News anchor Don Lemon of CNN (shown above right) condemned the protesters who chased Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and his wife out of a restaurant on Monday night — but he also upheld their right to protest, taking a wishy-washy and ultimately insulting position in an interview with Chris Cuomo (above left) Tuesday on “Cuomo Prime Time.”
In a video clip of the restaurant incident, a group of protesters can be seen approaching Cruz and his wife, Heidi, at a table, and repeatedly shouting, “We believe survivors!”
They were referring, of course, to the two accusers of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez have separately claimed in recent weeks, through various venues, that years ago in the early ’80s Kavanaugh committed sexual misconduct against them. Kavanaugh has vigorously denied those claims.
Both Ford and Kavanaugh are scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday; a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court is scheduled for Friday.
Cuomo asked Lemon if it was right that the senator and his wife were chased out of a restaurant during dinner by protesters.
“It’s a tough one, Chris. One — because one, it’s survivors, right, of sexual abuse — I’m one [a survivor] — and as a person of color I know that especially during the civil rights movement, and now, sometimes, the only agency you have is to protest and to get in someone’s face — you don’t have any power when it comes to government, and in society.”
Lemon, on a roll now, continued, “I don’t like it, but it is one reason I’m not a public official, that I’m not running for office. In a way, I think it goes with the territory … I don’t like that they were blocking his wife. But that’s what he signed up for, and as a strict constitutionalist, which Ted Cruz is, he knows that it’s protected under the First Amendment.”
He then repeated himself: “Again, I don’t like it. I wouldn’t want it to happen to me. I don’t like that it happened to his wife, but that’s what he signed up for — that’s part of the deal.”
Cuomo said, “I don’t know that that’s what he signed up for, but that may be what the price is for being in public service [today]. There’s a different standard —”
“Well, semantics,” Lemon interjected. “We’re saying the same thing.”
Cuomo responded, “But I’m saying, no, no, no, I hear you, but I don’t think it’s purely semantics. I think that this is wrong — do they have the right to do this? One hundred percent — you don’t have to be Ted Cruz to know that. But is it right that they do it this way, and what do they achieve by doing it this way? Do you think they change Ted Cruz’s mind? Did they raise awareness to something that is positive, or did they raise awareness to something that makes their effort look bad?”
Related: Leftist Celebrities Join ‘National Walkout’ to Protest Kavanaugh
Lemon replied, “I still think it’s semantics … I don’t like it, I wouldn’t want it to happen to me … but if you run for office, and you propose policies that are detrimental to people, as Americans, you have the right to tell your public officials that you don’t like it, and if you’re in a space where you’re allowed to do it, you can do it.”
Related: Sarah Sanders Can’t Even Enjoy a Meal in a Restaurant
“That was a private restaurant, by the way,” Cuomo interjected.
Watch this video for more of this interview:
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