Return to Transcripts main page
Don Lemon Tonight
President Biden Says He'll Pick a Black Woman to Replace Justice Breyer; Fox Host Mocked George Floyd's Sister; Tennessee Board Cancelled Holocaust History Book; Media Melted Down Over POTUS' Ice Cream. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired January 27, 2022 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: We were writing to New Orleans and we're just flipping through the radio and said I haven't listened to, you know, traditional radio in such a long time.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right.
LEMON: And we're flipping through and I found a conservative channel. And that has been at least two or three years. My mom has never changed it. She says, because sometimes I'm driving to Walmart, Don, and they're talking about you. They say, they say your name, but I don't recognize the person they're talking about.
ACOSTA: I had, you know, Rush Limbaugh would occasionally drop my name to his listeners, and it wasn't in the best possible way. I'll just put it that way.
LEMON: Really? I'm shocked.
ACOSTA: You know, yes, I'm shocked as well. But Don, you raise a great point. I mean, and we'll get into this tomorrow. This whole right wing, you know, conservative talking point that the media is hopelessly liberal and so on. Rush Limbaugh was the most popular radio host in America, and you could drive into almost any community across the country and hear his voice.
LEMON: Yes.
ACOSTA: And you know, that has been in existence since, my goodness, for, I mean, for decades.
LEMON: Yes.
ACOSTA: And so, it just goes to show you, you know, how powerful this medium is even to this day.
LEMON: Well, the problem is with that and with the Fox propaganda network is that people don't realize that it's opinion. It's not based in fact. And that's why we're dealing with our democracy in peril right now.
ACOSTA: Absolutely. LEMON: Not to mention, Jim. Can you believe, Joe Biden? I mean, the
new big controversy is Joe Biden got an ice cream cone. Can you believe that? How dare he.
ACOSTA: Yes. I know.
LEMON: I think he should be impeached. I mean, if you see it over there, it's like the worse thing to happen since the Christmas tree.
ACOSTA: It's either that or Minnie Mouse or I mean, you know, Don.
LEMON: Yes. I should have worn a tan suit.
ACOSTA: I know, it's your program now. We're in your hour. But that is why I call it the bullshit factor. I mean, that is why --
LEMON: Wear a tan suit tomorrow when you do the radio thing. Thank you, Jim. I'll see you tomorrow.
ACOSTA: I'll see you.
LEMON: This is Don Lemon Tonight.
We've got to talk a lot about the president because as we know, he's got a lot on his plate. We'll get to the ice cream. You're not going to believe this ice cream thing. You'll want to stay up just for that. But President Biden making history today. Officially announcing that he will nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Choosing someone to sit on the Supreme Court, I believe, is one of the most serious constitutional responsibility a president has. The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, you heard the President of the United States, Joe Biden. He says he'll nominate someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity to the Supreme Court, a Black woman. And the Fox propaganda network's mouth pieces go crazy. It's like he set their hair on fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, HOST, FOX NEWS: But to exclude certain candidates based solely on race and gender is beyond extremely divisive. It may even be illegal.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Biden didn't mention the Supreme Court nominee's legal qualifications or judicial philosophy or ability to perform one of the most important jobs in the country. He didn't even tell us she was a nice person. All he said was she's going to be Black and she's going to be female. Because to him that's all that matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. So, can you imagine there are people who sit there all day, the channel does not change, and all they hear is what Jim Acosta just said, that B.S. That's all they hear. They don't hear the facts.
I'm going to give you the facts right now, all right? If you are hate watching, pay attention. You're going to learn something. Because I guess those guys are just not paying attention over there. Do they not hear him say, extraordinary qualifications? Did they not hear him say character? Did they not hear him say, experience and integrity?
