Yesterday, in an effort to defend Joe Biden from Nikki Haley, Don Lemon said something dumb. Haley had suggested during a speech that candidates for president who were over age 75 (that would include Donald Trump and Joe Biden) should be forced to take a mental competency test. Don Lemon didn’t like that idea and snapped “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, When a woman is in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.” Nikki Haley is 51 years old.

That started an on-air argument between Lemon and his co-host Poppy Harlow. Harlow didn’t sound angry. But she did appear to recognize that Don had said something he needed to walk back. She tried to give him a chance to do that but Lemon kept insisting she should “Google it.” According to the NY Post, the argument didn’t stop when the cameras were off.

A furious Poppy Harlow walked off the “CNN This Morning” set following a tense exchange with Lemon after he said the GOP presidential candidate was “not in her prime,” according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

One of the sources said Harlow took a “well-timed” bathroom break and was followed into the restroom by co-host Kaitlan Collins — who recently had her own run-in with Lemon…

During an informal meeting Thursday, dubbed “Coffee with Chris,” 30 staffers peppered Licht with questions about the ratings-challenged network.

One asked about Lemon’s comments about the 51-year-old Haley, according to a source with knowledge.

“People say stupid things and that if it’s a trend, then there’s recourse,” the source said, paraphrasing Licht’s comments.

Fox News spoke to several sources at CNN who said that quite a few female staffers were upset about Lemon’s comments:

A CNN insider told Fox News Digital that while everyone makes mistakes, women inside the network were extremely upset with his comments.

Another insider described it thusly: “Everyone’s annoyed… People are definitely upset about it.”

“I was trying to figure out what the hell he was even talking about,” a third CNN insider said. “None of it made sense, it was a stupid thing to say.”

Licht had reportedly spoken to Lemon yesterday and warned him that it couldn’t happen again. Today the NY Times reports there was another morning conference call which Licht opened by expressing his disappointment in Lemon.

CNN’s chairman, Chris Licht, opened his daily 9 a.m. editorial call by saying that the remarks by Mr. Lemon, which were widely viewed as sexist and insensitive, had left him “disappointed.”

“His remarks were upsetting, unacceptable and unfair to his co-hosts, and ultimately a huge distraction to the great work of this organization,” Mr. Licht told his staff, according to a recording of the call obtained by The New York Times…

On Friday’s call, a far more contrite-sounding Mr. Lemon addressed the matter in a six-minute monologue to the CNN newsroom.

“I am sorry,” Mr. Lemon said. “I did not mean to hurt anyone. I did not mean to offend anyone.”

He added that “the people I’m closest to in this organization are women,” citing a list of female colleagues including the anchors Dana Bash and Erin Burnett.

It’s great that Don is friends with some women at CNN. The problem is that his two co-hosts, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, are clearly not friends or fans. As mentioned above, Lemon reported screamed at Collins back in December.

According to two sources with knowledge of the situation, 56-year-old Lemon approached 30-year-old Collins following the show’s Thursday, Dec. 8, broadcast — and unloaded on her in front of staffers as he accused her of “interrupting” him on air.

“Don screamed at Kaitlan, who was visibly upset and ran out of the studio,” one source with knowledge of the skirmish said.

At this point I’m assuming the only reason Licht is sticking with Lemon is that he has some ridiculous contract which CNN would have to pay off if it wanted to fire him. So in Licht’s mind it’s a question of whether it’s worth paying $xx million dollars just to be rid of the headache. At the moment Lemon is on the bubble. Yes, he’s an embarrassment to the whole network but it would be expensive to make him go away.

Personally, I don’t think he’ll last much longer, not if Licht has any sense. A morning show is meant to be a feel good place of news and light humor. It doesn’t work if the co-hosts are staring daggers at one another.

Poppy Harlow’s look of amused disbelief yesterday is really a stand in for CNN‘s entire audience at this point. Like her, we’re all wondering how long they’re going to keep this dope on the air?