The Chris Cuomo Project - Chris Cuomo responds to backlash over his takes on Trump, Project 2025, the election & more

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

Chris Cuomo dives into the latest YouTube comments from viewers, addressing tough feedback on his takes about Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Project 2025, and the state of the two-party system. Chris also responds to calls about the influence of celebrities in politics, security concerns for political figures following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and more. 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 Support our sponsors: Try AG1 today and get their special offer of TEN, yes ten, free travel packs, AND a bottle of Vitamin D3K2 with your first purchase at drinkAG1.com/CCP. TEXT CHRIS TO 511511 OR ON THE WEB AT RADIOACTIVEMEDIA.COM. TEXT RATES MAY APPLY. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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with iGaming Ontario. All right, my friends, you have your comments and now I will respond. I am Chris Cuomo. Welcome to The Chris Cuomo Project where I take your feedback seriously. You have a comment, positive, negative, neutral. Greg looks at them, we digest them, and now we respond. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from GetMainLobster.com. And I gotta tell you, we're coming into the holidays. Now, of course, if you're an extension of the Mishpoka, lobster is treif, but for the rest of us, it's good eatin' at holiday time. Get Main Lobster, the number one lobster delivery service in America

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That is some trial period, a dollar a month. Go to Shopify.com slash Chris C, or lowercase, Shopify.com slash Chris C. Upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com slash Chris C. We have to go to these YouTube comments. Okay. Because usually we go through and comb, we find the best comments that people have left who have watched.

No, this is a serious one today. This is a serious one. We have a real problem. Well, let me lay this out. We have two videos that have come out in recent days. One of them about your comparison of the boogeyman. You call the battle of the boogeyman, Project 2025 and the radical left.

And it's about how both of these things are propped up by each side and targeted however they choose. Because they are. And then there's also a video called Why Hillary Clinton is Wrong about Punishing Misinformation. And there's one that you play this clip and it's her talking to Rachel Maddow about how, in light of all those YouTubers who got caught up in that Russian disinformation thing, she wants to be able to, or she insinuates that, you know, there might be, there should be some sort of punishment for that sort of thing. Anyway, you can watch the whole videos.

I'm just giving you a summary based on the thumbnails I'm reading. Your YouTube channel is usually very good, has a lot of loyal viewers, a lot of loyal commenters. These two videos are among the worst rated videos we have ever put out. There are some guests that maybe didn't do so hot, but these are of all your commentaries. One of them currently has the like to dislike ratio. It's important, it tells us how many people like it, how many don't dislike it.

The Hillary Clinton video has an 83% ratio and the Project 2025 one has an 86% ratio. I'm teeing all this up because a lot of the comments I'm finding are very similar and they're speaking to the way you're approaching these subjects. And I'm hearing a lot of the same things. From the video about Project 2025 and the radical left, Thomas Clark, 5,688. Cuomo, you've lost it.

What happened to you? So many false equivalencies in your arguments that I can't listen anymore. 65 likes and then a bunch of people replied. A subscriber, Clark Hedian, 305 says, yeah, I'm afraid I've gotten to that point. Feels weird, but I think I'm about to unsubscribe. Been watching Cuomo for a decade, man.

SMH, and that means shaking my head like this. You are the problem, not me. You are the problem. Now I know I'm supposed to be apologetic and try to ameliorate your concerns and bring you into the fold. Nope, see ya. Why?

This is for critical thinkers. It's not about false equivalencies. False equivalency is where you see someone pushing someone in the chest and the same as hitting them with an anvil. That's not what I'm doing. I'm comparing the boogeyman of each side. If you believe that the boogeyman of the left,

which is that she's a commie, is nonsense compared to the threats that Project 2025... Fine. That's your choice. That's not me setting up a false equivalency. Is the bogeyman of the left that Trump is going to destroy democracy? Fuck yes, that's what it is. Period. And if you don't agree with that, too fucking bad. That's what it is. Now, is the boogeyman on the right that she is a commie and Walls is a Manchurian candidate and they're going to make... Yeah, that is their boogeyman. They have other ones, but that's their boogeyman. I think they're both bullshit. Now, do I think that the Project 2025 has more to it than she's a commie? Yeah, I do. Do I think that it's a real threat to our institutions?

