It appears that the ongoing feud between Donald J. Trump and CNN host Don Lemon is very much alive and well. Early Tuesday morning, the man responsible for the welfare of the United States found time to throw shots at the late-night news anchor.
The segment Trump took issue with, aired on Saturday night and involved GOP analyst Rick Wilson as well as New York Times op-ed writer Wajahat Ali. The topic of conversation was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his recent dustup with NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly.
Kelly says that Pompeo berated and swore at her over a question she asked about the firing of Marie Yovanovitch, the former Ambassador to Ukraine. She claimed that after pressing him on the question Pompeo told her, a woman who graduated cum laude from Harvard University, has a master’s in European studies and has been reporting on politics since graduating college, that she couldn’t identify Ukraine on the map.
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“He asked if I could find Ukraine on a map I said, ‘Yes,’ he called out for his aides to bring him a map of the world with no writing, no countries marked. I pointed to Ukraine he put the map away, he said, people will hear about this, and then he turned and said he had things to do, and I thanked him again for his time and left,” Kelly detailed for her show All Things Considered.
Wilson, the author of Running Against The Devil (the devil being Donald J. Trump), found humor in the details of the exchange and when asked about it on CNN Tonight With Don Lemon, started to joke that Trump wouldn’t be able to point to Ukraine on a map even if somebody labeled it with the letter “U” and the picture of a crane. That’s when Lemon lost it, breaking out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. When Ali quipped even further about Trump’s ignorance on the manner, it set Lemon off even more.
On Monday, a number of right-wing media outlets reported on the exchange, which then prompted a response from Trump. At 12:26 Tuesday morning he tweeted, “Don Lemon, the dumbest man on television (with terrible ratings!).”
Trump has been a frequent critique of Lemon’s show. In July he tweeted after a CNN debate, “CNN’s Don Lemon, the dumbest man on television, insinuated last night while asking a debate “question” that I was a racist, when in fact I am “the least racist person in the world.” Perhaps someone should explain to Don that he is supposed to be neutral, unbiased & fair.”