The Chris Cuomo Project - Adam Friedland Gets REAL About America's FAKE Problems

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

Adam Friedland (comedian and podcast host, "The Adam Friedland Show") joins Chris Cuomo for a wide-ranging conversation about comedy, politics, and the state of America. Friedland discusses his evolution from doing a deliberately ironic podcast to investing himself fully in serious interviews, studying Howard Stern's technique to improve his craft. He offers his perspective on campus protests, arguing that economic alienation and loneliness drive extremism more than ideology. The conversation touches on everything from the 1990s as America's last truly happy decade to why working-class abandonment created today's political outrage. Friedland challenges conventional narratives about antisemitism on campuses while defending First Amendment principles, and shares his views on foreign policy, wealth inequality, and why he refuses to get a 401k. Throughout, he displays the thoughtful irreverence that has made him one of comedy's most interesting new voices. Support our sponsors: Reverse hair loss with @iRestorelaser! Subscribe & Save for 25% off or more + free shipping on the iRestore REVIVE+ Max Growth Kit, and unlock HUGE savings on the iRestore Elite with the code CHRIS at https://www.irestore.com/CHRIS ! Go to KEPM.com/cuomo and take control of your future.Get smart. Get moving. Before the next shock hits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adam Friedland is called the next John Stewart of his generation. And he's about to tell you why he doesn't like it. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. Man, I'm not even going to ask Adam about that, but he's going to tell you why he's doing his new show, what he thinks about its success, where he wants it to go. And I wanted to feel him out and get him to talk about what's happening in politics and culture and deeper shit than people are used to hearing him talk about. Because I believe what you'll hear from him is proof of how far this young man can go.

Adam Friedland. Put that guitar down so I can talk to you about what matters. You play music? I do. I'm a drummer. Really? Yeah. That's why I have these Java man forearms. Who's your, who's your like legend?

Easy. Neil Peart. Neil Peart. From Russia. What about so you could play like really proggy techy shit? No, I can't be, I could never play most of what Neil Peart played. How big is your kid? I know a lot of guys can.

How many toms do you have in your kit? I used to have a, I had seven. But then I remember I got- That's really egotistical of you. Very under the say, very biblical, very under the sway of Buddy Rich and Stewart Copeland and these other guys who had smaller kits. Stewart Copeland from the police, also a phenomenal drummer.

Terry Basio from Missing Persons, his sister was Dale, who was the singer. He was also amazing. You don't need a big kit to make a big sound. One of the most underrated ever was Mr. Mitch Mitchell from the Jimi Hendrix experience. Ooh. He should have joined the Who after Keith Moon died.

That's my alternate history That's strong. Oh, the guy the guy dude the guy who took over for Keith Moon was pretty good, too Though I forget what his name was Yasser Arafat no when they did Eminence front he they gave him a nice video there. He was good I forget what his name was anyway, let me notice how much Ringo looks like Yasser Arafat. Ringo looks like a lot of mid Eastern despots. I wouldn't say desperate. I would say great. Great. I know you would. I know you are at the top. I don't think it's great. I don't know.

I don't have a strong opinion either way. He died a very wealthy man. I do know that. Well, I don't know where he got it from. If you die, there is no wealth. That's true. You can't take it with you. That's why I'm bad at money because I'm like, I didn't want to sign up for a 401k.

Why? Because it's like, what? I don't give a fuck up for a 401k. Why? Because it's like, what? I don't give a fuck when I'm like 65 years. What am I going to do? Who cares? I'd rather go to dinner. That is a very- I'm terrible at money.

That is a very young man's perspective. I don't know. It's like, what's the point? You're going to get married. You're going to have a family. You don't think you have to plan for taking care of people? She has no concept of it.

No, I think genuinely speaking, but I struggled financially in my early adulthood. And my parents also like came to America and they did quite well. And then in the savings and loan crisis in the early nineties, you remember Keating? Mm hmm. Bush won. My dad was an architect and the market just got wiped in Southern California

where we lived. And yeah, I mean, like, so like I saw the stress that kind of stressing out about money did to a family. And so like, ever since I've been like, free from precarity, it's just like, there's no point to having it other than to, you know, take care of the people you love and a 401k who the frick cares about like, it's like, it's a, I'll make more money later on. Isn't that how it works, Chris? I don't know. Look, I mean, you know, it can work that way.

