The Don Lemon Show

The war in Iran is so unpopular, even with MAGA, that we are left searching for reasons why we are there. Many suggest these reasons are the quest for oil. Trump's ego, the Epstein files, Israel, and not to be overlooked: Christian Nationalism. Pete Hegseth is often seen leading prayer in official government capacity and is also known for his ties to controversial churches that believe such things as "women should not have the right to vote" and who would like to turn this country into a fundamentalist Christian nation. Today Don is joined by Pastor Cody Deese to explain what this all means for the future of this country and the war in Iran. This episode is sponsored by 120Life. Go to https://120Life.com—and use code DON for 20% off. Try it risk-free for two weeks. If your blood pressure doesn’t come down, you get a full refund. Don’t wait until next month. Nothing to lose except higher blood pressure numbers. This episode is brought to you by FFRF. Go to https:FFRF.US/DON or text “DON” to 511511 And help protect a country that belongs to all of us. Text fees may apply. This episode is sponsored by Shopify. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop Pay button. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://SHOPIFY.COM/lemon This episode is sponsored by Lean. Get started with 20% off and free rush shipping so you can add LEAN to you healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit https://takelean.com enter LEMON for your discount. This episode is brought to you by Wildgrain. Get $30 off your first box - PLUS free Croissants for life - at https://Wildgrain.com/LEMON Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The chaos out of the White House is reaching new levels. Don sits down with journalist and friend of the show Ahmed Baba to break down a Cabinet meeting that felt more like a praise session than governance, the eyebrow-raising moments that followed, and the constant stream of contradictions coming from the administration. As the tone from the top grows more erratic, they ask the bigger question: what does this mean for leadership, and how much longer can this continue? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, Don breaks down the latest in the Iran war crisis as the situation continues to escalate with rising costs hitting Americans at home and no clear end in sight. The conflict is already driving up gas prices, and the economic ripple effects are only getting worse. Meanwhile, the messaging coming out of the Oval Office is… all over the place. As contradictions pile up and the rhetoric gets more extreme, the administration seems more focused on spinning the narrative than explaining the strategy. And in case you missed it, Trump says he doesn’t “want a stupid person being president.” Well…I guess he should resign. So where does this chaos end, and how much worse does it get before it does? This episode is sponsored by 120Life. Go to https://120Life.com—and use code DON for 20% off. Try it risk-free for two weeks. If your blood pressure doesn’t come down, you get a full refund. Don’t wait until next month. Nothing to lose except higher blood pressure numbers. This episode is brought to you by FFRF. Go to https:FFRF.US/DON or text “DON” to 511511 And help protect a country that belongs to all of us. Text fees may apply. This episode is brought to you by Wildgrain. Get $30 off your first box - PLUS free Croissants for life - at https://Wildgrain.com/LEMON This episode is sponsored by Shopify. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop Pay button. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://SHOPIFY.COM/lemon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Things are not going well for Donald Trump. From a struggling war effort and mounting economic concerns to slipping poll numbers and increasingly erratic messaging, he is spiraling. Despite it all, his administration continues to praise him at every turn, sometimes in ways that feel more performative than grounded in reality. As the gap between rhetoric and reality grows, we ask the obvious question: how sustainable is this, and where does it all lead? This episode is sponsored by 120Life. Go to https://120Life.com—and use code DON for 20% off. Try it risk-free for two weeks. If your blood pressure doesn’t come down, you get a full refund. Don’t wait until next month. Nothing to lose except higher blood pressure numbers. This episode is brought to you by FFRF. Go to https:FFRF.US/DON or text “DON” to 511511 And help protect a country that belongs to all of us. Text fees may apply. This episode is brought to you by Wildgrain. Get $30 off your first box - PLUS free Croissants for life - at https://Wildgrain.com/LEMON This episode is sponsored by Shopify. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop Pay button. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://SHOPIFY.COM/lemon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Colby Hall, founding editor of Mediaite and media commentator, breaks down how traditional news is adopting podcasty, personality-driven styles. He and Don compare network ratings, discuss misfired pivots toward partisan branding, and critique feel‑good podcast aesthetics that can seem staged. They debate credibility, leadership choices, and whether broadcast news can adapt without losing its point of view.