There's something showing. You know what's showing. You can figure it out. But here is the funny thing though. This is where the facts come in. They had no complaints when the former president promised to nominate a woman to fill the vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Roll the tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will be a woman, a very talented, very brilliant woman.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Well, I haven't chosen her yet, but we have numerous women on the list.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A very talented -- hey, Charles, can you replay that for me again? Because it's very similar to what Joe Biden said. Highly qualified character, Black woman, but go on. Let's play it again, please. Thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It will be a woman, a very talented, very brilliant woman.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Well, I haven't chosen her yet, but we have numerous women on the list.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:05:00]
LEMON: Don't bother to send me your hate stuff on your social media. There's the evidence. You know who that woman, it turned out to be Amy Coney Barrett. So, it's OK for the previous candidates to restrict the candidates to women. What's different now? What is different now? What could it possibly be?
Let's go back in history a little bit because I just want to point out back in 1986, Ronald Reagan chose Antonin Scalia for the Supreme Court, in part because he was Italian American. Reagan, the gold standard of Republican presidents. Well, he used to be. Not in this -- not in this current Republican Party.
Reagan's White House counsel at the time said in an interview with the Washington Post, and I quote. "I think Reagan felt that it would be great to put an Italian-American on the Supreme Court. He had all the usual American instincts. We don't have an Italian American on the court, so we ought to have one. He really felt good about doing that. It wasn't principle so much as the kind of emotional commitment."
Come on, people. Don't be hypocrites. OK. Let's go back a little bit further in history, right? Same president during his campaign against Jimmy Carter. This was in 1980. Reagan, again, promised to select a woman for the Supreme Court if he was elected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm announcing today that one of the first Supreme Court vacancies in my administration will be filled by the most qualified woman I can possibly find, one who meets the high standards I will demand for all court appointments. It's time for a woman to sit among our highest jurists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What's different, you guys, as you other like to say? What's different, you guys? Come on, that woman he was talking about, the next summer he nominated Sandra Day O'Connor.
So, there is a long history of Republican presidents taking into account gender, even ethnicity in making their Supreme Court picks. Despite Republicans like Nikki Haley implying the president's pick will be some kind of affirmative action hire. Was affirmative action part of the 100 or so -- I think it was 108 -- white men who were on the court?
Was it affirmative action when Ronald Reagan said, you know, Italian- American Antonin Scalia, maybe we should do that. We should do a woman, Sandra Day O'Connor. Or when Trump said, it should be a woman, Amy Coney Barrett. Come on, Nikki Haley. We see you.
Look, representation is important. Your lived experience matters when you're deciding the kind of issues that come before the Supreme Court, issues that could change the face of America. But there is more from the Fox propaganda network and Tucker Carlson. You knew there would be. But even for him this is a new low.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: You have to wonder at this point, since we're going by skin color and gender, why Joe Biden is ignoring the obvious choice. Why doesn't Biden strike a real blow for equity and just nominate Bridgett Floyd. Who's that? It was George Floyd's sister. She's not a judge or a lawyer or whatever, but in this state who cares. Clearly, that's not the point anymore, this law stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I hope they see this so they can see how ridiculous what they're saying is. OK. So, you can almost hear him chuckling about owning the libs there, right? Owning the libs by mocking the sister of George Floyd, the Black man who was murdered by then-police officer in a brutal and excruciating attack seen by millions of people all around the world. Millions of people who took to the streets of cities everywhere to demand justice. That word, justice. Justice.
You know, the very thing the Supreme Court is supposed to do dispense. Maybe that's why they call them justices. So, let's hold out hope that the confirmation process for this president's nominee can be carried out with some dignity, with some civility, the kind of civility the president promised to restore.
Let's hope the nominee doesn't get treated like the sixth circuit nominee, Andre Mathis. Remember, not so long ago Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn slammed him for three traffic tickets, all at least a decade old and referred to that has a rap sheet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): It has been made public that he has a rap sheet with a laundry list of citations, including multiple failures to appear in court in Tennessee. We expect our judges to respect the law, not disregard it.