Some people believe in saving. Well, no, but it's so you don't have to pay tax on it. I think that's what they said to me, my business manager. You don't pay tax on the growth. I thought it's tax exempt every, all your payments, your, I don't fricking know, dude. I like that you use the word precarity. Yeah.

You know, that's a good, that was a good grab. Precarity. Why? You don't hear it a lot. You hear precarious, you don't hear precarity. Well, being stressed about money is, it confuses- Oh, it's a precarity. It's hear precarity. Well, being stressed about money is a precarity. It's a precarity. It's precarious and it's a precarity. You're right.

Most people live that way in America. Most people in America are one crisis away from being proper fucked. Yeah, I think over 50% can't get $1,000 out of the bank. Yep. Yeah, that sucks. That is the big truth that we don't deal with. We deal with the top and the absolute bottom, and we miss the majority of Americans, and

our politics caters to extremes. So you have this growing disaffection. You don't think that those guys that can't get a thousand dollars aren't the bottom. I mean like that should be the bottom. So, but, but, but then like what's our definition of the bottom? The bottom is where you're broken on assistance.

The bottom is where you're broken on assistance. Well, I mean, those people are also broke, you know? No, they are working and they are paying bills and they are paying credit cards that are greatly extended. They have homes, they have multiple cars with notes, and they are buried under consumer debt. That is, you think American is a plight. multiple cars with notes. And they are buried under consumer debt. That is, do you think American is a plight? You think that the guys that don't have $1,000 have a lot of cars and stuff? Not a lot of cars, but I'm telling you,

there are people all over this country, fully functioning, not on assistance, that fall into that group. That's how you got MAGA. So you're saying we're paying too much attention to people that need entitlements? We pay too much attention to the very top and the very bottom,

and what used to be called the middle class, which I always hated as a term, the majority is what we should be talking about, and we don't. Our politics caters to the fringes, not to the main. I'm trying to understand. I don't understand.

Like, I think that if wealth is distributed more and more, like with less equality, I don't think it's because of catering to the fringe. I think it's just that people are broker, right? I mean, like. I'm having deja vu right now, by the way. Isn't that, do you believe in that, deja vu? No, I don't believe in that.

I don't either, but I'm having it right now. Isn't that odd? About what? This, I've had this conversation with you. Well, I guess so, maybe. And it's gonna get weird and I'm going to be misunderstood about something. That's what that's what I'm I'm operating in good faith. I

Think you always operate in good faith people loved seeing you on News Nation, by the way, they found you very refreshing I thought you came across a little hapless What are you talking about? What do you mean? You know, I was like, you know, like I wouldn't have been surprised if you had like gotten up and walked off at any point. I got picked up in the trades.

Did you see that? I heard. In the Hill, it said, Adam Friedland, comedian Adam Friedland, Trump and Elon are in pain. Pretty. Yep. Yeah, that was deep. And there is great.

When they go low, we go high, Chris. Yeah, I don't buy that. I go wherever it comes at me. Wherever you bring it is where it's gonna be. You come at me low, we're gonna be low. If you come at me high, we're gonna be high. You get what you give with me. How do you feel the new podcast is going,

and I'll answer my question first, it seems to be going very well, and I actually wanna know why, but how do you feel about it? I don't know, I just wanna get better at doing interviews, I think. And so I'm doing it in a more consistent way now, so it's, you know, one can develop

when they do something, you know, more frequently. Do you believe that you suck as an interviewer? I did at the beginning, definitely. I didn't know how to do it at all. I Googled journalism. And what did it say? What did chat GPT tell you to do? No, I looked at Wikipedia.

No, but then I was like, then I was like, who's good at interviews? So then I like, I was like, well, Joe Rogan, I guess is pretty successful. And then I watched him. He is not a good interviewer. He is a good listener. Well, he's good.

No, he's good because he agrees with everyone. So like that is not necessarily good. Well, every guy feels like if I let me finish, let me finish every guest. Well, I'm getting there, but every guest feels like they're crushing, right? If he's agreeing with you, so he can accidentally get a lot. He also has huge guests on that are used to speaking at people. So he gives them a platform. He gives them space and he gives them time because that podcast is so fucking long. But I'll tell you who's an amazing.

He's a celebrity interviewer. And he has developed into ours. So Howard Stern, so that's Howard Stern is a great interviewer. I realized that after I was trying to find who to kind of study and emulate and it kind of clicked with me because I listened to Howard growing up all the time. And yeah, he's incredible.

