Don Lemon's arrest turned into a MAGA misfire

[marmar]

Don Lemon’s arrest turned into a MAGA misfire
Pam Bondi’s track record of prosecuting Trump's revenge is abysmal

By Sophia Tesfaye
Senior Writer
Published February 2, 2026 12:00PM (EST)


(Salon) Don Lemon was in Los Angeles to cover the Grammys when, late Thursday night, more than two dozen federal agents descended on a Beverly Hills hotel and arrested him. The spectacle was meant to send a message: No one is too famous or too visible to be hauled away if MAGA demands it. And yet, by Saturday evening, Lemon was greeted with a standing ovation at Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammys fête. On Sunday, he walked the red carpet at the music industry’s top awards show. On Monday, he is set to appear on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” While the official White House social media account crowed “When life gives you lemons…” with a chain emoji, Lemon was smiling it up on one of Hollywood’s biggest nights, transforming what the administration intended as public humiliation into a victory lap.

....(snip)....

While Lemon sat briefly behind bars, his team orchestrated a nine-hour YouTube telethon on Friday featuring fellow journalists Mehdi Hasan, Jim Acosta and Joy Reid; Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas; Trump whistleblower Miles Taylor; and actor and activist Jane Fonda. As Semafor’s Maxwell Tani reported, the stream racked up 717,000 views and thousands of new paying subscribers. The right understood immediately that they’d created a martyr instead of silencing a critic. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh fretted, “If he is not convicted or not seriously punished then this whole thing is an unequivocal win for him… If you won’t do that then you never should have arrested him.”

....(snip)....

The administration’s fixation on Lemon — MAGA influencers had petitioned for days via X for his arrest — reveals how badly it needs a political win. This has been a disastrous start to the new year for Trump, one marked by policy failures, political losses and the release of millions of pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that the administration would much rather people not be discussing. The Don Lemon spectacle was supposed to suck up oxygen. It didn’t. The algorithm moved on.

The desperation behind these prosecutions reflects the political reality that Trump and his enablers can no longer hide. Even within MAGA world, the spell is breaking — and that disillusionment is showing up at the ballot box. Since Trump’s return to the White House, Democrats flipped 21% of all GOP-held legislative seats on the ballot, with gains in Iowa, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Texas. Democrats swept all 13 statewide elections in November 2025, winning governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, New York City’s mayoral race and down-ballot contests from Georgia’s Public Service Commission to Pennsylvania state courts. In special elections that both parties contested, Democrats averaged 13 percentage points better than they did in the 2024 presidential race — which is more than any year in the Trump era, including the 2018 blue wave. In Tarrant County, a district Trump won by 17 points in 2024 swung nearly 32 points to the Democrat on Saturday. Republicans haven’t flipped a single seat in response. .......................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/02/02/don-lemons-arrest-turned-into-a-maga-misfire/

[UTUSN]

1. K&R

[EnergizedLib]

2. Yeah, sorry America, no tax money for you

The felon is too busy spending all of it just to get laughed out of court. Soon, he’ll have to use Monopoly money.

[applegrove]

3. ICE got out of Maine really fast. I think

Last edited Mon Feb 2, 2026, 11:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Trump and the Administration realized they were going to make Janet Mills a star Governor fighting ICE just when Mills is about to run for the US Senate.