[22:10:00]
If Mr. Mathis thought he was above the law before, imagine how he'll conduct himself if he's confirmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That's just always so outraged. It's so funny the people who like to call people snowflakes are so -- they just clutch their pearl pearls. A Black woman! My gosh! I mean, I hate to be so dramatic, but it's true. You can't help it. It is -- the hypocrisy is just off the charts. It is just so ridiculous. Calm yourselves, people.
Black women are part of American culture, the most educated among Americans, by the way. The backbone of the Democratic Party. Why wouldn't a Democratic president nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court. It makes all kinds of sense. Hello. Hello.
All of this is happening as our fever of extreme politics is on full display in governors' mansions across the country. Just look at the races like the governor's race in Idaho, for example. Brad Little is his name, who you would think would be the darling of the MAGA mob, with it the hearth abortion ban. The nation's first transgender sports ban. And who would the former president call a terrific gentleman.
Well, he is facing a primary challenge from his own lieutenant governor for not being extreme enough. He's not the only one. Governors in Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Alabama, Massachusetts, and Ohio also facing challenges from the right.
And you have to wonder what kind of direction this country is heading with all that lunacy, all that extremism. What kind of country allows the thought police to run riot on Holocaust Remembrance Day?
A Tennessee school district banning a Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel "Maus" by Art Spiegelman, which tells the story of his Jewish parents in the 1940s, in 1940s Poland from their early experiences of anti-Semitism to their treatment in Auschwitz. The novel portrays Jews as mice, as Nazis -- and cats -- and Nazis as cats.
But that was apparently too much for the school board, OK? What kind of country encourages people to snitch on their own neighbors? You have to hold up a mirror to this because it's really -- this is not about being left or right. This is truth. I am speaking facts. This is truth. Everything I've said is based in fact.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin encouraging parents to call a tip line to report any school officials teaching so-called divisive subjects.
Is this what this country is turning to? Where is the book burning? When does that happen? Talk about cancel culture. Republicans are the cancel culture queens. A country where we snitch on teachers if they don't like what we teach, a country where we're afraid to tell the truth about the Holocaust. Really? It might make someone feel bad, the truth?
A country where lies put our health and the health of our democracy at risk. Or are we a country like the one Justice Breyer talked about, a country based on the Constitution and the rule of law, one where all men and women are created equal?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN BREYER, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a kind of miracle when you sit there and see all those people in front of you, people that are so different in what they think. And yet they've decided to help solve their major differences under law.
And when the students get too cynical, I say, go look at what happens in countries that don't do that. And that's there, I (Inaudible) take this around my topic. People have come to accept this Constitution, and they've come to accept the importance of a rule of law.
And I want to make another point to them. I want to say, look, of course people don't agree. But we have a country that is based on human rights, democracy, and so forth. But I'll tell you what Lincoln thought, what Washington thought, and what people today still think. It's an experiment. It's an experiment. That's what they said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: It's an experiment. How are we doing with that? How are we doing with that? The former President Barack Obama told the Atlantic magazine, this was in 2020, and I'll quote here, look at, follow along in your screen.
[22:15:02]
"America is the first real experiment in building a large, multiethnic, multicultural democracy. And we don't know yet if that can hold. There haven't been enough of them around for long enough to say for certain that it's going to work."
That was 14 months ago that he said that, before the insurrection at the capitol. It was before then. And we still don't know yet if it can hold.
So, the battle already beginning over President Biden's Supreme Court nominee even before he has made his choice. Why are some on the right so worked up about the idea of a Black woman on the highest court in the land?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: It is my intention, my intention, to announce my decision before the end of February. I have made no choice at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: President Biden confirming today that he'll nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. He expects to choose the nominee, he said, you hear in the soundbite before the end of the last segment, by the end of February. And a source saying that the president is excited that he is getting the chance to make a historic pick for the court.