When you kind of watch it for its craft, like within the first like 90 seconds, he has the person becomes his best friend. And then he can do anything. He can like, he disarms them immediately, but I can't really emulate that because when I like, if he's like, you're a huge star, everyone loves you. If I do it in my stupid Jewish voice, not his Jewish, my voice, it sounds sarcastic.

So instead I kind of like self deprecate and that kind of disarms the guests, I guess. If I'm like, I'm an idiot and a schmuck, like I'm not taking myself too seriously, then the guest has a choice whether or not they wanna be like a know it all still, or whether or not they wanna kind of drop their guard. And that's kind of what I've,

but it really comes from me watching a ton of Howard and going through a ton of Howard like in the last like two, three years. Why do you think people like your content? I don't really think about it. Like I just want my friends like it. And the fact that my dad can watch it now is good. Cause I used to peddle and smut.

But like, anytime you kind of do something and then consider where it exists in the zeitgeist, I mean, you're just like, it's a waste of time. Well, how is this different than what you used to do? Well, I was on a podcast for a while, which was like, it was admittedly like so funny. Like, you know, it was like a three 30 year old men behaving like young, like babies.

And we had this genius, this guy Nick was on the show and he's like fucking comedic genius. And he was the one really who encouraged me to do this. And I wasn't sure of it. I was like, why did... One of the people of the three left, Stav, the other one, who's now a huge comedian. He's also a friend of ours. And I was like, well, we have a brand, Nicholas, we have a brand.

And I was like, well, let's keep, why do we have to change the brand? And he's like, no, he's like, you have to trust me. So I really owe it to Nick, to be honest with you. But yeah, so then we started doing this. And I guess it was kind of the first time I ever like invested myself in this way. Cause I guess our old podcast was ironic, right? So if it was bad or if I was like not funny, I could be like, well, it's not, I wasn't trying, you know?

You can kind of protect yourself that way. But this, like if I'm working hard at this and it's bad, then like, you know, that sucks if it's bad. That means I suck. Do you feel that you are different by design or by evolution of age and stage? In what, in what's, oh, the show is different? Yeah, like it's a different Adam, why?

Because you're trying to be different or life has Changed you. Oh, I was a lazy. I was one of the laziest guys ever I mean we had a very successful podcast I had to work two hours a week and but I kind of found that I was just like kind of once you commit yourself to like invest, you know, just having a purpose and Going all out and trying as hard as you can. You can't really go back to lazy. You're like, oh, I think I was just fast forwarding to being dead.

If you know what I mean. And it's like, you only have a certain, you know, it feels more like I'm not wasting my time as much like this. I mean, what do you want to do? What is your ambition? What do I want to do? Yeah. Like, what do you want? I want to just your ambition? What do I want to do? Yeah, like what do you want a podcast to be? I want the show to get better. I want to get better at doing this. See how far we can grow it. I do see like with the interviews,

like it feels like a kind of a trajectory. I think I didn't really see a trajectory prior to starting the show. I'm very lucky, you know, like it's kind of an accident this even happened. I don't believe in luck. How do you define it? Well, it's a combination like, you know, of course it's circumstances. You know what, there's so many fucking amazingly talented comedians I started with that just, you know, it's there is a there is a right place, right time aspect to, you know, it's, there is a right place, right time aspect to it,

you know, but like, also I'm like, I don't wanna, because I feel fortunate I get to do this, I don't wanna fuck up the opportunity, you know, because like I have so many other friends, it's like I'm so lucky that I can do this thing and have a studio and like, you know, like it's, I just like wanna, I don't wanna take it for granted, I guess.

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Thanks to iRestore. Hair loss is frustrating. You don't have to fight it alone, thanks to Iris Store. So you want to grow it as it is. Do you see it? What's the dream? The dream for this? Yeah. I feel like every time I ask you a question, your first beat is to make my question stupid. No, but what I'm doing is I'm stalling

so I can think, really. I'm not criticizing your question. Is that your device? But I don't know, I guess I haven't really thought. I just, I wanna keep working. I don't really see myself, I wanna be like an old guy that works, I think. And I didn't do shit for so long where I'm like,

now being too busy is great. I don't have time to like get swept up into like stuff that doesn't matter as much. Why are you more busy? Are you shooting more often? What are you doing now that you weren't doing before? Well, we're like, it's a big undertaking. Like, cause we're trying, the ambition is

is to make a television show with three people, four people, you know, on a weekly basis. And like, I went to your studio and you have like NASA in the control room. I mean, it's like a huge operation, you know, and most, most shows are, and it's like, well, what if, what if I can do it myself? And yeah, I mean, it requires a lot of, a lot of time and, but I, I'm not, that's not a, I'm not complaining about that. I mean, it requires a lot of time. And, but I'm not, that's not, I'm not complaining about that. It's pretty awesome. It's exciting, you know?

