[Lemon:] We know the president is awfully quick to condemn anybody he sees as an enemy or response to news he doesn't like. But there are some things he just doesn't want to talk about so much. Let's discuss. Keith Boykin is here, Alice Stewart, and Tara Setmayer. Hello, happy Friday to all of you.
[Alice:] Hi, Don.
[Tara:] Hello.
[Lemon:] Keith, Representative Steve King, perfect example. King was stripped of his committee assignments after wondering in The New York Times interview, when terms like white nationalist and white supremacist became offensive. This is the president's reaction in the news that King will seek re-election in 2020.
[Trump:] You know I don't know anything about this situation. When did he announce that?
[Unidentified Female:] Today.
[Trump:] I have not seen it. He hasn't told me anything. We'll have to take a look.
[Unidentified Female:] You haven't spoken to him?
[Trump:] I haven't spoken to him in a long time. I haven't spoken. I have not been involved in that.
[Lemon:] Another missed opportunity for the president to condemn Steve King's behavior?
[Keith Boykin, Cnn Political Commentator:] He knows Steve King very well. They are buddies.
[Lemon:] I don't know who you are talking about, Steve who?
[Boykin:] He did the same thing with David Duke during the campaign. I don't know who David Duke is. He did the same thing with Pat Buchanan. He called him a Hitler lover before and now he's like, oh, I'm going to tweet about him and endorse him. I mean, Donald Trump is playing footsies with the radical right, the far right, and pretending like he's not giving aid and comfort to them. And then when the time is convenient, he goes off and does more stuff to give them aid and comfort. This is just not helpful. It's typical for Donald Trump and sad.
[Lemon:] Alice, when Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar was reprimanded by Democrats and Republicans for using anti-Semitic language in a tweet, the president called for her resignation. He called for her he said her apology was lame. Watch this.
[Trump:] Congressman Omar is terrible, what she said. And I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
[Lemon:] So he doesn't know about a fellow Republican but he knows about a Democrat. Why the double standard, Alice?
[Alice Stewart, Cnn Political Commentator:] It's a convenient amnesia, Don. Look, this is typical Donald Trump. He's been this way all along. He always has a tendency to elevate his allies and try to eliminate his enemies. That is exactly what he continues to do and he will always do that. That's part of his nature. Whether we're talking a political enemy or a personal enemy or a business enemy, he wants to do away with them. So I think it is not right for us to put them into any components, whether we are talking about race or religion or any type of specific issue. If someone is an opponent of this president, he will say and do anything to get them out of the way, get them out of their position, and this is a classic example.
[Lemon:] So after two days, the president finally reacted to the charges against a Coast Guard officer accused of being a white nationalist who planned to kill several high-profile journalists and also to kill Democratic politicians. Watch this.
[Trump:] I think it is a shame. Yeah. I think it is a very sad thing when a thing like that happens. I've expressed that. I'm actually getting a very complete briefing in about two hours.
[Unidentified Female:] Do you think you bear any responsibility for moderating your language when it comes to that?
[Trump:] No, I don't. I think my language is very nice.
[Lemon:] Very nice. Listen, according to court documents, this is very serious, Lieutenant Christopher Hasson did Google searches for "what if Trump illegally impeached" and "civil war if Trump impeached." Should the president have done anything differently in his response to this terror, you think?
