The Chris Cuomo Project - 5 Trump-Biden Debate Factors That Could Change Everything

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Chris Cuomo breaks down five critical factors to watch for in presidential debates ahead of the first Trump-Biden rematch of 2024: the importance of genuine debate, the truth behind candidates’ statements, the portrayal of opponents, the role of moderators, and the impact of the debate format. Find out how these key elements can reveal the true intentions and capabilities of each candidate as you weigh your vote for president. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The big debate, who delivers, who doesn't, what to look for, why does it matter, does it matter? All of these things are relevant in this signature piece of our presidential campaign. And I have for you a gift. The five factors that you need to look for to understand if this debate was for you, about you, or something to avoid. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes in part from AG1. All right, look, we all know that I try to take care of my health. All right?

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for you. Try right now and AG1 is going to give you a free one year supply of vitamin D3K2 and five free AG1 travel packs with your first purchase. Drink AG1.com slash CCP for the Chris Cuomo project. Drink ag1 dot com slash CCP. Tell them we sent you. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo project. Always good to have you. So, all the pageantry, all the hype, all the sell,

does it matter? Yes, because you wanna go into the debate knowing what the participants are hoping to get out of it. Now, you might think, well, what do I care what they want when they, well, here's why. What you're hearing in the run-up to the debate is really important because it is a signal for you. It is absolutely a red light of, hey, this is what this person is going to do in this debate.

This is how it's going to be. You know Trump is going to be coming at the current President Biden constantly trying to frame everything about him in the negative when it comes to his mental capacity. Okay? Now, with Biden, it's not as easy a flag. Why? Not as tactical. It hasn't been as obvious in showing his hand. And frankly, it's just not as much of a big mouth. Okay? So, what are they telling you heading into it? All right. Now, with that set as the table, here are the five factors that I would look for. So pay attention going into it. And then once we're there, one, is this a debate? Well, why? Why does that matter?

I mean, it is what it is, right? Not exactly. There really is between Trump and Biden, not a big contest of ideas, if you think about it. It would be hard to articulate the philosophical difference in their economic policy, in their national security policy, in their infrastructure policy, in their good governance policy. It would be hard. It would be hard for me to kind of fill out little columns of what each one is offering. Why?

Because it's not about competing plans. It's not about competing ideas or philosophy as much as it is about which is worse. So this is something to listen for. How much of what's coming out of this person's face is against the other one versus for you? Which of the two is spending more time talking about what to do for you that isn't a function of stopping the other one? You understand? I'm going to lower your taxes and here's how and where versus I won't let him raise

taxes. You see what I'm saying? This is a not too subtle difference once you start to unpack it. One requires a plan, the other one just requires for you to believe what they're saying about the other one. So is it really a debate? Am I picking up on a contest of ideas here? Or is it really just about which one of these two can convince you that the other is worse? Don't get dragged into that. Have an expectation that

somebody is selling something to you, not just about the other. Two, and this is the toughest one, but it is a very important factor even today, even in our reduced standards, even in all of our distrust and everything else when it comes to politics and frankly, everything else. When's the last time you saw a high number in terms of a trust poll about anything or anyone?

And here's a little bit of a clue to preference. If there were something that we're doing really well right now, like boy, everybody trusts X or everybody believes in Y this person, well, it'd be a fair bet that that person would be getting torn down right now, that institution would be being scratched at by all the different power players. Why? Because everybody wants a lower playing field. Everybody wants a battle to the bottom and a zero-sum contest. So it's really not in anyone's interest to have anything be built up, anything to be idealized and respected and liked,

especially when you're in the disruption game, especially when you're in the change game, you want everything to suck because it makes it easier for you to do what? Deliver. But the second big key, one is, is this a debate? Two is, the truth is enough. The truth is enough. Who seems to have a handle on the truth of situations? Well, how would I know? They're the experts, they're selling me all this BS all the time, I can't keep it straight.