Let's bring in now CNN's chief political analyst Gloria Borger and legal analyst Elliot Williams, the former deputy assistant attorney general under President Barack Obama.
Good evening to both of you. Hi, Gloria. I'm going to start with you.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Don.
LEMON: So, some people are saying --
BORGER: Sure.
LEMON: -- that this nominee won't face as tough, as tough a confirmation battle as people think. But I think that they might be underestimating how nominating a black woman is really triggering some on the right. What do you think?
BORGER: Look, first of all I think no confirmation battle is ever easy, particularly in this kind of environment. Obviously, it depends on the nominee. But let's set that aside. What you just played from Fox News is so disgraceful to me because what you had there was an anchor denigrating the qualifications of all of these qualified women by mocking George Floyd's sister.
It's -- it's disgraceful. It's insulting to any of those potential nominees. And I think what that does is, for Republicans who may have ideological differences and likely will with anyone that Joe Biden nominates, right, it lowers the debate. It's -- it's -- I mean, there are hard -- it's hard to find words to describe how disgraceful it is for him to have done that.
LEMON: Yes.
BORGER: These are qualified women.
LEMON: Yes.
BORGER: And instead, he mocks all of them. And not one of them has been chosen yet, by the way. Imagine what it's going to be when one of them is chosen.
LEMON: Yes. Well, Gloria, I think you're right. Listen, you said it's insulting to those women. I think it's insulting to women in general, Black Americans, all Americans. It's insulting, I think.
BORGER: Well, it is. And it's insulting to the processes. It's insulting to the court. It's insulting to the president. I mean, go down the list.
LEMON: Yes. Elliot, we're already seeing jabs from Republicans over Biden's commitment to picking the first Black woman to the highest court. The former United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley tweeting this. It would be nice if Pres. Biden chose a Supreme Court nominee who was best qualified without a race/gender litmus test. That's what I did when I picked Tim Scott as senator -- my God, her Black friend. I just -- I just -- where is the lie?
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Some of my best senators are Black.
LEMON: Some of my senators are --
WILLIAMS: What that was saying there, Don.
LEMON: Yes.
WILLIAMS: You know, so let's pretend for a moment that this is purely an affirmative action pick. And he's only picking someone on the basis of there being a Black woman. They have literally found probably the five most qualified human beings in the United States to be federal judges.
Ketanji Brown Jackson went to Harvard twice, has been a federal judge for eight years, and a federal public defender. Leondra Kruger, my former colleague at the Justice Department went to Harvard and Yale, has argued before the Supreme Court 12 times. If you don't want to make this about fancy Ivy League degrees, then Michelle Childs in South Carolina went to the University of South Carolina and has been a federal judge. So, this isn't a question of the person being qualified or not
qualified. It's merely the use of the word black. No one who's grumbling today probably complained about President Reagan, and thank you, Don, for playing that clip, far more than the President Trump because of what Ronald Reagan's role is with respect to conservatism and affirmative action in America. So, what's this about? It's about the use of the word black.
LEMON: Yes.
WILLIAMS: That's what this comes down to.
LEMON: Well, let's talk about that a little bit more. Because even Republican conservative icon, right, Ronald Reagan as we just mentioned, committed to choosing a woman during his campaign. He also chose Antonin Scalia, as I said in part because he's Italian American. That's according to his White House counsel. Isn't it important to have a diverse group on the bench representing everyone in this country, Elliot?
WILLIAMS: Let me say, hey, let me say not just -- not just diversity of personal identities and backgrounds, diversity in career experience as well so that the people who are making important decisions as judges don't just come from, I'll say it, the federal prosecutor, former federal prosecutor bubble or from big corporate law firms or so on.
Some of these folks are public defenders. Sherrilyn Ifill whose name has been thrown out, ran the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, sort of a non- profit. Different backgrounds of people bring these things into how they see cases.