[Tara Setmayer, Cnn Political Commentator:] Well, of course, there were a lot of things he should have done differently, but, you know, we're talking about Donald Trump. He has the best words and the biggest brain. Don't you know that, Don? We're all the idiots because he uses very nice words. It was only a couple days ago that he tweeted out in all caps that The New York Times is the enemy of the people, the real enemy of the people. How many times has he done this? The Committee to Protect Journalists put out a report that showed that Donald Trump has tweeted negatively against the press 1,300 times since becoming a candidate, and that those tweets that increased versus his tweeting about other things has decreased, but his attacks against the media and journalists has increased. Do you that they also put out a report that said that there are 28 journalists jailed around the world this year because of fake news allegations in other places across the world, when there were only nine at this point last year? This is reverberating not only in the United States but across the world. It is making journalists and those of us in the media less safe. It is emboldening these crazies out here who are looking for reasons to do things they shouldn't be doing, like this guy, this Coast Guard. You know, who knows how long he had been plotting that? Or the guy that was sending the mail bombs in October where CNN was evacuated and there were other journalists targeted. Who knows how long they've been thinking about that? They see the president of the United States continuing to put these things out there like that. Words matter, especially coming from the president. Donald Trump is so irresponsible, and he is creating this environment where people think it is OK to target the media when that's not how we do things in this country. So yes, of course, Donald Trump could have handled it differently, but he is never going to change. This is who he is.
[Lemon:] I want to play this. This is something that he said. I think my language is very nice. Alice, this is someone with a nice language.
[Trump:] You are a rude, terrible person. What a stupid question that is. That's OK. I know you're not thinking. You never do. You know what? You're creating violence by your questions. Some of the media is terrific. But most of it, 70 percent, 75 percent is absolute dishonest, absolute scum. Remember that. Scum.
[Lemon:] Hmmm.
[Setmayer:] That's a short list, Don.
[Lemon:] I know that is a short list.
[Stewart:] Don, if anyone in this country knows that words matter, it is Donald Trump. And that is exactly why he uses the words that he uses, going all the way back to little Marco, lying Ted. You can go down the whole list of his Republican challengers. At the same time, on occasion, he does say some nice things. Let me just say this. When we are talking about the Hasson situation, what he did was terrible. I hate the fact that he singled out many people including you. It is despicable. But he did that in the name of hate. Also this week, we've been talking about the actor, Smollett, and what he did. Look, that was in the name we don't know exactly what happened, but it appears this was in the name of greed. And I think to take any of these instances and blame Donald Trump for grown-up people making terrible, hateful, awful decisions, I think, is irresponsible. Yes, Donald Trump
[Setmayer:] But, Alice, we can't
[Stewart:] has said some bad things. Yes, he has said I think to blame this president for
[Setmayer:] We can't blame him 100 percent, but he's responsible for creating an environment. He's responsible for creating an environment. Let's not give it a pass because
[Lemon:] Let's Keith jump in.
[Setmayer:] Donald Trump doing every day.
[Lemon:] Go ahead, Keith, quickly, because I got to go.
[Boykin:] OK, Alice, just real quickly, we had President Obama. He didn't spend every day in his office tweeting about people he disliked. We've had other presidents, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, other presidents who have never done this. This is unprecedented. What would really help, Alice, I know you're there sometimes, is if you would call consistently call out Donald Trump and not allow Republicans to give him cover when he does this
[Lemon:] OK, look
[Boykin:] He has created the climate, and he is the one who can help tamp down the atmosphere.
[Lemon:] If we care about someone else's language, someone who says, you know, this is MAGA country, we need to care about another person's language who says that journalists are enemy of the people. If we care about someone lying about a fake situation in Chicago, then we should care about the president of the United States lying. Both are liars. One is accused of lying. One is we see lying every single day and gets a pass from his supporters every single day. If you care about one lie, you got to care about the other lie, especially when the other lie is coming from the president in the highest office, the person in the highest office.
[Stewart:] I am not excusing the president at all. What he says and saying the media is the enemy of the people, it is absolutely completely wrong. I've said that numerous times. But you can't blame him for everyone else's actions.
[Lemon:] OK.
[Boykin:] But he can help create a better climate.
[Setmayer:] That's right.
[Lemon:] Thank you, guys. I got to go. Have a good weekend.
[Setmayer:] And take responsibility from self.
[Lemon:] Thank you, guys. We'll be right back.
[Setmayer:] See you, Don.
[Stewart:] Thanks, Don.