And so I don't know, I guess be the president. That's my goal. I don't know, probably be the president. Were you born here? He has. You sure? What are you a birther? I'm not a birther, but I know your parents.

What, you wanna see my long form? Your parents are from South Africa. I thought maybe you were born there and you came here. No, they moved here in 1982. Oh, so you were born here. Shortly after they were married. Yeah, I know, and I'm over 35. That's another thing, I'm 38, it feels bad.

Like it sounds old in my head, but then I tell it, it's fun to like be like, well, I've only been able to be the president for three years. So I'm basically, when it comes to- Why does it feel bad to be 38? Because you're not in good shape? No, I mean, I've always been, yeah. You've always been what?

Like, you know, I'm not fat. No, you're like, you're like. I'm very, yeah. Skinny sheep. I look younger than I am. I look younger than I am. You've got a great head of hair. Great head of hair.

You know, I'm doing all right. Your fiance is very charming and pretty. I was shocked when she spoke and did not have an Eastern block accent. Wait was shocked when she spoke and did not have an Eastern Bloc accent. Wait, you think she's a male order bride? I thought she was someone who was desperate to stay in the country.

You think it was like 90 day fiance? I'm not one of those kind. You think I'm a pervert? When I heard her speak and like her English was clean. I know, I was in shock. No, she's a... I thought she for sure was gonna be like, you know. She's Irish, Upper West Side. I know, I was in shock. No, she's a- I thought she for sure was gonna be like, you know. She's Irish, Italian, Jewish.

She's Ellis Island, basically. It's good, it's good. You think that? I thought, but I was wrong. No, that's after the divorce. I'm gonna go, you know, Philippines, just like a really mean male, no. You know there's a run on a Ukrainian brides in China since the war broke out?

Oh boy, I'll tell you, you know what? One of my bigger recent failures is that I did not own the truth of Ukrainian kids being taken into Russia for reprogramming. I didn't know about that. And it is real, it is acknowledged by Russia, which is like very rare air. And we just kind of ignored it, which is bizarre to me that I have been part of such a lapse of conscience. I didn't yeah I didn't know that Russia has been taking people from the eastern end of that during this conflict and bringing them into Russia

To read you guys. What a mess all this crap is, huh? What do you think is going to happen with us and Iran? Scary huh? I am not, I don't find it to be scary. And I find what's happening with MAGA, I knew this was going to happen. You're like Sylvester Stallone, you're like, you're Cobra, you're, it's scary, it's bombs and stuff, it looks scary. You probably know the answer to this. I'm just a genuine question. So if Bibi wanted Trump to tear up the Obama deal, and Trump tore up the Obama deal, and then they say that they're speeding towards a nuke, why would they do that? Right?

Why would you end a diplomat? Like, why would you tear up a deal that makes it easier for them to get a nuke? Like, isn't that just, it sounds stupid to me, right? Well, their rationale was the deal didn't stop them. So break the deal and stop them. It doesn't make sense to me. Like if you, if you negotiate with the United States, you negotiate with Obama, right? Okay. You, you go the diplomatic route, right? You go diplomacy,

right? It doesn't make sense if the U S tears that bill up, right? They, they talk about the money they gave Iran. A lot of that money was their money that we froze. Right. Yes. So that is was their money that we froze. Yes, that is one of the tricks. They've had sanctions since the Shah. They've had sanctions since the end of the 1970s. Like, what are they, you're driving them towards a nuclear weapon.

Do you understand? If you don't- Well, that part I don't agree with. I agree with the first part, which is- How do they get taken seriously? If, if literally they're just getting fucking squeezed out like economically for now 50 years, 45 years, and, and then they negotiate with the United States to open up their economy. And then we just, we wipe our asses with the deal. And like, what, first of all,

what options, what options. And then they were, they said they were gonna negotiate with Trump and then they got the crap bombed out. Like what, I don't understand what the strategy there is. It just seems like a little bit like, if Bibi wants to keep his people safe, it would be better that you would have a deal

for them to not get nukes, right? But like the- So I agree, assuming you can trust the deal. So the argument was- Did they break the deal? Is there evidence that they broke the deal? They absolutely broke the deal. I'm just asking genuinely, like what did they do to? They enriched uranium well, well 20 times above the acceptable standard

under the deal. Is that why Trump tore it? So here's the thing. Did Obama know that they were doing that? Here's my take. What's this? Like, what is, who found that out? Like, where, I just never read about that. Here, here is my take. Well, the IAEA, the IAEA is the body that monitors this stuff. But here's what happens. Hans Blix, do they still have that guy, Hans Blix? Remember them?

Yes. From a wreck. But no, so here's what happened. Obama made the deal. In simple binary, which side is worse, American politics, if one side makes a deal, the other side wants to break the deal. They then perverted the truth about the money

that was given back to Iran, making it sound like America gave them a billion dollars, but it was actually their money that America was holding wrongfully. So that then added to the idea that this was a bad deal. Maybe if you just keep a country broke for 50 years, they're going to be like, they're going to, they're going to be pissed off. Yes. But if their economy was opened up and they had something to lose and they weren't being sanctioned, you know, then you are feeding an oppressive regime that is crushing its people.

What do you think Saudi Arabia is? Like, we have a lot of friends that are oppressive regimes. Yes. Women just women were just granted the right to drive. Yes. And we and we love them boys. Yes. But just, women were just granted the right to drive. Yes. And we love them boys. Yes, but you know what the Saudis have going for them? Chris is a little bit, it's a little bit picking shoes there, huh?

I think it's a little arbitrary, which is what you're getting at. And I agree with you, except for one thing. What does Saudi have that Iran doesn't have? What Saudi has is they don't say they want to destroy us. Now they export Wahhabism all over the region, which wants to destroy us, but they don't say they want to kill us and the regime does. Who do you think, who were like all the guys that did 9-11? Saudis.

And where did OBL get his money for Al Qaeda? Saudi. So like, what's the, listen, dude, we just watched the longest war in American history and we just watched this fucking crap. Sorry, I'm cursing. Don't you think, Chris, there's like a big industry that needs like a war to be happening?

The war pimps, as Ned Burchett, the Republican from Tennessee calls them. We left Afghanistan and we still need to feed this. The Pentagon has a $1 trillion budget. And they're the only people who got more money in the big, beautiful bill, the Defense Department, where Doge never went. Listen, you know that things are off. The economy is all about uncertainty. You got wars overseas,

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anywhere in the world, no matter what's going on. Right now, Dr. Kirk and his team are right and ready at KEPM and offering free consultations. We all got questions. Guess what? They've got answers. I before the next shock hits. I think that really sadly, we are one bad event in America from going down that road. And when that one bad thing happens,

half of our political spectrum will say Israel did it. Yeah, it's, they're gonna blame me. They won't blame you because you are part of the new self-hating Jew. You're a bad Jew. What do you mean self-hating Jew? You are a Jew who is anti-Israel. What does that mean, self-hating Jew? I'm not anti- what are you talking about? Are you anti-Israel? What does anti-Israel? What does that mean, self-hating Jews? I'm not anti, what are you talking about?

Are you anti-Israel? What does anti-Israel mean? Do you believe Israel has a right to exist? I don't think, I think, yeah, people should have a right to vote. Everyone should vote. I asked you a different question. Does Israel have a right to exist?

I don't think that it's kept Jewish people safe. That was the objective of Zionism. I'll ask you a third time. What are the objectives of Zionism? Does Israel have a right to exist? Yeah, sure. But I think that like, but like, yeah, but like, I don't think, how are you gonna have a democracy

like, and, and like based on an ethnic identity, you have to maintain a majority, right? So like, that's why these other folks live in a, like a kind of a political limbo, right? So like, that's why these other folks live in a, like a kind of a political limbo, right? Cause you have to like, because if you, if, if, they're granted vote, right? Everybody in Israel can vote. No, I'm talking about, I'm talking about it in the,

in the occupied territories. Right. Look, there shouldn't be an occupied territory. There shouldn't be. There should be, There should be separate states and neither should be run by a terror organization. Who, Bibi? I wouldn't say that.

Come on, that's not nice. He lived in Philadelphia. Brotherly love. Hamas is a terror organization. I'm sick of this crap talk. Like, it's a, our, it's just juju. This is why I love what you're doing, Adam, is because you are you are entertaining with intelligence and you get us to laugh at things.

It's my favorite thing about comedy. It's my favorite thing about Louis CK, about George Carlin, who was a hero to me personally, is that you get us to laugh at things that we're not supposed to laugh at. And that's a really great perspective builder. So you didn't think it was weird when I was on your show that you four guys were telling me what antisemitism is? You didn't think that was a little kind of weird?

