Former CNN anchor-turned podcaster-turned federal defendant Don Lemon joined MS NOW analyst and Pod Save America’s Alex Wagner on Sunday for a lengthy discussion that included Lemon confidently proclaiming he would make a good president. According to Lemon, the two biggest obstacles for him in getting elected are racism and the nonsensical idea that he’s an independent.
Wagner wondered, “Do you think you might ever run for office?” and after a bit of silence, “Oh boy, that was a long pause, Don.”
Lemon claimed that “I hear that all the time” and claimed that, on one hand, he hears from the voices in his head, “First, I hear, ‘I don’t want to ruin my life. Why would I invite that sort of even more criticism and whatever?’ I don’t—why would I want to ruin my life with people digging into, you know, everything about me and campaign ads putting everything that I’ve ever said that’s deemed controversial.”
Before this, Lemon suggested he would have a hard time getting elected because he’s not a white guy, “I’m not a white man and the rules are different for me. And so, just like the rules, I believe sadly, are different for women. They’re different for Hillary Clinton, for Nikki… pic.twitter.com/tkKC6f4mN3
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 1, 2026
On the other hand, Lemon claimed, “But I don’t even think people would care about that.”
After rattling off some things that President Trump has said in the past, Lemon got to his usual playing of the race card with a rather pathetic attempt to defend his comments about Nikki Haley that got him fired from CNN in the first place:
But also, I’m not a white man, and the rules are different for me. And so, just like the rules, I believe sadly, are different for women. They’re different for Hillary Clinton, for Nikki Haley, which was one of the reasons that I that, you know, what, that I, what I meant to say, they’re different for Kamala Harris, they’re different for Alex Wagner, and white men get away with way more than, you know, women or black people or any minority, and so I think the rules are different, but I don’t know why would I invite that criticism.
Skipping straight to the highest office in the land, Lemon continued, “My mentors will say ‘Why do you want to take a pay cut?’ But it’s not about money for me. So, do I ever think about it? Yes. Could it happen? Yeah, it could happen if the opportunity presented itself, the right opportunity presented itself. Look, if I wanted to, I know people are gonna think I’m crazy. This is gonna be the headline and people are gonna laugh about it. I think I could be president of the United States. I could definitely run this country better than Donald Trump.”
Wagner quipped, “A paper towel roll could, but yes, you, you would be a marked improvement.”
Contrary to all evidence and reason, Lemon then claimed that the fact that he is an independent would also hurt him, “As an independent, though, there would be a hard time for me to run for anything because, you know, the way the system is set up, I’d have to choose a side. And so, you know, I probably would, I probably would have to become a Democrat.”
Don Lemon: “People are gonna think I’m crazy, this is gonna be the headline & people are going to laugh about it [but] I could be president of the United States … I could come in & fix the bulk of their problems in lickety split in no time flat.” pic.twitter.com/QM7B25ZL2t
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 1, 2026
He then tried to compare himself with Barack Obama, “And, yeah, so, you know, am I at that point now? No. And I know people are gonna say Don Lemon is crazy, but yeah, and that’s, look. Why can’t I think about running for office? Why can’t I think about being President of the United States when, look at what we have. When anybody, did anybody think Barack Obama, as he says, this guy with a funny name, is from a mixed background. Did anybody ever think that he would become president, that he had that aspiration?”
As if he wasn’t on enough of an ego trip, Lemon then claimed that he could turn around the journalism profession in an instant if only given the opportunity, “I don’t have an aspiration to become president, but I do think that I could run this country a lot better than Donald Trump. You know what else I think that I could run better than most people? And I was, I actually talked about to my husband about that last night: a news organization. Because I was there, I’ve been in the game for so long, and I’m not interested in being, you know, the anchor out front. I could come in and fix the bulk of their problems in lickety split, in no time flat.”
Essentially, Lemon spent several minutes trying to articulate that the reason that the world is so messed up is because he is not in charge of it and Americans.
Here is a transcript for the March 29 show:
Pod Save America
3/29/2026
ALEX WAGNER: Do you think you might ever run for office?
[Silence]
Oh boy, that was a long pause, Don
DON LEMON. Ugh, I hear that all the time.
WAGNER: Uh-huh. Yeah. And then what do you think of—what happens in your head when you hear it?
LEMON: First, I hear, “I don’t want to ruin my life. Why would I invite that sort of even more criticism and whatever?” I don’t—why would I want to ruin my life with people digging into, you know, everything about me and campaign ads putting everything that I’ve ever said that’s deemed controversial.
But I don’t even think people would care about that. So—
WAGNER: Donald Trump.
LEMON: — I think they would—right. I’ve never said that I was going to grab anybody by the pussy, right? So—
WAGNER: That doesn’t surprise me, Don.
LEMON: I’ve never said I’ve never said that a woman had blood coming out of her wherever.
WAGNER: Yes.
LEMON: But also, I’m not a white man, and the rules are different for me. And so, just like the rules, I believe sadly, are different for women. They’re different for Hillary Clinton, for Nikki Haley, which was one of the reasons that I that, you know, what, that I, what I meant to say, they’re different for Kamala Harris, they’re different for Alex Wagner, and white men get away with way more than, you know, women or black people or any minority, and so I think the rules are different, but I don’t know why would I invite that criticism and you know—the people who—my mentors will say “Why do you want to take a pay cut?”
But it’s not about money for me. So, do I ever think about it? Yes. Could it happen? Yeah, it could happen if the opportunity presented itself, the right opportunity presented itself. Look, if I wanted to, I know people are gonna think I’m crazy. This is gonna be the headline and people are gonna laugh about it.
I think I could be president of the United States. I could definitely run this country better than Donald Trump.
WAGNER: A paper towel roll could, but yes, you, you would be a marked improvement.
LEMON: As an independent, though, there would be a hard time for me to run for anything because, you know, the way the system is set up, I’d have to choose a side. And so, you know, I probably would, I probably would have to become a Democrat.
And, yeah, so, you know, am I at that point now? No. And I know people are gonna say Don Lemon is crazy, but yeah, and that’s, look. Why can’t I think about running for office? Why can’t I think about being President of the United States when, look at what we have. When anybody, did anybody think Barack Obama, as he says, this guy with a funny name, is from a mixed background. Did anybody ever think that he would become president, that he had that aspiration?
I don’t have an aspiration to become president, but I do think that I could run this country a lot better than Donald Trump. You know what else I think that I could run better than most people? And I was, I actually talked about to my husband about that last night: a news organization. Because I was there, I’ve been in the game for so long, and I’m not interested in being, you know, the anchor out front. I could come in and fix the bulk of their problems in lickety split, in no time flat.
WAGNER: Boom.
LEMON: Boom.
