Don Lemon says media needs time to stop talking Trump, compares it to breakup

CNN’s Don Lemon says the media needs time to stop talking about President Trump now that President-elect Joe Biden has been projected the winner of the presidential election. 

“Give us a while here in the news media because we’ve got to, you know, learn how to quit the other person,” Lemon said, referring to the president. “It’s like a breakup. We got to get the other president out of our phone contacts.” 

Multiple media outlets, including CNN, declared Biden the projected winner of the election after he took a significant lead in Pennsylvania, securing the 270 electoral votes needed to become president.

Trump has not conceded, however, and has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election has been stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud. His reelection campaign has mounted legal challenges challenging the election results in several battleground states — including in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan and Georgia — where Biden holds narrow leads.

Meanwhile, Trump’s refusal to concede has raised concerns over whether he’ll willingly leave the White House when his term ends on Jan. 20.  

“So for a little bit, if you’ll bear with us,” Lemon said. “We’ve got to talk about the infant going ‘I don’t want to go! I don’t want to go!’” 

“He’s going to have to go. That’s it! He’s out, he’s no longer president in January. He lost, he is the loser, he was fired, so just know that through all of this,” Lemon added. “We have a new reality in America right now. A new reality. We have a new president-elect, everyone. Do you hear me? A new vice-president elect.” 

Lemon also accused Trump and the GOP of trying to go against the will of the American people, noting that Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to accept Biden’s victory on Monday, although he stopped short of claiming there was voter fraud. 

“Obviously no states have yet certified their election results. We have at least one or two states that are already on track for a recount, and I believe the president may have legal challenges underway in at least five states,” McConnell said in a floor speech. 

Lemon said that Trump and Republicans know that Trump lost and are only trying to keep people scared for the outcome of the Jan. 5 runoff races for both Senate seats in Georgia. The outcome of those races will determine which party keeps control of the upper chamber. 

“Mitch McConnell knows that Donald Trump lost. Donald Trump knows that Donald Trump lost, all of the Republicans know that,” Lemon said. “You know what this is about? And they’re going to tell you later, this is about Georgia in January. They cannot say, ‘Well, it’s time for the president to go’ and ‘He needs to concede.” They need to keep people riled up and scared.”