Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor who got himself fired in 2023, sat in his New York City apartment this week and told the hosts of the "Can't Be Censored" podcast something that should qualify as performance art.
"I actually think I would be a really good president of the United States," Lemon said. "I'm being totally serious."
He was.
He added that the other potential candidates aren't up to the task. "Many of them, most of them, are not," he said. So the man who couldn't keep a morning show gig now believes he's the most qualified person to sit behind the Resolute Desk. Teleprompter reader to terminated employee to potential 2028 presidential candidate. That's quite a trajectory.
As reported by the Daily Wire's Blake Schaper, Lemon told the podcast he's already done the groundwork. "I've stuck my toe into it. I've talked to people about it, people who have been in politics before." Apparently those conversations went well enough that he didn't immediately abandon the idea.
Here's the part worth pausing on. Lemon wasn't fired, in his telling, for making on-air comments about women's ages or any failure of professional conduct. He was fired, he says, because CNN wanted to get rid of him as "the gay black guy." That's his explanation. Racism. Homophobia. The network that employed him for years and paid him millions — villains. Not the guy who told his audience on live television that 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wasn't "in her prime."
The same man now believes 330 million Americans should hand him the presidency.
Lemon also took a shot at the current administration, claiming "the current president is not doing a great job for working-class people." This from a man who spent his CNN years explaining working-class Americans to themselves from a studio in Manhattan. He even described his vision: "I would like it to be a voter, citizen-driven campaign." Which sounds inspiring until you remember that his relationship with voters was primarily telling them what to think five nights a week.
He did flash something resembling self-awareness. "You can't tell these types of stories during dinner parties if you want to be president," Lemon admitted. That's true. You also probably can't get fired from your last major job, blame it on racism, and then ask the country for a promotion.
The 2028 Democratic primary field is shaping up to be a talent show where nobody has any talent. Lemon joins what will likely be a crowded stage of cable news personalities who believe name recognition is the same thing as qualification. His CNN tenure gave him a platform. His firing gave him a grievance. Apparently a platform plus a grievance plus a podcast appearance equals a presidential exploratory phase.
The resume reads: anchor, fired anchor, discrimination victim, podcast guest, aspiring leader of the free world. Somewhere in there, a step got skipped.