No, I don't. Now, do you like that? No, because you want me to savage Trump and ignore or build up Harris because you want her to win. And you will justify it to yourself by saying, well, this is no normal election, because Trump is really, I have been told that shit every election that I've ever covered.

It's always the most important election. There's always a danger involved. Now, is it easier to make that case with Trump? Yeah, especially after January 6th. And I think he disqualified himself from higher office 10 times over. And that was certainly one of them. But yet here he is.

And he may be stronger than ever. And you may well lose to him. Now is any of that educational to you? No, just makes you condemn your fellow countrymen. They're so stupid. They're so bigoted. They're so racist. I've lost it.

I haven't lost shit. I've never been better. I've never been more on my game. I've never had better acuity. I've never been better connected. Did you know? I speak to members of the elected leadership of both parties on a weekly basis. Whether it's them directly or their staffers

or outside advisors, I am more plugged in than I have ever been before. When's the last time you heard me get something wrong, by the way? I'm not saying like the name of this band or what I think is gonna happen in elections, things that you can't really know. But I told you that immigration bill wasn't gonna pass.

How did I know? Because they were telling me. They tell me things. Now I don't repeat them all the time. Why? Because a lot of it doesn't matter to you. It matters to me to inform my conceptual sensibility about what matters and what doesn't, and how should I value this, and how should I weigh it,

and how should I try to explain it, and how can I provide food for thought on this. It matters to me more than it matters to you. In terms of hearing that I spoke to them, I told you that I spoke to Trump the other day because it was instructive of a point I was trying to make and a lot of you saying people shit all over me. What happened to you, Chris?

Why are you a Trumper? I am no fucking Trumper. Do you understand? I do not support Trump. I have never supported Trump. I would never support Trump. Okay, why? Because to me, I want leaders who are better than me.

Okay? I want character to count. I want them to be an exemplar, that man, that woman. I want them to mean something to me that I don't mean to myself. I know that's asking too much. I know, but I'm telling you what I want. Okay? And whether I can get it is something totally different. But I care whether or not someone puts a bullet in his head, God forbid. I care about how his family has to process it, because I lived that.

And I can't believe that you don't care, because you don't like his politics, because you think he's an asshole. So it's okay if someone tries to kill him. I didn't say it was okay. Yeah, but you were pretty quiet about it. AOC is more upset about her office being vandalized than her colleague, Annapolina Luna, having someone send a bomb threat to her house where a one-year-old is. Yeah, but Annapolina Luna is loony. Luna is loony.

And? So people should threaten the home where her baby is? Seriously? Look, this is not virtue signaling. This is fucking frightening in humanity, all right? And if you're better than them the way you tell yourselves you are, why aren't you better to them? Why don't you treat them with the respect and the compassion that you would any other pathetic thing that you're better than, right? I mean, if that's the way you choose to see it,

that these people are stupid and beneath you, well, then why don't you go and pat them on the head? Show a little of what in Latin they used to call noblesse oblige, you know what that is? That's where the nobility, the let them eat cake vibe of, oh, poor you, poor you little Trumper. Why aren't you like that? Why do you surrender to the incivility

of not giving a shit what happens to them physically? You cats were way too quiet when that psycho shot up Scalise and all those members of Congress, too. Oh, well, he wasn't really a Democrat. He's really... Just have some fucking compassion. I'm comparing the boogeymen from both sides. That doesn't mean I see them as equal. Do you know nothing of math or logic? Just because you're comparing things, does that mean you're saying they're equally weighted?

Of course not. But this is symptomatic of the disease that's destroying our dialogue. It's not enough for you that I criticize the other side. I can only criticize them. And I must only laud your side or ignore any weaknesses or give it just a kind of light treatment. Otherwise, you think I've changed. No, you've changed. This is from the misinformation episode and it's along those same lines.

