The Chris Cuomo Project - Listener Calls #4: Engaging With The Other Side, Ukraine, Immigration, Swear Words

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

In a special bonus episode of The Chris Cuomo Project, Chris responds to listener questions about how to engage with family and friends who hold different beliefs, why the U.S. isn’t doing more to help Ukraine, why he uses swear words, and more.  If you’d like to ask Chris a question, call [phone]. Leave your name, location, phone number, email address, and your brief question, and it may be addressed in an upcoming show. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

you want more interplay between you and me fine i tell you to call i tell you to leave the comments we're looking at them and i will respond and we're going to do that right now i'm wearing it because i want you to buy it not to fill my pocket so that we can have a kitty that we can give to worthy causes. Get your merch, free agent, open mind, open heart, willing to listen even if you disagree. Why? Because that's called regular. That's the majority of this country. Social media is not reality. Every time they do any measurement of sentiment, you see a gross disconnect between people in this country and what we see and hear on social media. That is a radicalized fringe, okay? And it's not, oh, you're saying that the minority's bad. I thought we were about protecting minorities. This is about color, class, sex,

religious orientation. That's not what it is. That's not what it is. These are fringe elements of extreme political ideals. And they can say whatever they want to say, but they shouldn't dominate the conversation. And they do. People like you should dominate the conversation. I know why you're disengaged. I know why you're disaffected. But you are free agents. And the question is, are you free? And everybody will say, of course I am. Are you? Or do you subscribe to Team or Tribe? Are you addicted to this noise on social media? Right? Look, you know who is? I am. Who am I whispering to?

Not Greg. He's not paying attention. I think he's paying his taxes. But I look at social media. My job is to engage. But I do rely on sentiment there way too much. And I've even made an effort to connect more in my community, talk to people. I live in a place that was actually, that is very red, very red, and sometimes rabidly so.

But I talk to them. We have real conversations face-to-face, which is, of course, an entirely different dynamic, right? I'm a free agent. But really, it's about you. I'm in the media. I'm about helping you and serving your interests. You are the free agents.

You can make the change. And that's going to be about friction, okay? We're not going to agree all the time. Sometimes I say things that are provocative. I argue a point. I may not even own that point, but I'm going to argue it because it's out there and it's real. What resonates? What doesn't? What do you say? You and me, viewer feedback, let's get after it. Let's get after it. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from PrizePix. I got to tell you, there's a reason PrizePix is America's number one fantasy sports app.

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And it's fun, and I don't feel like I'm going to get exploited or played by some system that's afoot that I don't understand. So, go to prizepix.com slash CCP and use code CCP for a first deposit match up to a hundo. So, again, go to prizepix.com slash CCP and use code CCP for a first deposit match up to $100. PrizePix. Pick more, more pick less it's that easy the chris cuomo project is supported by cozy earth why because i like their sheets that's why a lot of people don't get a good night's sleep for a lot of reasons one of the ones that you can control is bedding one out of three of us report being sleep deprived okay well what is it? Well, it stresses all kinds of things, but the wrong sheets can make you hot, can make you cold.

I'm telling you, I don't even believe it either, but Cozy Earth sheets breathe. And here's what I love about them. Cozy Earth's best-selling sheet is a bamboo set, okay? Temperature regulating. Gets softer with every wash. I'm not kidding you, all right? Now, so if you go to CozyEarth.com and you enter the code, enter the code Chris, and you can get up to 35% off your first order. CozyEarth.com, and the code is Chris. and the code is Chris. Hi, Chris. I'm calling with a practical question. How do we go about engaging with people who have these strongly held decisions

on one side of the spectrum or the other? I find that I get met with derision or contempt just for having a moderate opinion. And I feel like I have friends who are always trying to lure me into arguments, which I don't really want to have. I'm not trying to convert anybody. What have you found helpful in being able to get beyond the impasse among family and friends? That would be really interesting to hear. Thank you so much. My name is Marie. Thank you, Marie. Appreciate you giving me a chance. Well, first I wait for the, hey, Fredo,

or the, hey, you lefty, to pass. And then what I do is walk away. But here's the best recipe. Stick with where you agree. Most people have common concerns, okay? And a collective will on those. Family, the importance of that, protecting it, friends, passions, pocketbook. Most things are very communicable. They're very relatable. Start with that. And then if you have to talk politics, Start with that.