I don't think it's weird because you didn't seem to know at the time. But I do think that you should know what it was. What are you talking about? Do you didn't just see what I'm saying? Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth? If someone's objectively watching that, and you guys are telling a Jewish person

about how bad campus protests is for me, isn't that a little bit like you should maybe that campus protests is for me, like isn't that like a little bit like you should maybe, maybe like listen to- Defer to the Jew? Yeah, I'm Jewish, I know, I know. But what happens when the Jewish person doesn't seem to recognize what was obvious about what was happening on campus?

What, there's protesting a war? It's not protesting a war. Being pro-Hamas is not protesting a war. Yeah, they said it was pro-Viet Cong. Chasing Jewish kids on your desks is not protesting a war. They said it was pro-Viet Cong back in Vietnam. It's the same attack every time. The sign says pro-Hamas.

The sign. Whose sign? The ones the kids are holding. You understand that like half of those kids are Jewish, right? No, not half. Some were Jewish. Hamas didn't find like kids in a college and say, okay, here's your first mission.

You have to protest at, like, it's a stupid thing. It's like, as if like, it doesn't sound like you guys are like aware of like what the real world is like, and it, it honestly like the word antisemitism loses its value when, when you say that like, Oh, so people it's the first amendment. Okay. You do you remember that you're a lawyer, Skokie Illinois. Okay. When I was a kid, I was in government class. I thought it was so sick that there were Jewish lawyers at the ACLU who said, even though these people

are Nazis, right? And even though this community has Holocaust survivors in it, the First Amendment is so important that we, that's like a great thing about America. If we're, now we're gonna suspend the First Amendment? No, you cannot suspend it. You cannot censor, you cannot censor speech. They arrested that guy that was here legally

and like, because he was organizing protests against Israel. Like what, why, that, it really doesn't look good for Jewish people, right? The First Amendment matters. That's why the Jewish lawyers defended the Nazis in Skokie. Okay, so it's just like, don't change the rules. It's America. I am not changing the rules.

I do not believe in censoring speech. I do not believe in any type of censorship. I think you have to allow all ideas. Half of those kids at Columbia are Jewish. They're having like Shabbat in the fucking encampment. It's just, it's a stupid argument, okay? If you want to say someone like, I don't think it's a stupid argument.

Someone doing violence is anti-Semitic, yes. I think whether or not to have the First Amendment is a stupid argument because we have to have it, you have to allow the free exercise. However. In the 1970s, they literally bombed university buildings. Yeah, but that's just because that was wrong. Doesn't mean that this isn't wrong. Just because that was wrong doesn't mean this

is wrong. I don't think it's good for Jews. Universities have a responsibility that they failed on, in my opinion. What is that? I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a university. I'm not saying that you shouldn't allow protest, but when you have kids who are made to feel unsafe, especially on these campuses that are all about woke and all about liberal thinking, and you just happen to let some kids that look white,

but they're really Jews, get chased so that they have to hide. And you say that's okay, and people take over your buildings, and you say that's okay, but if they use the wrong pronoun, they get thrown out of school, I think that you have a problem.

Is that a real thing? That's a real thing. If you're not woke, you get kicked out of college? You could violate campus rules of standards. Your Hamas, you're okay. All right, I don't know, dude. It's just like we should leave. These kids had to stay home from school for two years.

They've been through a lot, okay? We shouldn't, when we reference young people, we don't recognize the fact that like, they like went through COVID, they had to be with their parents. Like just like you just give these kids a fucking break. Your generation specifically. They are not the problem.

Your generation gets beaten up a lot. And people have done sit-ins. They have done sit-ins in college campuses previously. You don't have to say that these like girls, these like are fucking Hamas. Do you know they're not? Look, I will first of all that that's not true. I have big fears about radicalization and fundamentalism and extreme thinking taking root in America. But we're but we're saying what playbook is this? Is it like is it right after 9-11? We're saying two different things. We're saying two different things.

I agree with you about your generation. Where is Hamas in America? Where's the Hamas fundamental? It's not Hamas per se, but fundamentalism and extreme thinking is being fed on social media all the time. And there is a reason that we just saw the guy in Minnesota right after we saw the guy in Boulder,

right after we saw the guy at the embassy, right after we saw the IVF bombing, right after the CEO healthcare. Okay, so, but there's a deeper problem. Fundamentalism is a result. What is the deeper issue that's promoting this? What do you think it is? I think loneliness, alienation.