This is the type of conversation that's playing out in your comments right now. Krista Sparks, 9059 says, Chris, I think you're losing it. Such a disappointment. Joaquin Santana, 511 replies, he's not losing it, he's seized through all the lies. So it's this like, both of your audiences right now are battling, the people, the independence

and the people who wanna hear one thing from you are kind of going at it these days. I just didn't know if I wanted to speak to that. While this is changing as a dynamic, it is still a fair frame of reference that people who take the time to comment on videos on social media, we are dealing with people who are already

very, very invested, okay? Very, very invested. Well, who's Johnny54 said, "'Okay, Chris, you made a deal with Satan. "'It's quite obvious now.'" Okay, what's obvious is that you are too much of a pussy to put your real first and last name as your avatar, your screen name.

And I think all of you should do that. Oh, no, Johnny put his... Who's Johnny put his... Johnny 5054? Yeah, it's a man going like this. Yeah, but what's his last name? Where does he live? Where does he work? I'd have to do some sort of research or something. Because you're all about transparency, right?

And you're all about just keeping it real, right? And you're just about the facts, right? Why don't you put your real name there? Oh, because then people will target me, and that's not right, and it chills my speech. I don't think the analysis is that simple, to be honest. I think there's cowardice involved here also. It's not like you're speaking against the Gestapo, okay? And you're worried against the Gestapo, okay?

And you're worried about the Gestapo, such elements coming to kill you back in World War II days, okay? No, there's a convenience to your anonymity and you use it, you use it as a sword and a shield, all right? And it gives me pause. I'm not sure how to feel about it yet because I do wanna protect people and I do wanna,

what's the overriding value? Speech, exchange. I don't know that we're feeding that though. What you're feeding is cheap shots, gotchas, misinformation and disinformation. Yeah, we should outlaw all that shit. No, I don't think so. But we have to find other solutions and other ways.

So I'm not losing it. I've never been more with it. And I'm not losing it. I've never been more with it. And I have not had any change. I've adjusted what I think I can do to help what I think we need, but I'm not a different person. I'm certainly no fucking Trump supporter, okay? I don't believe in mean. I don't believe in harsh strength. I don't believe in harsh strength.

I don't believe in bullies, okay? As someone who was bullied, who has shaped a lot of my own personal, my persona to fight back, I don't even think I was naturally supposed to be the way I am, to be honest. I think that I had a lot more sensitivity in me, a lot more vulnerability in me,

and I hardened myself to deal with what was around me. And then I wound up going into the absolute thunderdome of that dynamic. And so I don't have any part of me that wants to be part of something that's bullying or harsh or anything like that. I seek men out who are like that to take down one way or another,

even better if it's physical, because I'm not as civilized as many of the rest of you. Another reason I'm not a leader. I believe that sometimes is the best way to decide certain disputes. I know that's fucked up, but I'm not asking you to be like me and I'm not asking for your vote either.

But you're not losing me, I'm losing you. Because I'm not gonna play your stupid game. It's making us sick. You don't wanna hear anything about Harris because you think it helps Trump. You only wanna hear bad things about Trump, and if people don't tell you bad things about Trump, you think something's wrong with them.

You need to look at yourself. Well, let me wrap this up with one comment from the Boogie Man video from Gerard Gervayevich7276. Why did thy Kleenex dance the disco so well? It had a little boogie in it. What? I think it's a joke. Why did thy Kleenex dance the disco so well?

Why did the Kleenex? It says thy. I know, it was a mistake. No, thy is also grammatically correct. Why did the Kleenex dance the disco so well? It had a little boogie in it. The disco. Yeah, there's an emoji of a disco guy, yeah.

There must be an old guy. It's just the letter G as far as I can see. Because who says the disco? Thy Kleenex, the disco. Thy is a typo. I think the disco, the disco is a type of dance, not just dance disco. Why do they dance the disco?

Nobody says that. Well, a lot of people don't talk about disco in general. But nobody says the disco. That's how people spoke where I came from when they talked about diseases, the cancer. That's how people spoke where I came from when they talked about diseases, the cancer. Well, you haven't laughed at the punchline yet. Yeah, it's stupid.

