As mad as it was when it was discovered that former CNN anchor Don Lemon tagged along for an anti-ICE protest at a church, the Media Research Center was gleeful that Lemon was arrested over it. Cue the Jan. 30 post by Curtis Houck:
According to multiple reports and a statement from his attorney Abbe Lowell, former CNN anchor and far-left pundit Don Lemon was arrested late Thursday night in Los Angeles by federal authorities for his role in the January 18 storming of a St. Paul area church by an organized mob of far-left rioters under the guise of protesting the January 7 death of Renee Good and an alleged pastor’s role with Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE).
According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Lemon was one of four new arrests in connection to this incident, bringing the total to seven.
[…]In other words, Lemon and his team will argue he was merely observing what took place when the livestream (which our friends at the Free Beacon broke down in a masterful piece of analysis) showed otherwise.
Lemon – who expressed prior acknowledge of the incident and tagged along with the group (many of whom he greeted as friends) – harassed the church’s pastor during the insurrection and argued he wasn’t following Jesus by not supporting the angry disruption and turning his service over to them.
In the days following what transpired over the hours-long livestream, Lemon was unrepentant.
That lack of repentance is what really annoys the MRC — never mind that it has never criticized a fellow conservative for being unrepentant.
After a post by Geoffrey Dickens claiming to list “some of the worst outbursts from his post-CNN career,” Houck returned to whine that people were upset that a journalist was arrested:
Friday’s CBS Mornings was the only broadcast network to mention on a flagship morning newscast the breaking story of former CNN host-turned-far-left internet charlatan Don Lemon being arrested by the Justice Department for depriving a St. Paul, Minnesota congregation of its First Amendment rights on January 18 as part of an anti-Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) mob. That said, however, they were shaken by the development.
Co-host and Democrat donor Gayle King sounded exasperated in announcing, even stating out loud “you heard that correctly” in case someone thought it was a joke. She then tossed to correspondent Lilia Luciano with a sense of disgust in wondering “what in the world is happening here”:
[…]With more time to prepare and spin, we’ll see how the Friday network newscasts rush to Lemon’s defense and whether the rights of the churchgoers is actually given the light of day.
Note that Houck is not concerned with Lemon’s rights — nor does he explain why he’s smearing Lemon as being on the “far-left.”
Alex Christy took the whining stick after that:
The Friday cast of MS NOW’s Morning Joe collectively freaked out over the arrest of former CNN host Don Lemon for his role in a recent church storming in St. Paul, Minnesota. The panel would claim Lemon was arrested for simply “doing his job” and that he is just the “first target” of a federal government that resembles that of China, Russia, and Turkey.
Co-host and The Atlantic staff writer Jonathan Lemire sought to create the image of a pattern of behavior, but his evidence was underwhelming, “And let’s remember, this also comes just a few weeks after the FBI searched a Washington Post reporter’s home. Took devices, took computers. And The Post was assured that the reporter herself was not a target of the investigation. It was one of her sources, but that was seen as a real crackdown on the freedom of the press.”
[…]Lemire then turned to New York Times columnist Molly Jong-Fast, saying, “We only know about this stuff in Minnesota because the work of journalists and the work of civilians who were there with cameras, how important it is to document this, and it’s going to potentially have a freezing effect on that.”
Jong-Fast then urged viewers to “think about the countries where journalists are targeted by the federal government — by their governments: Russia, China, Turkey, they’re not democracies. I mean, this kind of thing, it’s a shot across the bow, right, towards the free press. And it’s scary.”
If Lemon conspired with the mob—which it appears he did—then he is just an activist with a camera, and, as we were all told during the Biden years, nobody is above the law.
We don’t recall Christy complaining about right-wing “activists with a camera.” Christy complained in another post:
After former CNN host Don Lemon was arrested Thursday night for his part in the recent St. Paul church takeover, his former colleague, Jim Acosta, took to his podcast to hurl multiple “fascist” accusations at “MAGA World.” Also on Friday, on Lemon’s own podcasts, his substitute cast would throw in additional Nazi references to echo Acosta’s point.
Christy got mad that former Washington, D.C., Police officer Michael Fanone — who was attacked and beaten during the riot — took Lemon’s side:
While Fanone wants to accuse “MAGA” of being hypocritical on who gets constitutional rights and who doesn’t, one can easily turn this back at him and Acosta. The left loves the FACE Act when it is used against pro-lifers in defense of abortion providers, but now that it is being used against left-wing anti-ICE activists in defense of a church, they are singing a new song.
We don’t recall Christy ever defending Fanone for trying to keep order during the riot.
Houck came back for yet another freakout that Lemon’s arrest was criticized:
On Friday morning, CNN’s News Centraland The Situation Room were in a state of anger and mourning over the “disturbing,” “heartbreaking,” “stark,” and “terrifying” arrest of their “friend” and former CNN colleague Don Lemon for his role in the January 18 storming of a St. Paul-area church and, according to the Justice Department, violating the First Amendment rights of congregants to worship freely as well as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Over the course of roughly two hours, numerous CNN faces rallied to Lemon’s defense by citing his work badgering congregants and the pastor as “insightful” to the point that America is “better off for” Lemon having gone along and exercised a “foundational” tenet of “democracy.” More broadly, Lemon’s YouTube page was heralded as having yielded “opinionated” “videos” and “straightforward journalism.”
A longtime friend to the Black Lives Matter movement, News Central co-host Sara Sidner first reacted by calling this “a stunning move” that “cannot be overstated,” leading chief media analyst Brian Stelter to immediately defend Lemon and even praise his actions:
[…]No word on whether Stelter considers lecturing the pastor and congregants about their supposed lack of true Christianity his kind of interview. Of course, he phrased those believing Lemon shouldn’t be absolved of scrutiny as “MAGA loyalists.”
Guess that makes Houck a “MAGA loyalist” too, eh, Curt? He made sure to childishly call Stelter and other hosts “being high on their own supply.”