Fair, fair. But to the extent that we need moderators at all, and I'll get to that, which one's getting checked more for truth abuse? Now, I don't care about which one's getting checked more for talking over the other one, but the truth is enough. Who seems to have a handle on the truth? Who seems to be using facts as opposed to just feelings they want to convey about situations

that are constantly checked by the moderators. All right? Who seems more prone to exaggeration? Who seems to have familiarity with policies and seems to put importance on policies? Now, why does this matter? Because you're trying to judge what kind of leader they're going to be. And what are they going to do once the person to fight against is gone? This is a absolute negative for Trump, by the way. This is not a man who's obsessed with getting into power so he can do things,

except maybe come after people that he has some kind of grievance or revenge vibe about. But even if you think about it last time, other than building a wall, let's go through all the catchphrases. Build a wall, okay. He didn't do it, but Congress wouldn't let him do it the way he wanted to, but it also, it was more of a metaphor than it was anything else.

Fixing the southern border is about a lot more than physical barriers. We were never a wall away, I said in 2016, 2017, 2018. What else was there? Drain the swamp. Okay, this was always gonna be something that's very hard. It's very hard to change bureaucracy. And it'd really be hard to even suggest that Trump tried

because one of the efforts we would have certainly been able to judge would have been how he built his own administration. And he distinguished himself by having like the biggest bunch of losers that we've seen in an administration. More people had to leave because of how they screwed up, what they had hit about themselves,

what kinds of ethical problems they had, than we've seen in modern history. That's one of the problems of having an outsider come in is that they don't know people from the culture. They don't necessarily know people who will adapt well to the culture. But the truth has to be enough. Which one of them seems to be familiar with the facts

and talking about what they're gonna do once they get in there, that's something more than who they're going to go after. Now, there is some value to you and who they want to go after, right? I mean, there are certain things you'd like to see stopped, certain practices you'd like to see changed. So I'm not saying dismiss who they want to go after altogether, but which one seems to have a better grasp of what's the true. And you want to see that because that is a good indicator of how they're going to respect you when they're in office. So is this a debate at all? The truth should be enough and how people marshal it seem to have a command of it and

how they use it or not or abuse it. Three, this is a specific one for Trump Biden, something to watch in this debate and in all that follow. Oh, really, there's only going to be one, right? Which is part of the problem. I'll get to that also. Moderators, I'll get to that. How many we have is part of the problem. The boogeyman contest. The third factor is the boogeyman contest. Which one succeeds at doing what they want to do most? For Donald Trump, this is convince you that Joe Biden is losing his shit. That's what Trump wants out of this. That's why I have said now for a while the idea that Trump is a bluff on this Debate is BS. He's a bluff when he says he's going to take accountability

For anything that he's gonna own anything that he's gonna testify that he's gonna allowed himself To be put under scrutiny or questioning. He's always lying when he says that why because he has Absolutely no interest in embarrassing himself. But not show up at a debate that it is his first and best chance to prove the boogeyman that he needs you to believe is real. Of course he's going to be there. Oh yeah, but he's worried because it's CNN. No, he isn't. One, he knows he needs the audience at CNN. Two, he doesn't like anybody who doesn't, you know, kiss the Trump rump. So if you're not a Trump rump kisser, you're a problem. So look at me, he loved Megyn Kelly,

right? Until he didn't. And then she came and kissed the Trump rump, so now he does. You see what I'm saying? It's transactional for him. So Jake Tapper, Dan Abash, me, whoever it is, you say something nice, you're good. You say something true that isn't good for him, you're bad. You see what I'm saying? So the fact that he wouldn't turn out, no way. He's going to be there because he needs you to believe the boogeyman. He's going to be spending all his time on Joe Biden being mentally unfit. Now here's the challenge for him. Twofold, one, he's grossly exaggerated Biden's condition. Okay, is Biden at his best? No, is Biden aging not so great? Yes, that's true.

There are 80 year olds, 82 year olds way more communicative, eloquent, articulate, you know, any of the fancy words you want to use about how good are they with the words. Okay. Biden is not a great example of aging well when it comes to his ability to articulate. Now you got to be a little generous in your assessment because being president isn't exactly making chat, you know, small talk at Thanksgiving. The pressure is immense.

You watched Trump suffer and struggle during the presidency and you may again, if he wins, Obama, Clinton, Bush, all these guys went in, their hair was one color, they came out, it was another one. It's very stressful. But the two factor thing is that one, Biden's condition has been exaggerated for effect. And that's a problem. The second one is that it's not so easy to prove that Biden is in decline in person.

