Tucker: It looks like things are over for Mr. Don Lemon

So we don't wish anyone ill really in the television business, such a volatile business. You don't ever want to root for someone's firing. But it's hard not to notice that there is a lot of drama at CNN. First, their top star in prime time, Chris Cuomo was fired, not exactly why. Then CNN Plus blew up, costing the company hundreds of millions. And then Brian Stelzer got candid. If there was ever a firing to celebrate, it would have been his.

But even we didn't celebrate. And now to wreck our day, it looks like Mr. Don LeMond, the source of endless entertainment for us for many, many years, is out. He made the mistake of saying that women over 50 are not in their prime. Oh yeah, they can have babies too. So without even taking sides in that debate or being too literal about it, the bottom line is it looks like it's over for Don LeMond. He was not in the air today, which is bad if you're a TV host.

Here's how his co-hosts explain why he wasn't there. President Biden makes a surprise visit to Ukraine. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York here with Sarah Sidon or Caitlin Collins. Is live in Warsaw, Poland, where the president will be shortly. Don has the day off. I mean, you know, no offense to the ladies on the set, but are we on it? Let's be honest, are we going to kind of miss Don LeMond if he's fired? Yeah, a little bit. Steve Krakauer has covered television for a long time and really well.

And honestly, he's the author of Uncovered. He joins us tonight. Hey Steve, so what's going on? And again, we're not gloating in any way, but I know that you would know the answer. What's going on there? It seems like the place is on the way to collapsing. Yeah, you know, Tucker, I was a colleague of Don LeMond, as you say, not too long ago, less than 10 years ago. And it seems like there's been a real fundamental shift at the network. I mean, it started only three or four years after I left during the Trump era.

I think one of the biggest examples during the Trump era of the media that really just went off the rails. I write about it an entire chapter on it, not just my experience, but chapter of the experience of other people that worked at the network and what happened there as well. And now you have Don. Don was one of the stars of that era of CNN. He was a big prime time host. He's already been relegated to the morning show now. And it's sort of this relic of the old administration that's being, they're trying to dig themselves out of.

Don was a big star. He was like an influencer. And this really is one of the big problems of the media in general right now. You know, Don kind of bought his own hype. And I think that when he made that comment about Nikki Haley, he thought he was criticizing a Republican. He thought he was criticizing someone you're allowed to criticize when in reality, he didn't realize he's criticizing basically all women and all of his colleagues or men at him. So I think it's a big problem with digging themselves out of this hole that they brought themselves into because of a lot of factors that happened only a few years ago during the Trump administration.

I mean, Don Lamont is dumb and kind of crazy, but he's always been. And that's sort of the appeal. So if you put someone who's dumb and kind of crazy on TV, you expect him to say dumb and kind of crazy things and like, that's hilarious. What was his crime exactly? Yeah, I do wonder if in the olden days, which again, we're talking about a few years ago, back when, you know, when things were going so much better for Don Lamont, as you say, this sort of thing might have been swept under the rug, you know? I mean, still just stack up what he said about Nikki Haley with all of the things he said about Donald Trump or other people in that administration. I mean, it's not even close. So but I do think that there's a new mandate there and Don's sort of out of favor right now because it's just not really the direction of the network. I mean, you know, we saw during the Trump era and we've seen since then a total lack of introspection.

I get at this and uncovered just about every story. I mean, they make mistakes and they don't apologize. And then they just the trust in the media just keeps getting lower and lower. And obviously CNN is trying to dig themselves out. They need to improve their ratings. It's kind of in the tank right now. Don is kind of he might be a casualty of that.

Yeah. And Nikki Haley is a crazed neocon and you're not allowed to criticize them, I've noticed. So that may play a role too. Steve Krakow, great to see you tonight. Thanks, Tucker.