Tonight, Don breaks down the contradictions, the spin, and the outright falsehoods coming from the Trump administration as the Iran crisis deepens. From claims of productive negotiations to threats of massive escalation, the messaging keeps shifting, and the truth is getting harder to find. As the administration scrambles to justify its actions, the question is simple: how much of this is strategy, and how much is chaos? And more importantly, where does it end? This episode is sponsored by 120Life. Go to https://120Life.com—and use code DON for 20% off. Try it risk-free for two weeks. If your blood pressure doesn’t come down, you get a full refund. Don’t wait until next month. Nothing to lose except higher blood pressure numbers. This episode is brought to you by Wildgrain. Get $30 off your first box - PLUS free Croissants for life - at https://Wildgrain.com/LEMON This episode is sponsored by Lean. Get started with 20% off and free rush shipping so you can add LEAN to you healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit https://takelean.com enter LEMON for your discount. This episode is brought to you by FFRF. Go to https:FFRF.US/DON or text “DON” to 511511 And help protect a country that belongs to all of us. Text fees may apply. This episode is sponsored by Shopify. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop Pay button. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://SHOPIFY.COM/lemon For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial 212-931-0855 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/don DISCLAIMER: Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan's contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don't directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Average potential savings are based on realized premium, co-pay, and out of pocket savings estimates self-reported by consumers that worked with Chapter Advisory LLC to enroll in a Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage, and/or Part D Prescription Drug Plan. The average is limited to consumers that chose to self-report. Savings information is subject to periodic updates and corrections. There is no guarantee of savings and any savings may vary by policy type, state, or other factors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don is joined by Reuters Chief National Security Reporter Phillip Stewart, Atlantic writer and friend of the show Tom Nichols, and independent reporter Jasper Nathaniel to break down the latest U.S. troop deployments to the Middle East. As tensions with Iran continue to rise, they discuss what this move really signals, whether escalation is inevitable, and how far this crisis could go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This morning, we’re examining the all too obvious fact that the system is collapsing. From a wildly unpopular war in Iran that keeps escalating, to an economy that feels like it’s held together with duct tape and denial, to airport chaos that somehow gets worse by the day, and now untrained ICE agents thrown into the mix, everything is unraveling at once. And yet, the people in charge keep insisting everything is great. How long can this actually continue? At what point does this chaos just become the new normal? This episode is sponsored by 120Life. Go to https://120Life.com—and use code DON for 20% off. Try it risk-free for two weeks. If your blood pressure doesn’t come down, you get a full refund. Don’t wait until next month. Nothing to lose except higher blood pressure numbers. This episode is brought to you by Wildgrain. Get $30 off your first box - PLUS free Croissants for life - at https://Wildgrain.com/LEMON This episode is sponsored by Lean. Get started with 20% off and free rush shipping so you can add LEAN to you healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit https://takelean.com enter LEMON for your discount. This episode is brought to you by FFRF. Go to https:FFRF.US/DON or text “DON” to 511511 And help protect a country that belongs to all of us. Text fees may apply. This episode is sponsored by Shopify. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop Pay button. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://SHOPIFY.COM/lemon NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.196% for well qualified borrowers. Call 888-675-4090, for details about credit costs and terms. Or AmericanFinancing.net/Lemon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don sits down with Ibram X. Kendi, renowned author, professor, and leading scholar on race and discriminatory policy in the United States, to discuss his latest book and the ideas shaping this moment. They dive into how “great replacement” theory has been used by authoritarian movements to exploit fear, racism, and division in order to gain and maintain power. From historical context to modern-day politics, the conversation explores how these narratives spread, why they resonate, and the real-world consequences they carry. 🍋 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’re breaking down a situation that just keeps getting worse. The war with Iran continues to escalate, and the consequences are hitting hard, from rising gas prices to a weakening economy and growing instability at home. Meanwhile, public support is slipping fast. Polls show most Americans oppose the war and believe it’s making the country less safe, with approval numbers sinking as costs rise and the strategy remains unclear. So where does this go from here? How much worse can it get? And how long can this actually last? 🍋 This episode is sponsored by Shopify. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop Pay button. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://SHOPIFY.COM/lemon This episode is brought to you by Wildgrain. Get $30 off your first box - PLUS free Croissants for life - at https://Wildgrain.com/LEMON This episode is sponsored by 120Life. Go to https://120Life.com—and use code DON for 20% off. Try it risk-free for two weeks. If your blood pressure doesn’t come down, you get a full refund. Don’t wait until next month. Nothing to lose except higher blood pressure numbers. This episode is brought to you by FFRF. Go to https:FFRF.US/DON or text “DON” to 511511 And help protect a country that belongs to all of us. Text fees may apply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices