Former CNN host Don Lemon issued a scathing rebuke of former President Obama for acting “buddy-buddy” with President-elect Trump at former President Carter’s funeral.
Speaking on his YouTube channel over the weekend, Lemon accused Obama and Trump of “yukking it up together, chatting and giggling like kids on the playground.”
Lemon pointed to Trump’s history of criticizing Obama, including with the birtherism conspiracy that falsely claimed Obama was not American-born and was Muslim.
“How could Barack Obama, the man who faced vicious, racist conspiracies for years because of Trump, act so buddy-buddy with him? Does he not remember birtherism?” Lemon asked.
“Perhaps more critically, does he not remember how his entire political party has been calling the man a fascist, an autocrat, a threat to democracy for months, if not years,” he added. “People could not believe what they were seeing. Had the Democratic Party lied to them? Had Kamala Harris and Joe Biden lied to them? Is this all just a game?”
While campaigning for Vice President Harris’s 2025 presidential bid, Obama compared Trump to Adolf Hitler. He also said a second Trump presidency would be “dangerous.”
While former first lady Michelle Obama was not at Carter’s funeral, Obama and Trump were among the five living presidents to attend.
In a video of the two sitting side by side, Trump can be seen saying something that makes Obama laugh.
Harris, sitting with her husband in front of the two former presidents, can be seen glancing back before turning around without commenting to either.
Lemon said Obama may have been “just doing his duty” in being cordial with Trump at Carter’s funeral, but laughing at his jokes was “risky” and “cringey”
“Optics like this are things that Democrats have to consider going forward,” Lemon said.
“Your behavior around the man will matter,” he continued, adding that former second lady Karen Pence should not be“ a more courageous critic of Trump” than the first Black president. Pence appeared to ignore Trump at the services.
“Your outdated impulse to prioritize good relationships with your conservative colleagues at all costs has got to end,” said Lemon. “Recall, many of these men and women have spent years valorizing a violent mob that sought to kill you. Why does Karen Pence remember that but you don’t?”