Well, hold on, let me try it again. Why did the Kleenex dance the disco so well? That was not the punchline, that was the setup. Why, why? It had a little boogie in it. Yikes. All right, I'm trying to add some levity to the end of it. I don't want levity.

Oh, God. I don't want levity. No. I don't want levity. I don't want levity. I want intensity. I want critical thought. I want passion of purpose. This is not for you. I am not for you if what you want is confirmation of what you already believe. There is plenty of that.

It is why I don't grow the way other platforms grow. Because I am not picking a side in a poison game. I hate, you wanna use hate? Everybody likes the word hate these days. Why do we tell our kids not to use it? Because really, it doesn't mean just dislike, extreme dislike, it means that you wish ill will on whatever the object of your animus is, right? Whatever you are hateful toward.

I hate that. Okay? I wish that would die. I wish that would suffer and die. That instinct, that inclination. Okay? What I absolutely believe is the problem is the two-party system. And you know, the excuses we get for maintaining it are proof is the problem, is the two party system. And you know, the excuses we get for maintaining it

are proof of the problem. Well, it's how it is. Well, this is all we got. This is what it is. If America had settled that way on anything else, we would never be here. Well, the British are always gonna be there, is how it is.

They're the bigger ones, and then we always gonna have a king. It's just that we wouldn't even exist. Right? Jim Crow, anti-miscegenation laws, all of this stupid shit, separate but equal, this is just how it is, just how it is. Americans don't accept things because they're just how it is, all right?

We fuck with stuff, we mess with it. We try to get to a better place. You gotta get uncomfortable again. You should not be so comfortable with your convictions. You shouldn't be. Kamala Harris is not a godsend. All right? You people didn't even like her six months ago.

Now all of a sudden, she's black female Jesus. The way Obama was black Jesus. And let me tell you something, he had a lot more going for him than Kamala Harris does. And not just as firsts go, but his type of campaigning, his type of persuasion, his charisma, okay? He was imbued with things that she is not.

And I don't mean that as a criticism, it's just a point of comparison. And her process fucked her also. There's a convenience in it, but it fucked her also, because there are a lot of misgivings about her. There is an underlying feeling that she didn't get this the right way. She may not have won a primary. She didn't even make it to the first round of primaries when she did run.

And that is both fair and unfair at the same time. But look, this idea of don't say anything bad about her because Trump, I don't buy that. I don't buy that. And it's not how you get to a better place. It's a relative assessment. She has negatives. So does he. Does he have more? Yeah. He also has a way more intense following. That's why this race is so tight. Now explain that to me. Unless you want to write off half this country as bigots, how do you explain it being so tight? Maybe you're not as right about everything as you think you are. Maybe you should be a little bit more open

to the people that you disagree with. Maybe they're not all racists. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from Everyday Dose, okay? Next generation of coffee. Everyday dose is coffee plus. Plus what? Functional mushrooms, nootropics, collagen protein.

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Hi, Cliff. My name is Cliff. I live in California. I would just like to know why people in general listen to celebrities, stars, TV on movie, singers or sports bros about anything that has to do about people who are running for offices. They don't work nine to five. They have tons of money. So they're just not like the normal people. And I would just like you to maybe address that and just maybe see why people are kind of drawn to that. That's all I wanted to ask you about. Thank you, bye bye. Cachet, cachet my brother.

It's about what you value in a society. You go to France, you go to Europe, they'll be talking about their philosophers, their poets, their thought leaders. There's a whole different category of people that don't get a lot of respect here yet. Got a lot of people who are fugazi figures in that regard, trying to pass them off as thought leaders on digital media and podcasts,

but they're not really, not really. But why do I say that? Because they're not really philosophical. They're not about anything deep except advantage and clicks and resonating. But why do I say that? Because they're not really philosophical. They're not about anything deep except advantage and clicks and resonating. But cache is why we like celebrities. One of the things that was most misunderstood

about Donald Trump was that the media that thought they knew him, because so many of us are in New York and that's where he's from, and kind of wrote him off as a joke, didn't remember or forgot that celebrities are a big deal in America and to the rest of the country, Trump was a TV star and that matters.