I agree. People aren't part of communities anymore. Like I think that, yes, if you do a mass shooting, it's by definition an anti-social act. You don't see yourself as part of a community. I think that people are like, and to be honest with you, the economy used to be able to absorb labor at a different rate, and there were a lot of people

now squeezed out of the economy. Yes, they are disaffected, they don't have purpose, they don't have dreams. We investigate Muslim violence. Maybe we should investigate the why are people so fucking broke? Yes. That's like you're not you're just addressing the symptoms. You're not addressing. And also where is the fucking

fundamentalist Muslim terror? What's going on? We haven't seen Muslim terror in America. Like they're talking about it like it's the biggest threat. We haven't seen it the way we see it in other parts of the world. We saw January 6th. That's, they didn't know. We saw 9-11 too.

Yeah, like since 9-11 we haven't, nothing, right? And we fucked up in the Middle East. I thought we were cool with them. Not anymore. Well, great. We're going back to this. It's hot and I thought we were cool with them. Not anymore. Oh, great. We're going back to this. It's hot and heavy, but I am with you. I gave the Democrats a slogan that they ignored.

Less about who's woke, more about who's broke. That that's what they should have done. Yeah, well, you know why they're doing that. Yeah, because it works in the politics of division. It doesn't work, they lose. No, but I mean, that's what beat them. MAGA is the right version of woke. No, it's because the Democratic Party isn't offering anything of substance. So they have to like say, what we like gay people. What is the Republican? What is MAGA offering of substance? The man changes his policies every 15 minutes.

It was an outrage movement. It was grievance. It was payback. So then a deeper question, why is there outrage in America? Because there is grounds for outrage. People can't live the way they want. They can't have the way they want.

They see a system that seems to create different outcomes for different people. You don a system that seems to create different outcomes for different people. You don't think that like basically we made trade agreements in the 90s, we gutted our industrial core. There are a ton of places in America that are homogeneously white and economically depressed. And if Trump says it's these people's fault, then he gives people... The rationale that you offer is different. What happened was the economy changed, opportunity existed in other places, America enabled that shift and did not prepare its

workforce or its economy for what they knew was coming. And they allowed other countries to do that, specifically China. They allowed China to prepare for the jobs of the new economy and did not prepare ourselves and they let the companies go over there and reap the benefits and hurt our own workforce and long-term economics. Maybe in a simple sense, just Bill Clinton just kind of sold out the Democratic party. Wasn't just Bill Clinton because the Republican Congress worked with him to let China into the WTO.

The Democrats in Congress were against it. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, you're older than me. Like, were the Democratic Party prior to like the new Democrats in 92 were more of a working class base? That's all they were. My father was all working class all the time. So you think that like- He's what they used to call a tax and spend liberal

because he believed government was about taking from those who have and helping those who don't have. So you don't think that abandoning the working class has prompted kind of like this outrage that you're saying? I think what has been done to the working class has prompted kind of like this outrage that you're saying? Like 20, 30 years in a row. I think what has been done to the working class, what has been done to the working class, not what the working class has done to, what has been done to the working class.

I would tend to agree. That's the truth. Yeah, I agree. That's where it is. And your generation has been uniquely bathed in the worst of human experience, starting with 9-11. Then you had a huge economic downturn and a massive crisis. You had horrible politics.

Then you had 20 years of war that yielded nothing and made no sense. It was based on a lie. Then you're like COVID. America was pretty happy before 9-11, you remember? Nine, yeah, before 9-11, it was different. I've been watching West Wing recently, the topics they discuss as like the issues of the day,

they're like hilariously quaint. Yes. They're like, should gay people be in the army and like, yeah, school uniforms, that was like a big thing. Like we had nothing going on. It was awesome. We still create our own problems. We're so rich. The idea that what I hear all the time is,

Chris, a guy your size shouldn't play against my daughter in volleyball in high school. Oh, who cares? It's like, this is what we're worried about. Yeah, but one is too many. These are problems of our own creation because we don't have real crises. Or at least we don't focus on the real crises we have. Let's be honest, have you tried to watch the WNBA?

