Trump celebrates Don Lemon ouster from CNN but mourns ‘talented’ Tucker Carlson’s exit at Fox News

Carlson advocated for ex-president on his Fox News programme – but privately called him ‘demonic’

Former president Donald Trump has celebrated journalist Don Lemon’s exit from CNN and later reacted with dismay to the sudden ouster of Tucker Carlson at Fox News.

“Good News: ‘The dumbest man on television,’ Don Lemon, has finally been fired from Fake News CNN,” Mr Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Monday.

He added, “My only question is, WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG?”

Lemon, who had been a host on CNN since 2014, was an outspoken critic of Mr Trump.

One time, Lemon opened a broadcast by calling the former president “racist.”

After the January 6 attack on the Capitol when Mr Trump was removed from Twitter and other social media sites, Lemon called him “the biggest snowflake of them all.”

Mr Trump referred to Lemon as “the dumbest man on television” and “sour lemon.”

The former CNN host announced on Twitter that he had been unexpectedly fired from the network. For the past several months, Lemon had been hosting CNN This Morning alongside Kaitlin Collins and Poppy Harlow.

Lemon’s departure from CNN came a short while before Fox News announced Carlson was also stepping away from his respective network.

Mr Trump said he was “shocked” to hear the news about Carlson, who mostly represented a staunch ally of the former president during his primetime slot in Fox’s weekday evening schedule.

The former president told Newsmax that Carlson is “a very good person, a very good man and very talented”.

“I don’t know if it was voluntary or was it somebody fired, but I think Tucker has been terrific. Especially over the last year or so he’s terrific to me,” he said.

Carlson recently interviewed Mr Trump on his programme, Tucker Carlson Tonight, and defended him during his most recent indictment from the Manhattan DA.

However, the Dominion defamation lawsuit against Fox News – which ended with the network paying $787.5m to the voting machine company – revealed that Carlson had privately messaged a colleague saying he “passionately” hated the ex-president and thought he was a “demonic force” and “a destroyer”.