It's actually something that's better done as a commentary of what you've seen and heard. It's not so easy to do it in real time. Where did you just hear his answer? He didn't make any sense. No, no, no. This is gonna be different. They're gonna be on.

This is the only thing they're doing that night and it's an hour and a half. It's not the fifth stop of the day, right? At a place where they're not really thinking about who's paying attention and who isn't and they're tired and they're just wanting to get out of there. That's when a lot of the mistakes happen.

That will not be the context here. So those are Trump's challenges with the boogeyman and what he has going for him is that Biden's a gaffe machine. So what is Biden's boogeyman and what he has going for him is that Biden's a gaffe machine. So what is Biden's boogeyman? Okay. Now, Biden's campaign isn't as much about how the grievance campaign, right? The problem of winning a second election is that the election after your first term is all about your first term and how you did, right?

So Biden is running against reality. Trump is running against perceived reality, even though he was president once before, nobody remembers. And he completely exaggerates everything that was going on during his administration anyway. So it's hard, because you're not living it as freshly as you were. I mean, most people have to pause when I ask them,

which one of them was the one handling the pandemic at the beginning? I mean, how easy a question is that? How do you not freshly remember that Trump came before Biden, unless you want to count being VP? Because that's just the nature of how immersed we are in the now. That it seems like, you know, well, but Trump's out, you know, he wasn't really there for the pandemic, the fuck he wasn't. He made the most important bad call of the pandemic. Absolutely.

The most important bad call. And this is a guy with long COVID. This is someone who does believe that the vaccine has side effects that we have not been made aware of, that there's not enough curiosity about, there's not enough of, that there's not enough curiosity about, there's not enough discussion about, there's not enough action on, okay? I'm not saying what you'll hear all over social media,

which is a bunch of propaganda saying that the vaccine is poison, the vaccine didn't do anything. Everybody's sick if they got the vaccine. Nobody has any problem if they didn't get the vaccine. That's just not true, okay? And I'll tell you what I don't like about it. It's why we saw uneven death between red and blue. The biggest lament I have of the pandemic is that we failed so badly at bringing the country together for common cause that you literally had Republicans die at a different rate than Democrats. I keep going over that number

every time it's suggested to me and I get new data about it because I really don't want it to be true. I'd really love to be able to debunk that and say, look, I don't like that people didn't take the vaccine for bad reason or because they felt that they were pressured equally by those who wanted them to take it and who those who wanted to show that they were brave enough not to take it, which is very perverse to me,

but I can't. Every time I look at the data or I have a clinician show me the data or an expert crunch the data and give me the analysis, it's clear that reluctance to the vaccine cost people. Now, I'm not saying taking the vaccine didn't also cost people, but the ratio is way out of whack. And so what does this mean for you? Well, what it means is that in assessing the pandemic,

the worst call was the first call. This isn't a big deal, we don't have to worry about it. And that was Trump's call. Oh yeah, but they gave him bad information about it. Well, that's true about a lot of things during the pandemic. So you can't forgive Trump for making his bad call and never forgive Biden for anything when he was getting mixed and bad and changed information on almost a

weekly basis. Biden's bogeyman of Trump is that he is a bad person who did bad things when he was in office, okay? Now, is that easy to prove? Yes, to people who are open-minded about Trump. The problem in this election is I don't think that you win the election by changing people's minds about Trump. I think it's baked in. If you're a Trumper, you don't care what he does.

Trump is right. He could shoot somebody and probably get away with it with baked in. If you're a Trump or you don't care what he does, Trump is right. He could shoot somebody and probably get away with it with you guys. Why? Because you're stupid. No, no. And I'm telling you, people who write off Trumpers that way are making a big mistake. Big mistake. It's that, and this is just my experience with people who support Trump. Look, there's always some of everything, right? I mean, are there some bigots who they just caught into Trump because they believe he's the biggest candidate? Yeah. But there are a lot more people who are so disgusted

and so desperate for disruption of the system that they are willing to forgive just about everything about Donald Trump because they believe he will bust up what's there right now. And I can layer on the different understandings of this that create a challenge for Biden in this debate. They don't care that he's a liar because they think they're all liars. They don't care that he has no character because they think they don't have character.