And it's not a coincidence that not until George Clooney made noise about Biden did the media pick up on it. Now a lot of this is we feed it, right? The media cares about celebrities more because they get more attention from you and you care about the celebrities more because they get more attention from the media. And also there's an aspirational point, they have cache.

And that's why we listen to them. Should we? I don't know. I mean, it's easy to say no, stick to your own lane. I disagree with your point about because they have a lot of money, they're not like the rest of us and they don't know anything.

That's not true. You can be rich and still very aware of what problems are in realities, and you can be rich and be clueless and you can be poor and be clueless of anything outside your own situation. So let's be a little bit more gentle and nuanced with how we judge wealth, success. I always thought that was the American dream. I always thought that what people wanted was to come here, succeed or fail on their own merits and get rich and do what they wanted with that money or do nothing with it. I thought that was the dream.

Now it's a bad thing. I just want to chime in. I have my own little TikTok and YouTube channel and I put out this video the other day about those astronauts who are stuck aboard the International Space Station who can't come home. Check it out if you haven't heard about that story. But I made this video about how they just requested their absentee ballot from space. And if you're in space, you can vote from space.

It's very cool. And in the comments, similar to this caller, they were like, finally, some people who are not telling us how to vote, just to vote, I'm so sick of celebrities, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I thought it was so funny that like, this little silly thing for like national register to vote day of the astronauts,

their hair going everywhere being like, I'm gonna vote, and then like people piling on, and all the other comments were like, they didn't mention celebrities, what are you talking about? And it's like, it's such a flash point of, with Taylor Swift endorsing Kamala and then Trump saying, I hate Kamala.

I just think what you were saying, the way that this country reveres celebrities instead of thinkers or something like that, it is very, it's a little match you can very quickly ignite. You know what I mean? Well, we've also been conditioned to it, right? Who sells us commercials? Celebrities, right?

If you can get a celebrity spokesperson, or you make your own. The Verizon guy, you know, or Where's the Beef, or any of these pitch people. Those are some old commercials. You know, or whatever it is. I can't think of any newer ones. I guess the Geico lady.

No, the Geico is a gecko. It's like a lizard. It was. The lady is- Liz. No, she's progressive. Oh gecko. It's like a lizard. It was. The lady is Liz. No, she's progressive. Oh, progressive. Yeah, progressive. Yeah, so we either make celebrities of our own

or we pay them to be the pitch men because people like them. It's likeability. And you'd rather listen to somebody you like. Why do people on TV tend to be better looking than the mean? Because we'd rather look at somebody who's good looking than not. You know, a lot of it gets pretty simple.

And it's how you use these suggestions, how you use these conditions and to what effect. But I'll tell you what, when people are like, oh, they, you know, I don't wanna hear from these famous people, bullshit. You don't wanna hear what you don't like from them. Right? All of a sudden you're a Kid Rock fan

because he's a Trumper. I'm sure you really just download all his stuff before that, right? To me, a lot of it is convenience, confirmation bias, group think. You don't care if famous people are telling you shit. You're fine listening to them. You care about Taylor Swift.

You care about Kim Kardashian. You know, you talk about perversity. Now, I don't beat up on, I'm not a judgy guy, okay? I am flawed, I fail all the time, I am nobody. I'm not asking for your vote. I'm no one, I'm not a leader, I don't wanna be. And Kardashian and her sisters and her mom, they have made themselves billionaires.

And that is impressive. Look, that's impressive, period. Is that what I'm about? No, I don't believe in just finding ways to make as much money as possible. For me personally, I celebrate it and others, good for them. For her to do it the way she started, by literally being like a pin cushion

and a sex film with Ray J is only in America. Only in America can somebody start the way she did in terms of our collective recognition of her existence and now be one of the most influential people in society. There is something sad, but also encouraging about that. I'd ask you if you've seen that film, but I think I know the answer. First of all, I saw it.

