In a contentious exchange on CNN, host Don Lemon got into a shouting match with a former lawmaker who attempted to deflect from President Trump's Russia problems by stating polls show Americans approve of the way Trump is running the country.
Host Lemon pressed former South Carolina Lt. Government Andre Bauer whether he thought Trump was lying when he tweeted that former President Barack Obama wiretapped then candidate Trump
"I don't know how you would do surveillance on all the people supposedly associated with him and Russia without some form of surveillance, maybe not wiretapping, but some type of surveillance," Bauer suggested.
"And you think the former president ordered this surveillance?" Lemon countered. "Because some people, certain American people by the way, think that is not true, we shouldn't cover it?"
"No, absolutely not," Bauer shot back. "I will say I don't think he should have used the president in his tweet -- I wish he had not. But other than that, I think he probably knows more than we think. But I'll give you this other fact. Rasmussen just did a poll and 42 percent of Americans think that country is not where we want to be, but think the country is moving in the right direction when a year ago it was 20 percent."
'His approval rating is at 37 percent," Lemon drily replied.
Lemon then lit into Bauer.
"A fact is a fact. Every single response to something that is not favorable to Donald Trump is his voters don't care about it," Lemon lectured. "That means nothing talking when you are about facts. A lot of people don't care about a lot of things. Guess what? When people say they didn't want this or that, a lot of people didn't believe that same sex should get married. A lot of people didn't think that black and white people get married. A lot of people didn't believe that blacks and whites should go to school together. A lot of people didn't believe in integration. But guess what? It wasn't the right thing to do and it wasn't the truth about what America is."
"So does that mean we should ignore facts and ignore what most of the American people care about because a small number of people, Trump supporters, who are not living in reality?" he concluded.
