CNN’s Don Lemon attempted to clarify his remarks about “blow[ing] up the entire system” as it pertains to the Electoral College, with the host saying Tuesday night he was taken out of context.
“I woke up and I saw all of these headlines, ‘Don Lemon is calling for the abolishing of the Electoral College!’ But I was responding to you when you said we need people with integrity!” Lemon exclaimed during a handoff with host Chris Cuomo. “I was responding to you when you said we want people with integrity in office and I said, ‘Well, then we’ve got to blow up the whole system, right?’ And I said here’s what Democrats can do and that’s the danger: they can stack the court.”
“But all of a sudden, I am calling for the abolishing of the Electoral College,” Lemon continued. “And that I’m a Democrat, because I said ‘we.’ I mean the American people!”
“Run and tell this: I do think that we need to look at the Electoral College because I think it disenfranchises voters, both Democrats and Republicans,” Lemon later added. “If you’re in a blue state and all of the electoral votes go to the Democratic person, then the Republicans’ votes aren’t counted, the people who voted for the Republican candidate.”
“So I do think it should be looked at because I think it does disenfranchise certain people,” he concluded. “Should it be abolished? It’s not for me to say. I’m saying this is what Democrats are saying; stack the courts, get rid of the Electoral College. But there is no nuance and no context anymore, so who cares.”
Some leading Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) have called for abolishing the Electoral College.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, says she’s open to the idea, while the former vice president has said he opposes eliminating the Electoral College.
On Monday night, Lemon declared that “we’re going to have to blow up the entire system” if Democrats win back the Senate and White House in November’s elections as he criticized the Electoral College.
“We’re going to have to blow up the entire system,” Lemon told Cuomo.
“I don’t know about that,” Cuomo replied. “You’re just going to have to vote.”
“You’re going to have to get rid of the Electoral College,” Lemon continued. “Because the minority in this country get to decide who our judges are and who our president is. Is that fair?”
“You need a constitutional amendment to do that,” Cuomo replied.
“And if Joe Biden wins, Democrats can stack the courts and they can do that amendment and get it passed,” Lemon retorted.
“Well, you need two-thirds vote in the Congress and three-quarters of the state legislatures,” Cuomo noted.
“They may be able to do that,” Lemon argued.
President Trump won the 2016 election by a 304-227 margin in the Electoral College after capturing the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 3 million votes.