And having Ray J on my show the other night on News Nation was uncomfortable for me. I appreciated his acumen and his insight. I thought he spoke very well about hip hop. A lot of people beat him up. They, that's part of the price of entry of wanting to be relevant these days. But having seen that film, I watched it.

When it first came out, I watched it. I like using the word film as if it's a cinema. Like it's a, like it's Megalopolis. That, and I'll tell you something else. I'll tell you something else. I am old enough to remember when that came out and how Kim Kardashian was first received that film, all of the hype, she was the received. In so many ways. All of the hype, she was the receiver. The film, the video, whatever, it was all about Ray J in the beginning,

because he's Brandy's brother. And Brandy was a huge pop star at the time. And then the Kim Kardashian was, she was either drunk or hungover or sleeping or a combination or whatever, so often that he would be coming in and starting these sexual escapades, that the joke was, who is this woman sleeping through sex with this guy?

She was a joke. And now the joke's on us, because she is one of the most influential and wealthy people in American society. There you go. Hi, Chris. I'm the old retired fire chief down here in Palm Beach, Florida. Man, I'll tell you what, being a 70-year-old guy growing up in the 60s with John Kennedy

being assassinated, I'm scared to death that our government's not taking this stuff seriously enough. Why aren't we using special forces to have people instead of Secret Service, which isn't just a cut above maybe a sheriff, at least in my estimation of the people I've known down here. I think we need to have a little more serious conversation about that or we're going to be right back to what we had in the 60s. The other thing is Trump, his properties down here, his kids and everything else, he expects the government to do the things that he should be doing himself. We've got some gated communities with billionaires living down here and they patrol their own golf courses and their own borders and they have timbers of

why the hell doesn't he have that down there on his golf courses? Why is he relying on you and I, taxpayers to do everything that needs to be done there, whether he's in office or not in office. And you know, a long history of using the government to take care of him and then complaining about the government. And now we're headed down that path. We're going to be spending more and doing stuff that needs to be done, but he could help out. He could help out by not making himself so vulnerable. But anyway, Chris, I just thought I'd mention that. Take care. I hope you and your family are doing well.

themselves as vulnerable. But anyway, Chris, I just thought I'd mention that. Take care, I hope you and your family are doing well. So look, one, I appreciate that you care. I know that's a low bar, but let's start there because most people don't, especially once you say Trump. You say Trump, you say Harris, people feel differently about whether or not someone's trying to kill him. And that is so fucked up.

And that's not me being kumbaya. That's not me trying to like virtue signal. That's bullshit. That's virtue signaling, care if someone tries to kill someone running for office. What the hell is wrong with us? Now what's the fix? Well, part of it is what you just did, Neil.

Given a damn, whether you like the person or not, whether you wanna vote for them or not, whether you agree or not, they're human beings. You gotta care. You don't gotta invite them to your house for dinner, but you gotta care whether someone tries to kill them. It's crazy how quiet we are about things

that unless it's our side, then we're loud about them. Secret Service have done the job very, very well. They fucked up in Butler. They did. I don't think it was intentional. I think that they screwed up and I think they got to find ways to get better. And part of it may be budgeting

and part of it is accountability. Putting special operators there is a waste of special operators. They are not security guards. Do we have to do better? Yes. Have they done a great job? Yeah, they have overall. But I love that you are concerned about safety and making those things better and just caring

about it. That is the currency that matters most. The coin of the realm should be compassion. The more we care about each other, the better off we'll be. better off will be. Chris, this is Tor. My question is, Camelia Harris, she was a pretty far left wing Democrat, and now she's trying to become a moderate. Who is she really, and what's she going to be after she gets elected, if she gets elected? Is she truly going to change everything, all her background and beliefs, and be someone different? Or is she gonna revert back?

She's just doing this to get elected. Thank you. Well, legit, legit. She has flopped around more than many, okay? Especially at this level of the game. Now, let's not get crazy. They all do this, okay? Yeah, but she's done it more, okay.

