as Wilson puts on a fake southern accent. “Donald Trump’s the smart one, and there all y’all, y’all ‘leetists are duuumb.”

And in comes Ali: “You elitists, with your geography and your maps and your spelling.”

Wilson, still faking a hick drawl, added: “Your math and your readin’!’”

“Yeah, your readin’, your geography, knowing other countries, sipping your latte,” added Ali.

Backlash and Outrage

Yes, Solomon knew this whole arrogant, obnoxious crew: “The scoffer is an abomination to men.” (Proverbs 24:9) That could explain why few people watch CNN.

The mockery has unleashed a torrent of responses. Ivanka Trump said it as well as anybody: “You consistently make fun of half the country and then complain that it is divided. The arrogance, mocking accents and smug ridicule of this nation’s ‘Real Elites’ is disgusting.”

You consistently make fun of half the country and then complain that it is divided.

The arrogance, mocking accents and smug ridicule of this nation’s ‘Real Elites’ is disgusting. https://t.co/p3RQzymx4s

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) January 28, 2020

Lemon Makes It Worse

Lemon did not apologize. Instead, the following Monday, smugness still plastered on his face, Lemon said he had been laughing at a joke, not at any “group of people.” Huh? Speaking as someone who’s written something like 200,000 jokes, this is utter nonsense.

Was the joke so carefully crafted, so perfectly delivered, that had it been about liberals he would have burst out just the same? Had Wilson and Ali switched out Trump and Ukraine for Greta Thunberg and climate change he still nearly would have nearly wet himself? I don’t think so. No. The target tickled his funny bone.

#BREAKING: @DonLemon addressing the now-viral Saturday @CNNTonight segment mocking and showing such venom toward Trump supporters. Not surprisingly, Lemon deflected: "I don't believe in belittling people….In the moment…I didn't catch everything that was said." pic.twitter.com/oI4eNz7rkR

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 29, 2020

Here’s exactly what he said:

This is personally important for me to address this, OK? Ask anyone who knows me, they’ll tell you — I don’t believe in belittling people, belittling anyone for who they are, what they believe, or where they’re from. During an interview on Saturday night, one of my guests said something that made me laugh. And while in the moment, I found that joke humorous. And I didn’t catch everything that was said. Just to make this perfectly clear, I was laughing at the joke and not at any group of people.

Let’s put aside the fact CNN spends all day belittling what Trump supporters believe. Where’s the apology? Where’s the condemnation of what his guests had said? Where’s the humility? Where’s the humanity?

Routinely Horrible Lemon

Thing is, as routinely horrible as Lemon is, I was perfectly willing to cut him some slack for this. The segment took place on the Saturday night after a brutally long week. House Democrats had kept laying out their impeachment case into the wee hours of the morning for days on end.

For someone in the news biz, this was Saturday night after finals week. You’re punchy. You’re brain dead. You’re sleep deprived. You’re ready to let off steam with friends. You say and do silly or stupid things with them. You’re likely to find moronic statements absolutely hysterical.

How easy to simply cop to that? How hard would it have been for Lemon to say, “I get why people are angry and hurt. We were way out of bounds. I’m sorry.”

His response, therefore, is worse than the laughter. It confirms the truth of what critics are saying. He and his duo of anti-Deplorables truly despise most Americans. They can’t even bother to apologize for insulting them. Lemon’s haughty nose is so high in the air he’d drown if it rains.

Who Gets the Last Laugh?

Meanwhile, we get why Rick Wilson is bitter. He was a busy, well-compensated GOP strategist — a player — until Trump came along. Now he’s stuck hurling cheap shots from the cheap seats. Partnering with the similarly irrelevant Beltway figures like George Conway and Bill Kristol in spiteful, irrational efforts to destroy Trump. (And hand the country over to the lunatic left.)

Oh, how they love those types on CNN. They love anti-Deplorables with an R by their name. Except they don’t accept that the R in their case now stands for “Rejected.”

What makes the 80-second mockfest so ironic is the utter lack of self-awareness. Wilson mocks the “credulous boomer rubes” for thinking Trump is smarter than the “elites.” Well … um … Trump keeps beating them. And beating them. And outfoxing them. (Releasing the Ukraine phone call transcript being just one example.)

At some point don’t you have to wonder, “Maybe Trump is smarter than I think” or “Maybe I’m not as smart as I think”? Wilson is Wile E. Coyote making fun of people who put their money on the Road Runner.

The Apostle Paul had been part of a similar Elite before his Damascus conversion. He knows well the trio of CNN mockers. He just has the self-awareness they lack:

“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (1 Corinthians 3:20)

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream and co-author, with @JZmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. He’s also the former VP/Creative Director at All Comedy Radio. You can follow him at @StreamingAl. And if you aren’t already, please follow The Stream at @Streamdotorg.