Don Lemon backtracks: ‘Blow up’ remarks taken out of context; Electoral College should be looked at

CNN host Don Lemon said Tuesday night that his “blow up the entire system” remarks the night earlier were taken out of context and that while it’s “not for me to say” whether the Electoral College should be abolished, he thinks it should be “looked at.”

“I woke up and I saw all of these headlines like, ’Don Lemon is calling for the abolishing of the Electoral College,’ but I was responding to you when you said we need people with integrity,” Mr. Lemon told his fellow prime-time colleague Chris Cuomo.

Mr. Lemon made headlines this week after he appeared to argue in favor of Democrats packing the Supreme Court and abolishing the Electoral College if they take back the White House and Senate in November.

“We’re going to have to blow up the entire system,” Mr. Lemon said Monday night. “And you know what we’re going to have to do? … You’re going to have to get rid of the Electoral College, because the minority in this country decides who the judges are and they decide who the president is. Is that fair?”

Mr. Lemon clarified Tuesday night that he meant the American people, not Democrats, when he used the word “we” and that he was arguing on behalf of Democrats and not himself personally.

“I usually don’t give it oxygen,” he said. “I usually don’t respond, but I thought the context was so egregious. And they take the soundbite, like just a little part that we say and not the context of the entire conversation.

“But here’s what I say,” he continued. “Run and tell this: I do think that we need to look at the Electoral College because I think it disenfranchises voters, both Democrats and Republicans. If you’re in a blue state and all of the electoral votes go to the Democratic person, then the Republicans’ votes aren’t counted, the people who voted for the Republican candidate. So I do think it should be looked at because I think it does disenfranchise certain people. Should it be abolished? It’s not for me to say. I’m saying this is what Democrats are saying: Stack, the courts, get rid of the Electoral College. But there is no nuance and no context anymore so who really cares.”