But Trump does it, Biden does it, everybody does it. Everybody changes positions for pragmatic reasons because they wanna get elected, exactly, as you suggested. So we don't know what she's gonna be. That is an issue for her. That's why she should be doing more interviews, more talking to you about what she wants to do and how she wants to do it, because I believe she has a burden to satisfy because of the changes. And yes, the unknown can be a little scary. Now, I

do think that you have to bracket that within the realities of the party system and what her caucus wants in Congress and what her party and the other elected leaders are going to be telling her they want, right? That's gonna determine a lot of it. And I do not think that this woman is, not unlike Trump, I don't think she comes in here with this set of passions and hard wrought principles

that she's gonna put into effect. And she's not even being elected for a specific change. So I don't see it as frightening a proposition from a political perspective, but there is a higher burden, a greater burden for her because of how many changes that seem to be sheer pragmatism, so you don't know what she's about. But again, the assessment is relative.

You know, what's Trump about? He's not just about advantage. He's not about doing whatever he has to do to win, saying whatever he has to say. Really? I think he is. And I think you get the leadership you deserve. I do.

I think we keep getting shitty leaders because we keep tolerating it. And we don't push back against this two party system and their closed primaries and their stilted system and all the money they get to choke us with. I think you get the leadership you deserve. And until you get pissed off and we have a bottom up movement to make it different,

it's only gonna get worse. I mean, do you live to bother me? No, first of all, I think the top of that is our theme song. Do you hear that? That sounds like the theme music to the program. I thought I think so. That sounds like the theme music to the program. I thought I heard singing. Well, I'm here. I'm going to play it one more time.

I don't think so. Amrish is right here and he's a music producer. He doesn't have headphones on. He has no idea what I'm playing. Yeah, he'll listen later. I'm trying. I'm not playing this to- You're bothering me.

I'm not playing this to bother you. That's what you're doing. Yeah, he'll listen later. I'm not playing this to bother you or what you are. You're bothering me. I'm not playing this to bother you or what you are. That's what you're doing. Yes, you are. I want to show you who called and let this for you. Tom Brady. That is the name of the caller ID of who recorded your theme song and called in to leave that message for you.

Tom Brady is listening to the program. Did you see him on Sunday Night Football? I don't watch anything related to the National Football League. I'm not a sports guy. But Tom Brady, as far as I know, is a famous athlete. Hold on one second. Oh, God. Did you just say that you don't watch anything related to the NFL and you're not a sports guy?

That's correct. But I know who Tom Brady is. And you were allowed to procreate in America? I have a daughter who will grow up and not watch the National Football League. I'm very excited. She may play in the National Football League for all you know. You crazy lefties. You're making it seem like my head is the one who's getting beaten around in a helmet all the time. Well, something happened. You don't watch anything. Tom Brady called. Do you have a message for Tom? It's a different Tom Brady, although I gotta tell you. We don't know which Tom Brady. It could be that one. He did not knock the cover off the ball Sunday night. I know it's way too high a bar,

because all the money he's getting, and everybody lionizes him, so he's, you know, it's hard to satisfy, but I really do believe he's got to work on his game. Wait, I thought he was an announcer now. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Oh. And I don't think that was our theme music, by the way.

I'm pretty sure it was the theme music. The closing theme music. Amrish, Captain Caveman can decide, all right? All right, I'll play it. He doesn't like Captain Caveman, but I was gonna go with Broom Hilda, who you don't even know who that is. Broom Hilda, the old comic strip character?

Yes. Broom, who, my funky Winker Bean? Like these are real, I can't name any NFL players, but I can name name any NFL players, but I can name obscure seventies comics. I see you more as a Calvin and Hobbes kind of character. The little kid? Maybe Doonesbury.

Yeah, I go around pissing on Chevrolet logos. That's funny. What he just said is funny. It took me a second to get it, but that's only because I do a lot of drugs. But that was funny. You could be pissing on Ford logos too. They do that.