Ridiculous. They mislaid it. It's not the NBA, that's be honest. Have you tried to watch the WNBA? Ridiculous they miss land be a that's for sure. I like Caitlin Clark This is like a couple the other ones, but it ain't the NBA This is what they deserve for trying to play sports like not just kid. That's the notes too late Adam. You know No, I don't care dude. You can't cancel a man who's already dead. No, I I just think that like Dude, you can't cancel a man who's already dead. No, I just think that like, yeah, it was a really happy time, the 90s, yeah. I've said this before, like my friend's parents were getting hummers.

How awesome is that? We had different problems. A car that was like too big. We've always been caught, my whole life, the 25 years, the half of my life that I've been in this business, I have always been fascinated by how I feel like we're making shit up to be angry about.

And every time you go anywhere else in the world as a journalist, they're dealing with things that they can't make up. Yeah, because we're killing them. Sometimes it's because we're killing them. Sometimes it's because we're starving them. Sometimes it's because we're killing them. Sometimes it's because we're starving them. Sometimes it's because we're exploiting them. Sometimes it's because we're not helping them. But it's always real.

And here we make shit up. Well, we got cool, like we're the best at sports and we make awesome, we make good fellows, great movies. Yeah, rock and roll was dope. As like a cultural exporter, I'm pretty patriotic, but. Now we have the Kardashians of kind of how we're known, most of the world. Who cares?

That was one of the most iconic sex tapes I've ever seen. No, I mean, but like, what I'm saying is this, is like, but like, you know, as a political hegemon, you know, we've funded kind of, you know, as a political hegemon, you know, we've funded kind of, you know, mercenaries and executions and... Yeah, nobody's got clean hands. No country has clean hands. No great power has clean hands.

The Chinese Communist Party, they're pretty... Tell that to those million Uighurs sitting in that concentration camp that they have. Well, they shouldn't have been talking like black guys. I mean, that's cultural appropriation. They shouldn't have been pretending to have a religion. Oh, I thought you were, you said Uyghur. I thought you meant. You're a church.

I'm sorry. Anyway, yeah, I don't know. I'm pro-CCP. That's the main point of what I'm saying. You're a dope. Who are the five people that you want to have on your show? Xi Jinping. Don.

Jackie Chan. Were He Alive, Mao Zedong. Who else is Chinese? Yao Ming. Would you want the, Yao Ming, he wouldn't fit in the studio. Would you want Donald Trump on the show? Yeah, for sure. Would you want Kamala Harris on the show? Sure, yeah.

Would you want Shaq on the show? Yeah, of course. I mean, is there a perfect guest for you? Trump is like hard mode. He's the hardest one. I've been listening to Howard and all of his Trump interviews and Howard's like amazing at it.

Cause he just tells Trump he gets so many women. He's just like, he just calls him a pimp basically and Trump eats it up. Well, that was before. Now they don't like each other. Well, I think Howard kind of maybe had a little guilt about, you know, I'm not sure who cares. Feeding him

and making him into something. Yeah, and also COVID, I think he's like, afraid to go outside and stuff like that too. Well, let me tell you something, Adam Friedland. What? I feel like- I am a big fan of what you're doing. Thank you. And I wish you continued success

and I am always a call away if I can help in any way. Why are you asking me about Iran? We could have riffed, we could have talked about like, I don't know, the NBA finals. We gotta talk about this heavy ass, I don't, first of all guys, I don't know anything about anything, okay, but I do know more than Chris. What is that in your pocket?

What is that, Zin? Yeah, Zin. Why don't you smoke like a man? Because I can't do it inside. What am I, like Edward R. Murrow? Aren't you? Did you ever smoke cigarettes? I did, I used to love them.

What was your brand? Camelites or Marvel Red. You should bring that back to doing the news with a cig. No, I can't. It was making me so sick. I only smoke cigars. Thank you for having me. I love you.

I believe in you. And I enjoy you. Yeah, yeah. Thanks a lot. Check out the Adam Friedland show. He's funny. He's ironic, but he's thoughtful. And I think it's that last piece that makes the difference and is a differentiator for

him in the podcast space. They're funny people, they're funny people who are trying to be provocative and outrageous, but there aren't funny people who are trying to be thoughtful and balanced and funny, but also wise. And I think this young man, Adam Friedland, can check those boxes. What do you think? Let me know. Thank you for subscribing here at The Chris Cuomo Project.

Thank you for the follows. Thank you for News Nation and coming there at 8P and 11P Eastern every weekday night. Thank you for being part of the Substack, wearing your independence with your free agent gear and subscribing there so I can use the money from the free agent stuff, the Substack to subsidize long COVID treatment for people and contributions from all of us. My friends, let's get after it.