Liberal CNN host Don Lemon blistered the 2020 Democratic "apology tour" in a monologue Monday night, saying if they kept it up, President Donald Trump would be re-elected.
Sighing deeply at the outset, Lemon expressed concern at the spate of apologies from the wide field of Democratic presidential candidates, in a clip flagged by HuffPost.
"An awful lot of Democrats have been apologizing an awful lot lately," Lemon said, before playing a montage of recent mea culpas of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) for not addressing sexual harassment problems in his last campaign, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) for claiming Native American heritage, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) for previous hurtful language about the LGBT community.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is considering a run, has come under fire for old positions and statements, his handling of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, and most recently accusations of touching women inappropriately at political events, albeit not in a way they thought constituted sexual harassment.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) has repeatedly apologized for her previous positions on guns and immigration and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D., Texas) apologized for a poorly received joke about his wife raising their children "sometimes with my help."
"Can we have a sense of humor about some things?" an exasperated Lemon asked. "Let's give all of them credit, though, for owning what they said, or what they've done. Some things are worth apologizing for and admitting when they're wrong. And let's face it, voters don't expect people to elect a perfect person ... The irony here is that when the Democrats do ultimately choose a standard bearer, she or he will face the one man that we all know never really apologizes, even when he's caught on tape."
CNN played a clip of the 2005 Access Hollywood tape where Trump talked about kissing and grabbing women, infamously remarking "when you're a star, they let you do anything." Trump apologized when the tape came to public light in 2016, although he later said it was mere "locker room talk."
"This is a president who doesn't apologize," Lemon said.
"This election will not be about who has the better apology for the past," he added. "At least I hope not. I'm sure you hope not. The past is over. It will be about who has the better ideas for the future. Some things are worth apologizing for, but some things are not."
"Should you continue to look at things through a 2019 lens, from 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago?" he asked. "Otherwise who would want to run for president. No one is perfect. If Democrats keep like this, good luck. Hashtag Trump 2020."