And then if you have to talk politics, find areas where you agree. First of all, you'll be shocked in that most of the conversation winds up coming down to style and a battle of verbiage between the two sides, as opposed to what you would like to see with the actual solution to the situation. Examples, illegal migration.

Well, throw them all out. That's a very extreme position. It's a very extreme position. Most people don't come at that. They're like, well, yeah, but you know, they got to respect the law. We have to change it so you can process. Look what's happening with Biden.

They're flooding in, they're flooding in. The numbers are up 70% since 2019. Well, you also had a pandemic, okay? The job opportunities and the willingness to come wasn't the same. Were we just gonna forget that? Of course, why? Because it's politically inconvenient

to the people who are attacking. Now, let's deal with it reasonably. Do you have a problem? Yes. Has Biden fixed it? No. I don't even think it's a priority and it doesn't matter anyway

because you'd need legislation and you're not getting that done. But you could be providing more to the border for the resources they want to process. And I think people would find that reasonable. And I think that's how you do this. Don't pick up the fight the way you see it and hear it on social media.

That fight is being had for the sake of the division. If where you're coming from is a good place and these are friends, you care about them, start with where you agree and then talk about the problems and what you think the resolution should be. Stay out of the politics. Stick to the policy.

Hi, Chris. This is Jane. Love your podcast, period. My question is, I am curious about Ukraine. As a grandma, 70-year-old grandma here in Florida, I want us to go and help those kids. And I don't understand why we aren't, why we're only putting money. So if you could speak to that, the inside view, you've been, you've traveled all over the world. That's what I'd be curious about. Hey, and thank you again. First of all, you sound like a

kid. So God bless you. I've recently been to Ukraine. The main reason that we don't have people on the ground is we don't want to escalate and they don't have a direct NATO affiliation. So we'd be overstepping and creating a direct conflict with Russia and we don't want that. Okay. Now that said, there are many indications that there's plenty of U.S. military influence on the ground in Ukraine. Should we be doing more? My answer, yes. Why? Strategic interests. I don't see why anyone would believe that Russia will stop if they're successful in Ukraine. They'll only get momentum and maybe allies. Also, I believe on a fundamental level, we're all about the talk here about liberty or death and democracy and the rights.

Does it only exist at home in a vacuum? Now, I'm not saying we have to be the world's policemen. I get that that's out of vogue right now. And in a way, I think that's a good thing for the United States, frankly, having traveled, as you mentioned, all over this world and conflicts are hard to see as progress-inducing. But at the end of the day, if you don't oppose somebody who wants to take away freedom, it's only a matter of time before they come for yours. And I think that America's sleeping on that right now. And it's a mistake. And this

is an organized state, Russia, with a lot of resources, alliances, capabilities, and culture. They're not some rogue band of Al-Qaeda, whatever the latest iteration is of assholes. This is a real foe with real reach. And I do think we should be doing more. I also understand why it's unpopular here at home. People don't want to be spending money on other people's problems. And it's a hard sell, but that's what leadership is about,

is making hard decisions and selling them to the American people in a way that they can understand and accept. I feel the same way about Iran. You know, you talk about the nuclear deal. They're getting more and more emboldened and what you're letting them do, their own people right now,

put down protests is a mistake for us because what you ignore, you can empower. Now, the last part is you can help. Look up CORE, C-O-R-E. It's Sean Penn's organization. They're doing a lot of work in Poland and in Ukraine to help the people there on the ground. And you can see different ways that you can assist. And I appreciate you wanting to help those in need. And I appreciate you giving me a chance. Take care. I think your podcast is awesome. I love

you on CNN. I love you on Sirius. I was just talking to my husband. We live on Long Island and we've heard a lot about all the immigrants coming to the city, to Martha's Vineyard today. And we're just trying to understand the entire immigration problem as a whole. And when you Google it, you really just get sort of partisan sides of which way. And I totally agree that, you know, immigrants should be allowed into the country. I'm just trying to understand the process of which all these people are coming in now. And why is it on Americans to house them or do they need to have housing to be coming in and are they coming in with paperwork and if you can do kind of a deep dive and explain sort of the

whole situation without a left or a right view thank you keep up the awesome work bye thank you for giving me a chance best to you and your husband and your family. This is a good one for left from right versus reasonable. Okay, the reason that you only hear about it in scary and extreme and angry ways is because that's what works politically. What I used to call the brown menace, migrants coming across, and that that was the characterization

that then President Trump was applying to them. That works. It's scary. You don't want to be scared. You want to protect. And it's an easy sell of law and order. These people them. That works. It's scary. You don't want to be scared. You want to protect. And it's an easy sell of law and order. These people are coming in illegally. And it's wrong and it's bad.

