CNN’s Don Lemon: If Trump used N-word on tape it ‘wouldn’t change anything’

CNN host Don Lemon on Wednesday predicted it “wouldn’t change anything” if an audio recording of President Trump saying the N-word was released. 

“What does it say about this president that his own press secretary says she cannot guarantee that there isn’t a tape of Donald Trump using the N-word?” Lemon asked in an emotional five-minute segment on CNN. “What does it say that the smarter move is for the president’s spokesperson to leave open the possibility that such a tape exists, rather than to deny and say, ‘Of course, there is no such tape, that’s impossible’?” 

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Lemon went on to reference a number of sexist and racist statements the president has already been recorded saying, both publicly and seemingly in private.

“What if I told you that I have a tape of Donald Trump calling Mexicans criminals and rapists?” he asked, referencing Trump’s 2015 speech announcing his candidacy. Trump appeared to double down on those comments in a recent campaign-style rally. 

“What if I told you that I have a secretly recorded tape of him bragging about sexually assaulting women?” Lemon continued, referencing the “Access Hollywood” tape that revealed Trump admitting to kissing and groping women without their consent.

“What if I told you I have a tape of him mocking a disabled person?” Lemon continued. “And what if I told you I have a tape of him calling African-American athletes ‘sons of bitches’?” 

Lemon’s remarks come days after former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman claimed that there is a tape of Trump making racist comments, including saying the N-word during his time on the reality television show “The Apprentice.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday that she “can’t guarantee” the tape does not exist.

“I wish I could say that it would make a difference if, on top of all of that, there ever did turn out to be a tape of the president using the N-word,” Lemon said. “But maybe the truth would be very different. Maybe it wouldn’t change anything.”

“Why would that tape be the bridge too far?” he continued. “We already know that this president seems immune from even the broadest standards of decency we’ve had in common in the past. Another tape wouldn’t change anything.”

Other public figures have made similar suggestions in recent days. New York Times columnist Charles Blow on Wednesday said he thinks Trump’s supporters could like him even more if the tape surfaces.

“I think if you found a tape of him saying the N-word, it might actually increase his support among the people who support him,” Blow told CNN Wednesday. “This is exactly what they want him to do.”