That's really hard to tell. Hold on. Maybe it is ours. I don't know. Hey Chris, it's Dan from San Francisco. First off, I love you on CNN. I've really been enjoying your podcast. I very much appreciate your pragmatism and your clarity and how you break things down. Now the bad news. I have to say, I was really disappointed in something you got so completely wrong on today's listener comments show. You were trying to educate Greg on the 1982 song, Mexican Radio, claiming it was the band

Aztec camera The reality is Mexican radio was in fact a song by the obscure LA band wall of voodoo Aztec camera was an equally obscure Scottish band who actually sounds nothing like wall of voodoo Just thought I'd let you just thought I'd let you know. I still love you buddy. Take care. Thanks for everything You're a hundred percent right and I love that you corrected me. Take care. Thanks for everything. You're 100% right. And I love that you corrected me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. There is no insult in correction. One of my favorite, favorite, favorite, okay, philosophical precepts comes from ancient, ancient stoicism

where people say, why are you afraid to be corrected? Now that's just a stupid mistake, right? That was a Google away from understanding it. But let's say it was a little bit more about like, what the song's about or why the song matters, and you are able to educate me to something that I wasn't open to before, and then I decide to change my position. In politics, you're a fucking dead man if you do that, right?

You're weak, you're a flip-flopper. I hate that. I hate that. I'm all about the pragmatism. That was just a stupid mistake. I just screwed it up, right? You're weak, you're a flip-flopper. I hate that. I hate that. I'm all about the pragmatism. That was just a stupid mistake. I just screwed it up. Although I love that song and I love the way the guy sings it. Radio, radio.

I know, I know. What does he say? But I was wrong, you were right, and thank you for correcting me. I appreciate it. Though it does depress me on one level, not being wrong, that happens too often to depress me. I would have killed myself long ago.

But I still have so many people saying that they miss me on CNN. And I have been off for four years. I am saddened by that because, one, I'm just sad that I'm not on it anymore, right? Life goes on. Okay, I've dealt with that. And I am very proud of what I'm doing for News Nation. I really am, because it ain't easy. I gotta tell you, I've never done anything this hard in my life.

Because I get no echo effect, because the media hates that I'm back. So they don't really wanna talk about what I'm saying unless they can make it controversial or kind of negative for me. So it's much harder because the media plays favorites and echoes voices and makes them more relevant and resonant to you, right? Think, you know, whoever the big shots are at each network, usually people wind up promoting

them to kind of, you know, mutual benefit. So it saddens me. But thank you for continuing to try to seek out where I am and what I'm doing. I appreciate you and thanks for the correction. Radio. Radio. Radio. I will.

I wish I was in Tijuana eating barbie cutie guana. Boy, if it sounds anything like this, I can't wait to listen to it on my phone. He is such a judgy. What? I was just saying, you call a jerk? Yeah. I can't wait to listen to it on my phone. He is such a judgy. What? I'm just saying, you call a jerk? Yeah. I'm not a jerk, I'm a nice guy. Judgy jerk. Well, you just said it wasn't nice.

You mocked my singing. It wasn't great. No offense. I don't mean any offense by that. I thought honesty and candor is important for a program like this. What are you saying? I don't have it? No, I'm just saying that your rendition of this song that I've never heard.

First of all, I am doing this shooting right now. Right now, I have a cracked rib and I am doing this anyway. So I am giving my all for you people. I mean, I kind of have the sniffles. You would be in a hospital if you had the injury I had. I have the sniffles, okay, but. That's something.

Well, okay. So listen, I come as a fair broker. I wanna feed critical thinkers and allow you to exercise your independence and get the fuck away from party fealty. That's what I want. What do you want? Tell me and let's get after that. I'm Chris Cuomo. Thank you for subscribing and following. Thank you for being part of the Chris Cuomo Project. That's just what it is. It's a project.

It's a collaboration between you and me to get to a better place. I'll see you at NewsNation, 8P and 11P, every weekday night. And if you want the podcast, but without the ads, and in addition, all the COVID stuff that I'm doing with my doctor and the walk and talks to unpack the philosophies that I know work in life, even if I practice them like shit, subscribe to the Substack. It's only five bucks a month.

It's great to see you. I'll see you again soon. Let's get after it.