So yes, it is critically important that women -- and as we were talking about with Gloria earlier today, four of the justices on the court could be women soon. Yes, that is critically important. Just as important, though, as diversity in professional experience. I want to know, Gloria, because --
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: You know, and don't --
[22:25:00]
LEMON: Go ahead, go ahead, Gloria.
BORGER: Go ahead. No, I was just going to say, don't forget, these people are appointed for life.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
BORGER: So, they have to have had a life before they get to the bench. It would be useful for them to have had varied kind of experiences other than the kind they have in their robes on that dais in the court. LEMON: So, Gloria, you know, we talked a little bit about the process
and you said, nomination, no nomination process, especially when it comes to a Supreme Court justice is easy, right? It's always fraught with --
BORGER: That's right.
LEMON: -- controversy. But I'm wondering if it's going to -- you know, your words, disgraceful -- how people are going to handle themselves during this process. Because we saw what Marsha Blackburn did, Senator Marsha Blackburn did.
BORGER: You know, it really -- well, you know, you can never predict how low the bar will get these days. I would hope -- and again, you know, it was so refreshing for me to listen to Justice Breyer today because his optimism may be infectious. I hope so.
But I would hope that whoever is chosen gets to go before the Senate and talk about her qualifications, her record, what she's done, what she believes, and as much as she can do that. I don't for a minute believe that it isn't going to get nasty.
I don't for -- all Supreme Court fights do get nasty, as we know from recent history. But I would hope it is about the person, the character, as Biden was saying today, the person's integrity, the person's rulings. And you don't know if you're ever going to stick to that. All these things seem to go off course, as we know from history. But we also know one thing here that is a big difference.
And Republicans will fight their fight. Different kinds of Republicans are going to fight in different ways. But this time you're not going to have a filibuster, thanks to Mitch McConnell, who changed the rules in 2017. So, you only need 51 votes. And it seems to me that Joe Biden at this moment, at this juncture, is more likely to get that than not.
LEMON: You think he'll get -- the nominee will get any Republican votes, Gloria?
BORGER: You know, I don't know. If it's Judge Jackson, she's gotten a few Republicans in the past. And, you know, you just can't predict whether someone coming from a state like South Carolina would mean that they would get their home state senators.
So, these things are really, really hard to predict because they tend to unfold like a story. And you learn a story about a potential justice and who they are and what they've done and how they've ruled. And that has to -- that has to kind of play out.
LEMON: Yes. Gloria, Elliot, I've enjoyed this conversation. It's good to see both of you. And stay cool. Stay dry. The bomb cyclone is coming to the east coast. Thank you both.
BORGER: I hope not.
LEMON: I know, the bad weather. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. So, it is Holocaust Remembrance Day. And what's a school board in
Tennessee doing to remember it? Banning a prized winning graphic novel about the Holocaust from its reading list.
[22:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. So, it's Holocaust Remembrance Day, right? A Tennessee school board has removed Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel "Maus" from its eighth-grade reading list, The book is in account of author Art Spiegelman's father experience with the Holocaust depicting Jewish people as mice and Nazis as cats.
The McMinn County board of education voted unanimously to remove the novel over what they call rough objection of our language, citing the use of the word damn and over a drawing of a nude woman, which the author says is a tiny image of his mother's suicide. Art Spiegelman spoke out to CNN earlier today.
ART SPIEGELMAN, AUTHOR, MAUS: It has the breath of autocracy and fascism about it. And it has a real problem with asking the parents to be on board to decide what's okay to teach the kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, I want to discuss this now with Max Boot. Max is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Molly Jong Fast is here as well, contributing writer for the Atlantic where you can read her newsletter, it's called "Wait, What?" And that's what we're going to talk about this story "Wait, What?" Perfectly titled.
Thank you both for joining us this evening, good evening.
Molly, members of your family have had their own books banned. This is really personal to you. You said that this isn't about profanity. It's not about damn. So, what is it really about?