They don't care that he has no character because they don't believe you need character to do what they need you to do, which is to go in there and basically be a heavy fighting against other mobsters. That it's more about his attitude of being a fuck you kind of guy than it is about his aptitude. And that's the man for the job. The man for the job of breaking up a system that's made up of liars and power brokers and

rich people and powerful people is someone who's like them who hates them. And that's how Trump presents himself. So that's why they stick with them. It's not that they don't value character. Look, it's put Trump supporters in a very bad position in a lot of cases. These are a lot of them are people who are about principle. They used to be the character counts Republicans and now they're stuck with this guy. But that's because they believe that character has been completely dismissed from the calculus of the system. You're making excuses for them. Yeah, I know. I am because you're condemning them. You're damning them as on the basis of their choice. And I'm saying it's not as simple as the way you see the choice. So the challenge for Biden and his boogie man is how do you move the needle when it's so baked in?

How do you move the needle? And I don't know. I got to be honest. I'm looking forward to hearing how Biden tries to move the needle by really threading the needle of reaching persuadable voters on the basis of what they think they know about Trump is not enough and that they have to weigh something about him that seems pretty obvious more than they already do. That's tricky. Can it be done? Yes. I'm just not sure how Biden's going to do it.

I know how Bill Clinton would do it. Bill Clinton would forensically, he'd be like a, you know, a pathologist poet. He would take you through how Donald Trump dealt with the challenges on his watch and how he screwed them up and made the country worse. Even abroad, he would be able to do it. And that's a tough one because, you know, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, what you see in the Middle East, Ukraine, he does have the benefit of timing.

What Clinton would do is say, yeah, I know he says they were none on his watch, but they all had the stage set for them done on his watch. Everything that led to those things happening happened on his watch. They just wanted to pull in the trigger on my watch or on Biden's watch. Everything that led to those things happening happened on his watch. They just wanted to pull in the trigger on my watch or on Biden's watch. He could do it. He's sophisticated enough, eloquent enough, effective enough.

I don't know about Biden. We'll see. Is it a debate? Are they using the facts? Is the truth enough for them to make their case? Who's proving the boogeyman? Who's bringing out the boogeyman? Four, moderators matter.

I don't think we should have moderators. I think you should have them toe to toe and judge them as adults just as you can and you do in every other setting, okay? They're only referees in sports. You don't have them when you're judging competing arguments at work or at home or in your life and any of the facets

of your life that matter. Why here? Well, because the media wants them. Well, no, no, they have a job to keep them on track, keep them on path. Yeah, but part of that winds up giving these guys a break and they're allowed to lean on the rules in a way that they won't be able to

once they're in there fighting it out for real against the other party in real time, day after day after day. But the moderators will matter in this one. This debate does matter. This one does. Why? Because this election has been made almost exclusively about Biden's decline. And this is the best opportunity for Trump to show that. So Biden comes out, I'm not saying he's going to hit the cover over off the ball, but they're basically taking the ball three feet away from him and tossing it to him like this. And if he can keep his eyes on it and make contact, you know, if he could just, if he can just do this and just find his way into the ball,

it's almost automatically gonna read as a home run for most of us. Stupid by Trump to do this. He should not have put all of his eggs in the Biden is brain dead basket, but he did. And the moderators will have somewhat of a role tonight in policing Trump's efforts to show that, not because they're unfair, but because they're rules. And cutting the mic is gonna have somewhat of a role tonight in policing Trump's efforts to show that, not because they're unfair, but because they're rules.

And cutting the mic is going to be one of them because he's going to want to comment on Biden's comments all the time. So we'll see. Now the fifth one is that the format matters. The reason I don't like debates is because they are a little bit of a lot of things, and that's not the reality of what's going to matter to you when they're in office. Deep dives matter. This debate should be on one issue.

I don't care what it is. It could be the economy, it could be national security, it could be foreign policy, it could be the border, you know, whatever. Whatever you make it. I want to see how over the course of an hour or however, how long it is, how much texture, how much context, how much nuance, how much philosophy, how much depth and breadth is there

to this man's understanding of this situation, his experience with it, what's worked before, what hasn't worked before. I've always wanted to see that in a debate where they ask the candidates, the participants, the debaters to assess how earlier efforts throughout history have worked, how they worked, how they didn't and why. It's such an interesting test for leadership to be able to show you that one, they know what they're talking about. Okay? Because

if you don't understand what's happened before, you were at the mercy of those who were coaching you on it right then and pushing plans on you. Again, this is a big problem for Trump. Not a student of history, doesn't understand things, always dismisses things if he wasn't a part of them and if he was a part of them, it was great.

