Independent journalist Don Lemon used the ouster of Stephen Colbert as an example of how the Trump White House press corps should stand up to President Donald Trump.

Lemon — who has also been attacked by the president and arrested by his federal forces — marked Colbert’s exit with an impassioned Substack essay entitled, “Don’t Cry For Stephen Colbert. Cry For The First Amendment.”

But on Thursday’s edition of The Don Lemon Show podcast, he widened his focus to the White House reporters who watch as Trump attacks their colleagues, urging them to stand together the way late-night hosts did in solidarity with Colbert:

DON LEMON: Now all of the late night shows are going dark, so that Stephen gets all the shine.

That’s how you stand up for each other. Excuse me, hold on.

Press Corps, White House Press Corps! Are you listening to this? All of his competitors, all of his colleagues, Stephen Colbert, they’re going dark because they want to give him the shine! They want give him support.

So the next time, I know I’m going off here. The next time someone calls one of your coworkers a piggy, the next time he calls them a loser, the next he insults them, the next times he tells a Black woman that she knows dirt better than him.

Say something! Ask the same question as the person before. Give that person perhaps the floor!

And if they move on to someone else, then so be it. Then the next reporter should keep doing the same thing.

Stop trying to get the, I gotta get my question in because my network wants me to get to the question, my network–.

You’re gonna be there for a long time. You’ll get your question in. What’s more important is that you stand up for the First Amendment! You stand up for the freedom of the press! You stand for respect.

Remember, Donald Trump and all of his goons, all of those people who are unqualified to be there, they all work for you. It’s not the other way around.

Do not let Karoline Leavitt. Call on the next person when you’re not finishing your question. Stand up for your colleagues. Stand up yourself. Have some dignity and a backbone.

So watch Stephen Colbert tonight. Really, really, really watch them. Everyone, including the journalists. Watch what a man or a person or a woman looks like or should look like when they have spent years, in this case, Stephen Colber, 11 years, telling the truth on purpose.

And he is not done.

And he is not afraid.

And then wake up tomorrow and be that same thing in your own life

Watch above via The Don Lemon Show podcast.

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