The racist, homophobic, and frightening arrest of Don Lemon

Yes, Don Lemon is problematic and divisive. He has provoked audiences, colleagues, and critics alike. He tested CNN’s patience for years. None of that is in dispute, and none of it explains, excuses, or justifies what has unfolded on Friday.

The arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, a local Black journalist and Emmy winner, are not merely shocking: They are frightening.

This moment fits into a long, deliberate pattern of intimidation from the Trump administration, one that targets journalists, dissent, and, with particular intensity, Black and LGBTQ+ voices.

Related: Journalist Don Lemon arrested by federal agents after his coverage of Minneapolis protests

Lemon carries multiple targets on his back. He is a journalist. He is outspoken. He is Black. He is openly gay. Each of those identities has been treated as suspect by a MAGA movement led by Donald Trump that equates criticism with disloyalty and Black and queer visibility with being provoked.

CNN fired Lemon in April 2023 after a 17-year tenure for reasons that were public, corporate, and internal. His February 2023 on-air remark that Nikki Haley was not “in her prime” sparked swift backlash and was widely criticized as sexist.

Related: Don Lemon Fired From CNN

Around the same time, reports detailed allegations of unprofessional and misogynistic conduct and tense workplace dynamics, including conflicts with co-hosts during a broader network shake-up. Lemon’s exit was messy.

What followed, however, was something else entirely.

For years, Trump has singled out Lemon with an obsession that went far beyond journalistic criticism. Trump demeaned Lemon as “the dumbest man on television,” a “lightweight,” a “loser.”

These insults were repeated endlessly, and they came with mockery of Lemon’s intelligence, credibility, and even his physical appearance. After Lemon interviewed LeBron James, Trump sneered that Lemon “made LeBron look smart,” a comment that was definitely steeped in racial contempt. Trump hates journalists, but seems to despise Lemon with a raw vengeance.

And if you know how authoritarians are born, dictators do not start by arresting journalists. They begin by persuading the public that journalists are stupid, dishonest, dangerous, or deserving of punishment. Trump, like all authoritarians before him, softens the ground for their eventual jailing or expulsion.

Trump’s broader record with the press makes that goal unmistakable. He has repeatedly labeled mainstream media “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.” He has described journalists as “human scum,” and suggested that unfavorable coverage of his health is “treasonous.”

His attacks have been especially personal; reporters have been dismissed as “nasty,” “stupid,” “piggy” or “ugly,” and ordered to “be nice” for asking legitimate questions. The attacks are often directed at women and people of color.

In January 2026, the targeting of Lemon escalated. After Lemon reported on anti-ICE protesters in a Minnesota church, Trump fixated not on facts but on Lemon himself, mocking “the way he walked in that church,” a familiar stereotyping of Black people.

Soon after, Trump repeated calls on social media demanding that Lemon be sent to prison for decades for his coverage. Calls to imprison a journalist for doing their job? We have crossed a dangerous Rubicon, which shakes all journalists to their core.

Now, with Lemon arrested, the thread of Trump’s brazenness is impossible to ignore. This did not come out of nowhere. It is the predictable outcome of sustained rhetorical arrows aimed at delegitimizing a Black, gay journalist who refused to kiss his behind.

Related: Trump DOJ lied to D.C. federal appeals court about trans military ban, lawyers say in stunning filing

Trump and his DOJ lackeys have been cheering Lemon’s downfall and have also spent years shredding the enforcement of civil rights protections. Diversity and equity initiatives have been dismantled. Training on systemic racism has been denounced as “divisive.” Trump has been bulldozing the rights of Black and brown people more urgently than he did during his first term.

Similarly, federal recognition of LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender Americans, has been rolled back with sweeping executive action. History has sanitized how race, slavery, and inequality are taught and remembered. And it’s all happened with a speed and efficiency that has been jolting.

It is also impossible to ignore that other recent actions against journalists have disproportionately involved Black reporters — an astonishing 32 were arrested last year. The pattern will inevitably repeat itself this year, kicking off with Lemon and the others.

When intimidation — and arrests — repeatedly land on the same marginalized communities, their intent is self-evident.

If Don Lemon can be publicly vilified for years, threatened with imprisonment, and then arrested by Trump’s political henchmen, the message is that if you step out of line, you may be next.

Especially if you are Black. Especially if you are queer. Especially if you refuse to be quiet.

This is also a test for Congress, particularly Republicans who have long claimed the mantle of free speech and constitutional conservatism. The press is not an adversary of the state; rather, it is an essential check on it. But Congress has no spine when it comes to challenging Trump, particularly about a Black, gay journalist.

When political leaders attempt to intimidate or criminalize journalists, it falls to Congress to assert its coequal authority and defend the institutional role of a free press. But we all know how that goes.

The media is often described as the Fourth Estate because it serves a distinct and indispensable function in a constitutional democracy. While it is not a formal branch of government, it operates as a watchdog over the three that are: legislative, executive, and judicial.

A free press investigates misconduct, scrutinizes policy, surfaces abuses of power, and informs the public so citizens can hold their leaders accountable.

When the executive branch treats journalism as criminal behavior, when Congress fails to push back, and when the courts hesitate to draw clear lines, the Fourth Estate is effectively weakened.

Related: The White House press corps just caved to Trump, and that should terrify you

That is why this moment matters, and why it matters that Don Lemon is Black and gay. A press stripped of racial and sexual diversity, and targeted or driven out because they are different, the Fourth Estate becomes less representative and more pliable.

And that would be a dream come true for Trump. A media landscape dominated by white straight cisgender men is far more convenient for an administration intent on weakening the press to control the narrative and destroy accountability.

If Lemon’s arrest is a bellwether, the destruction of democracy is farther along than we realized.

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