That's why he loves conspiracies. Loves conspiracies. Even about 9-11, even as disrespectful as that is. Why? Because it's great for people who don't understand history. So, I would love to see that. But more importantly, it's that this format, you're gonna get a little bit on things

where it's really just a spitting contest of insults and one-liners and jabs, everything that's remembered from debates. I can't remember anything from the last debate. You got a couple of signature lines over the years. I knew Jack Kennedy. You're no Jack Kennedy.

You know, there you go again. But these aren't exactly like the pithiest things in the world that are in any way indicative of what made that society win or lose in that moment and that era. These debates should be single topic and they should be immersive. So you get a real understanding of what this cat knows about what came before them, what works, what doesn't, why and how,

and how that informs and impacts what they're gonna do for you going forward, if anything. So five factors, okay, for this debate and really for all, but certainly for the biggie. One, is this a debate? Is that what this is about? Are they debating ideas or is this about something else? Important.

Two, is the truth enough for one or both of these cats? Or are they all exaggeration? Are they all just reducing the other one? Do they understand the facts? Do they use them? Do they marshal them to their side in a way that's compelling to you? Three, who does a better job

of proving the boogeyman in the room? Does Trump make you really believe, wow, Biden's done? Or did Biden make you relieve, not only am I not done, but this guy is the worst person we've ever looked at for this position before. And doesn't that have to matter at some point?

How many horrible things can you do? And it's still okay. The next one, what the moderators do and don't do. Five, what the format allows and doesn't allow. And that last one is really a pet one for me. Doesn't really help you analyze this one, but it just is a reminder of how light the touch is on these things.

And it's kind of a, I'll bring back to the second point about the truth that man, they're not gonna blow you away by what they know about things tonight, neither of them. So bake that in, right? Think about how you're handicapping this contest in the first place. Debates are usually more heat than light.

Debates are usually more hype and buildup and hoping you'll watch than what they deliver on. Debates usually don't do more than give what they call in politics a dead cat bounce, which is a dead cat only bounces once, which means that your numbers will go up, but then they'll probably come right back to where they were-ish. I don't think this one is the same, maybe versus poll numbers, because again, it's such a tight race, but this is the best chance for Trump to show that Biden is what he says he is.

And if he isn't, then Trump is going to have a hard time and he's going to switch to something else for the rest of the campaign. That will be a big relief on Biden because it is one of the biggest concerns that a lot of people have. I hate Trump, but Biden may not make it. And I don't want Kamala Harris. I don't even know what she's about, but I don't want her as my president. I know that much. And I don't think he's going to make it. That's a big Kamala Harris. I don't even know what she's about, but I don't want her as my president. I know that much.

And I don't think he's gonna make it. That's a big one for a lot of voters, am I right? So check it out, figure those things out. And then what's gonna happen? Who knows? That's the one beautiful thing about these moments is that they will change the state of play thereafter based on what happens tonight. What is exposed? What isn't? That's when debates

wind up really mattering. This one will because so much pressure has been put on this single proposition. So I'm Chris Cuomo. Thank you very much for subscribing, following. Hey, if the ads are too much of a pain, you can get this podcast ad free. Go to my sub stack and subscribe. It's five bucks a month. You also get my entire long COVID portfolio, my bloods, my doctors, forensic expertise, my experience with what I'm doing, food, diet, all of these supplements. I'm not selling them, diet, all of these supplements.

I'm not selling them, but I am taking them. And I'm just about to come to the end of the first phase of my long COVID protocol, which was the detoxing. I don't know that it's working. We'll see when we do the blood tests and you can join that along. And my coverage of this debate will be best seen at News Nation, 8P and 11P every weekday night.

So thank you very much. If you got questions for me and you're not going to get me here, I'll deal with some but not many, go to the Manect app and sign up and you can ask me Good debating. Let's get after it.