Don Lemon, aided and abetted by his own ignorance and ineptitude, is working tenaciously to master the art of professional suicide.
On Sunday, self-identifying journalist Lemon traipsed along like a faithful lapdog behind a band of leftist hooligans who stormed a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, chanting “ICE OUT,” and framing their actions as a pursuit of “justice for Renee Good.” In other words, they were demanding vigilante “justice.”
The hooligans led by leftist activist Nekima Levy Armstrong may have blundered straight into violations of both federal and state laws—a remarkable blunder considering Armstrong is an attorney and former law professor.
The Justice Department is investigating potential violations of both the FACE Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act. The FACE act prohibits actions that intimidate or interfere with a citizen’s First Amendment protection of the free exercise of religion in a place of worship.
And the Ku Klux Klan Act pertains to persons who know about a conspiracy to deprive someone of their constitutional rights, have the ability to prevent such actions, and does nothing. Such a person could be a journalist or the leader of the conspiracy.
In addition, because churches are private property, and, therefore, not places in which protests may legally take place and because both Lemon and the protestors were directly asked to leave and did not comply, they are likely guilty of violating state law that prohibits trespassing.
Near the beginning of Lemon’s painfully long video of his day of fake-journalisming, Lemon violated the first rule of journalism—again—by becoming the story. By now, the entire nation knows that Lemon’s favorite subject is himself.
Prior to his trespassing escapade in which Lemon badgered church members with absolutely, positively objective, non-cherry-picked, “facts” and boasted about his far superior “independent reporting” relative to corporate journalism, Lemon spent some time in a undisclosed parking lot describing the well-organized protest and showing his audience a chant rehearsal.
True confession: I did not know that protestors held rehearsals like Broadway productions. I guess two to five-word chants are more challenging than I realized.
In his video, Lemon makes explicit his efforts to conceal an “operation” in which he claims to be participating:
[T]hese are resistance protesters. They’re planning an operation that we’re going to follow them on. I can’t tell you exactly what they’re doing, but it’s called “Operation Pull Up.” Um, and it’s Nekima Armstrong, and she has been doing this since George Floyd, um, Dante Wright and others. … they surprise people, catch them off guard. … And so that’s what we’re doing here. And then … after we do this operation, you’ll see it live. And these operations are surprise operations. Again, I can’t tell you where they’re going and where we’re gathered right now. … we’re just going to show you what’s happening on the ground. Not just all the chaos … but just how people are fighting back, how they’re organizing, how they’re strategizing.
Lemon then repeats that he doesn’t want to reveal any “strategizing,” or give away “what the operation is,” which sounds surprisingly like he knew details about the operation to interfere with Americans’ First Amendment religious rights and that he was actively trying to facilitate it.
Lemon’s repeated affirmation of his own purported objectivity and his de facto admission of aiding and abetting a conspiracy to interfere with citizens’ right to worship were not the only noteworthy aspects of his seven-hour trainwreck of journalisming. There was also Nekima Armstrong’s breathtaking hubris.
Enraged that an ICE director is also a pastor in this church, omniscient Armstrong proclaimed that she is a Christlike figure leading the effort to cleanse the temple:
I know that this church will never be the same after today. … the people who worship here will have to decide which side are they on: the side of the Lord, truth, righteousness, and justice, or the side that pretends to be on the Lord[‘s side] while harboring someone who is helping to perpetuate evil on our community. … I am a reverend. I am a lawyer. I am an activist. And I stand on the side of freedom, justice, truth, and righteousness. Period. … So, we came and flipped over a table today. This injustice, this unrighteousness will not stand. You cannot be a pastor while also being the director of the field office for ICE in St. Paul.
This may come as a surprise to community organizer Armstrong, but she is not the arbiter of who can be a pastor. Nor is she the embodiment of truth, justice, and the American way. Methinks she’s just another DEI/BLM grifter.
Some Americans may be interested to learn a bit more about how the non-practicing attorney and former law professor Armstrong makes a living.
She runs a 501c3 non-profit called the Wayfinder Foundation, which has a curious fiscal history. Gemini reports the following:
- Revenue peaked in 2020 at $2.7 million. That year Armstrong’s base salary was $170k with a total compensation package of $215,726.
- 2021: revenue was $402k; Armstrong’s base salary was $130k with a total package of $156,856.
- 2022: revenue was $808k; Armstrong’s base salary was $175k with a total package of $208,126.
- 2023: revenue $318k; Armstrong’s base salary was $130k with a total package of $160,036.
- 2024: revenue a measly $22k; Armstrong’s base salary was $130k with a total package of $160,036.
A total compensation package of $160k means Armstrong’s income is higher than 91-93% of Americans. As of the end of fiscal year 2024, Wayfinder had cash reserves of $6.2k—not nearly enough to cover Armstrong’s healthy compensation. Maybe a controversial church protest that garners national attention will fill Wayfinder’s depleted coffers.
Nekima Armstrong’s husband Marques Armstrong has an equally fascinating professional life.
He supposedly runs an LLC called Hope & Healing Counseling Services, but uncovering what services Hope & Healing Services provides may require the services of Benoit Blanc.
Although he runs a counseling service, it doesn’t appear from publicly available information that he has even a bachelor’s degree of any kind. There is no active website for Hope & Healing Services. There is no available biographical information about staff members trained and licensed to provide mental health services. And there are no public client reviews as one would usually find online for legitimate counseling services.
Mr. Armstrong is or was the “principal consultant/co-owner” of another LLC called Black Pearl that according to Gemini hosted a single community event in 2018 titled “An Intimate Discussion with Black Men.”
Journalist manqué Lemon who has once again become an embarrassment to his profession and a national joke fancies himself a civil rights hero:
Dr. King Day … is one of the best days of the year for me because it reinforces and reconfirms why I do what I do and especially dealing with what I’m dealing with now with this madness that’s going on with the Department of Justice in the Trump administration. … The freedoms that I have now and the reason I’m in this position is because of … Dr. King and for Rev. Jesse Jackson who fought so staunchly for the freedoms for all people. … And so, I stand on their shoulders. I believe in our Constitution, and I believe in the amendment that protects what I do as a journalist, and that’s the First Amendment.
Well, except for that pesky religious liberty part.
I send my heartfelt wishes for Lemon’s professional suicide mission, and since I’m feeling charitable, I extend the same wishes to Nekima Levy Armstrong.