MOLLY JONG FAST, AUTHOR: Well, banning books is the kind of thing that's been going on for hundreds of years, and it's about power and control and keeping people from reading dangerous things and thinking dangerous thoughts. And it's always, always, always the bad guys who ban the books.
It's never the good guys who say, you know, you can be trusted with information because they're scared. So, it's a pretty easy sort of, you know, moral quandary. The good guys don't ban the books. They trust people to read information and process it.
[22:34:59]
It's ironic right now because we live in such an age of technology that these kids just have phones. I mean, the idea that they would, like, sneak into the library to learn stuff they couldn't see on their phones is kind of really preposterous but, yes. LEMON: Or they don't hear in their own -- Molly, or they don't hear in their own homes. You know kids overhear their parents saying damn. And when I was in school, you know, we talked about the d-a-m dam for the water and people go, he, he, he, he said damn. I mean that's what kids do, right? I mean, it's a ridiculous excuse.
And Max, Art Spiegelman when he spoke to New Day this morning, he compared this to atrocities and fascism. I mean, book banning was something embraced in Nazi-era Germany by apartheid in South Africa, and it shouldn't be lost on us that today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Are you frightened by the direction from the GOP?
MAX BOOT, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Yes, absolutely, Don. I mean, the Republican Party today has far too much enthusiasm for banning books and banning school curricula. I mean, this one, to me, is just puzzling because, you know, in recent years -- or certainly in the last year -- Republicans have been, you know, trying to ban discussion of racism in this country under the rubric of fighting critical race theory.
And you've had, you know, 14 states that have passed laws outlawing critical race theory. And you have some of these ridiculous abuses like, you know, Governor Glenn Youngkin in Virginia trying to get parents and students to rat out teachers or, you know, the governor, Ron DeSantis in Florida, trying to pass a law to make it illegal to instruct on racism in a way that makes white people uncomfortable.
OK. I mean, that's bad enough. But that's something that we've been -- we've been seeing for at least the last year. And now this thing with "Maus" kind of comes out of left field. It has nothing to do with race relations. It has nothing to do with critical race theory. It just seems like there are a lot of Republicans in this country who just want to ban books.
And that's very frightening to me. Because I mean, you don't have to even have to go to, you know, Nazi Germany or all these other horrible fascist examples when we have plenty of examples in this country of the same thing. And the '20s, and the '50s, and the McCarthy era, you know, thinking back to the Scopes Monkey Trial in the 1930s. I just thought we were better than this that we were more cosmopolitan and less provincial and more liberal and less dictatorial. I guess I was wrong.
LEMON: So, Molly, Republicans have made noise for years about free speech on college campuses. They love to use a term snowflake, right? Now it is the opposite. It's -- it's mind blowing and it's mindboggling, I should say, because shouldn't they understand that they're doing exactly, if not worse, what they're accusing others of doing?
FAST: It's amazing because they are literally cancelling culture. They are cancelling culture. They say that they're against cancel culture. But what they mean is that they're against the cancellation of people they like and people they agree with. And it's so strange to me.
I also think it's interesting that a lot -- you know, Republican Party has been very interested in getting sort of Jews for Trump. And as a Jew I've always been a little bit -- I thought it was a bit strange that you'd have these very religious on the religious right trying desperately to get Jews to join them.
And when you're a Jew for Trump and then you see that they're taking away, you know, literature on the Holocaust, like, that is never good for the Jews. When they stop teaching about the Holocaust, that's never good for the Jews. And, yes, I think it's really scary.
LEMON: Yes. Thank you both. I appreciate it.
Virginia's governor says that his teacher's snitch line is just a resource. But my next guest says it's all part of a division -- a culture division, a culture war division. The president of the Virginia Education Association speaks out right after this.
[22:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So, we told you about Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's new tip line to snitch on teachers last night. We told you about that last night. And well, let's just say it's not off to the best start. The inbox filled with jokes and memes from people all across the country. When the die down, there's still going to be the snitch line. They'll still be there. And critics are really concerned about this.
The Virginia Education Association saying it's, it's a divisive infection. And their president, James Fedderman joins me now. Good to have you, President Fedderman. We really appreciate you joining us this evening.
So, you are accusing Youngkin of trying to, quote, "pit educators against parents for political gain." Tell me more about that.
JAMES FEDDERMAN, PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: Absolutely. Governor Youngkin loves to talk about education, but he doesn't like to talk to educators. And to be very clear, I sent him a letter back in November asking for a meeting to discuss our priorities and to offer assistance to his transition team. But to this day he has not responded.
He says he wants to know what's going on in our classrooms, but all he has to do is reach out. Instead, he comes up with this demeaning tips hot line. And it's doing nothing but creating chaos and division within our school systems.
LEMON: He is saying that -- the governor is saying that -- you know, he's defending this, saying that it's a resource for parents, teachers, and students to relay any questions or concerns. How do you respond to that?
FEDDERMAN: It's not a resource. It's a blatant attempt to put educators against parents for his political gains. You know, he seems to forget many educators are also parents.
[22:45:01]
And when the governor speaks of parent rights, he seems only interested in speaking to those who conveniently support his political beliefs.
LEMON: He's banned critical race theory from schools even -- even though K through 12 schools already didn't teach the theories. So, I'm not sure why he banned it. He's barred local school boards from imposing mask mandates, which by the way, 73 percent of students are in school systems that are still requiring masks, according to public radio station WBTF. Now he's got this new tip line. What kind of effect might these policies have on educators in your state?
FEDDERMAN: There's already a teacher shortage. There is already conversation of educators wanting to exit the profession because of working conditions and undue stress. And this is only going to make it worse.
So, with the chaos and the division that he has created in the commonwealth, his unconstitutional executive orders, again, they're just poorly conceived. And all he's trying to do is intimidate the educators who are simply trying to do their jobs in the midst of a global pandemic.
And the educators in Virginia have stepped up. They've done their job amazingly well without a playbook, without professional development. They've just been the true educators that they were hired and that they were trained to be. So, we questioned really why is he singling out educators? We just don't understand why. And all it's doing is adding additional scrutiny.
LEMON: Are you worried that you're going to lose teachers?
FEDDERMAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. Our students in the Commonwealth of Virginia deserve the best and brightest. And this sort of division -- you know, our students are watching. And I often say, you know, our children are like credit cards. We can pay now or we can pay later. And, you know, continuing to single out educators, it's only going to create a greater division in this great commonwealth.
Let's face it. We're fourth in the country. We didn't get there by teaching divisive curricula. You know, it's done by intentional instruction, by teachers truly understanding their students and providing instruction according to their individual needs.
LEMON: This is all about politics.
FEDDERMAN: Absolutely. Absolutely.
What kind of example do you think this sets for kids if they see their parents using a tip line to tattle on their teachers? What are they going to learn from that?
FEDDERMAN: Well, I think, for me, it's -- the children don't have an issue with one, wearing a mask. Kids don't have a problem with learning the truth. I believe it's many of the parents who don't want their children to know about some of the grim stories from their past.
And what we need to do is to continue to teach the full and complete truth. You know, and a complete education must be rooted in facts and truths, even if some of those are difficult facts and even if some of those are unfortunate truths. We must speak truth to power about our history and the commonwealth and the United States.
LEMON: You think people should still use that tip line, just not as the governor intended. What do you want them to do then?
FEDDERMAN: I want them to do -- I want them to utilize the process that has been in place for decades. That is, if you have a problem, go to the school. Have a conversation with your child's teacher. Every teacher that I know, there is an open-door policy. You know, we've not had this issue of confronting educators for everything. Parents have trusted educators to provide the best quality education possible. And that's what we do.
And if parents want to send a note to their teacher to ask a question, do that. But I'm going to encourage people to flood this nonsense with the great and amazing things that are happening. How about that teacher who is able to increase that child's reading level? What about that teacher who understands that that child is coming to school hungry? And they just --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: You want them to call and talk about those things.
FEDDERMAN: Absolutely.
LEMON: I've got to go.
FEDDERMAN: Absolutely.
LEMON: But thank you, president. I really appreciate you joining us this evening. Thank you so much.
FEDDERMAN: Thank you for having us.
LEMON: Best of luck.
FEDDERMAN: Thank you, thank you.
LEMON: OK. So, how dare he. Do you know what President Biden did? He got ice cream! And take this. The Fox propaganda network melted down.
[22:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So, take this. Are you laying down? Are you -- are you seated for this? Because President Biden taking a little time out of his schedule to visit a D.C. ice cream shop this week. And hey, some people might think it's a little weird to get ice cream in January, I don't. I had it the other night as a matter of fact. Ice cream shops are open in the winter. I don't think it's weird, but some people might.
But Joe Biden is a self-proclaimed ice cream guy for a long time now. The POTUS account tweeting out a photo, there it is right there. If it's above freezing then it's ice cream weather. But to the folks at Fox, Biden's mint chocolate trip was far more sinister. Hats off to our friends at the Daily Show for putting this together. Watch it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER DOOCY, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: President Biden took a trip off campus today to an ice cream parlor.
SANDRA SMITH, HOST, FOX NEWS: He just exited Jenny's ice cream in Washington at 2.25, emerged with two scoops of what appeared to be chocolate.
HARRIS FAULKNER, HOST, FOX NEWS: The president yesterday went out for ice cream. Ice cream, ice cream.
[22:55:04]
UNKNOWN: Two scoops and a waffle cone.
UNKNOWN: All I have to do is run a country of 250 million.
UNKNOWN: Having the time to stop by and get some ice cream. This, as of course, chaos is erupting across our own nation and now abroad.
UNKNOWN: Is it appropriate at this time Vladimir Putin watching this commander in chief chomping on ice cream.
UNKNOWN: Why is Putin doing this? Because he knows Biden is weak. Biden would rather have ice cream with somebody rather than stand up for Americans.
UNKNOWN: Joe Biden's weakness, his feebleness, his love of ice cream.
UNKNOWN: We've got inflation through the roof and the White House gets ice cream.
UNKNOWN: Even in the most dire crises, there's always a little time for ice cream.
UNKNOWN: The world is falling apart, thanks to his weakness, and Joe Biden gets ice cream. Look at that, a top of scoop there, old Joe.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST, FOX NEWS: Joe is not fit to serve. U.S. Presidents don't just hang out at ice cream parlors and then call it a day at three o'clock in the afternoon. That is not normal.
UNKNOWN: It's also not normal for a grown man who's working a full- time job to go out on a Tuesday afternoon in January to get an ice cream cone.
UNKNOWN: And a double scoop no less.
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: Who gets ice cream in the winter?
UNKNOWN: Yes, you know, it's 25 degrees in D.C.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: My favorite line was and double scoop no less. How dare he? I mean, do we remember how much executive time the former guy had and how he would like barely get to the Oval Office and how much golf he played? Come on, people, you guys have jumped the shark.
The ice cream shop in D.C., you can get an ice cream called jump the shark in honor of Fox propaganda network. That's my suggestion. So, they may be melting down over Biden's ice cream habit now, but CNN had the scoop years ago. Check this out, this is a clip from 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: My name is Joe Biden. I love ice cream.
I'm an ice cream guy. Is ice cream down that way? You all got to eat this ice cream.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He likes ice cream. He loves it. Whatever rocky road America is headed down, this isn't exactly a national security threat. Come on, and it could be worse, right? He could have worn a tan suit.
Up next, seven hours testimony, a top aide to the former White House chief of staff speaking to the committee investigating January 6th.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