And the Democrats like it because they want to swell their voter ranks. That is an absurd notion, but that is politics. And the politics of fear are very powerful. Now, you could also argue to a lesser extent for the left, having this problem stokes people's passion and points to the right as being heartless

and not caring about the fact that America is a nation of immigrants. Now, what's the reasonable path? The system doesn't work well enough. Why? Laws and resources. So the asylum laws, if you just want to deal with a legal entry for a second, because the real problem is legal immigration, right? We have a lot of jobs that need to be filled here. And what do you do with the people who are existing in this country who aren't documented? Look, the best thing to do is not to kick them out because that's going to be very expensive and time-consuming, and there's going to be a lot of problems with that, and a lot of, I think, moral and legal problems.

There's also revenue to be had. A lot of large-scale employers like illegal migrants, migrants who enter illegally. I actually think that's a fair distinction. People are not illegal. I agree. They like that the migrants came in illegally because they don't have to pay a fair wage

and they don't have to deal with regulations. That's why I say go after those large-scale employers. So legal immigration is one thing. And you know that the number one overstay of visas are not about people who come across. So what creates an illegal presence in this country is more people from airplanes who come in and overstay their visas

than people who come across the border illegally. Do you know that? Now, legal immigration, one thing, how do you get the most and the right people into this country? How do you get them into the system? How do you deal with the people who are here right now? Real problems.

I don't think that there's enough political incentive in the solution. I think the problem plays too well. And I think the proof of that is, even when the Democrats had the numbers, this was not their main priority. I also think comprehensive immigration reform is just too much to bite off. You can't chew it. It's too big. I think you have to do piecemeal things. So it's easy to say comprehensive reform, but you're not going to get it done. So what smaller scale things can you do? Illegal immigration, something different. Now, there's what I'm talking about,

which is the rules and the resources. We're not a wall away, okay? Physical barriers are fine, but a lot of it, you can't have physical barriers. And they get over them and you get under them anyway. So what do you do? One, a lot more resources for processing and adjudication of the claims.

That's what CBP wants, Custom and Border Protection. That's what they want. And why haven't we given them that? It's a good question. So the second thing is the rules. Asylum. Why aren't the rules for asylum geared in a way that you do it in the home country? You go to the American embassy and they'll protect you there and you get processed there. Why does it have to be here? And those rules have to be looked at and dealt with. So if it's illegal immigration, how do you deal with the people who are already here and get them into the tax fold where their wages are being taxed and get the revenue so they're not just getting

services for free? How do you get that? You look at those large-scale employers and you deal with this nonsense notion of that law and order means they all have to leave. Well, there's a concept in the law called equity and equity abhors a forfeiture is a jurisprudential concept, which means fairness doesn't agree with taking things away that people have had. And well, but if you came in illegally, then it's fine. That's never been true, even in the law, by the way. You know, there's something called adverse possession in the law also, which is where you don't own it,

but you openly say, I'm owning it now. And it's exclusive, uninterrupted, notorious, open, and hostile. And now it becomes your land. So the law is not as simple as they make it, okay? And it's not as simple as you came in illegally, you're always illegal. But is that best for us?

Why don't you fix the system, process people more quickly and better, get them into the tax fold, figure out how to get the people who are here into the tax fold if they're bad people, if they're criminals, and get them out. But that's always true. Illegal immigration is something else that you deal with, as I've outlined. So again,

it's not simple. There's no single factor solution to most complicated problems, but this is one that is complicated out of convenience because it works for the politics of division. Look, no shame in my game. I've been using AG1 for over five years. Why? It works, it's easier, and it's less expensive. That's why. Since 2010, they've been getting their formulations right

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need a subscription. It's required. Plus, price is going to vary based on product and subscription plan. Hey, Chris, Stephen here. Just listened to the Whoopi podcast. Another compelling episode. Great work as always. Keep this up. One small point of feedback, especially, frankly, given your expert command of an ability to so precisely and concisely apply language to help people think about and understand fact, truth, and consequence, may just be me, but expletives, especially thrown out casually, just immediately turn me off every time. I think it's because I've experienced so many people through life, less articulate, possibly less educated, use forceful foul language to walk all over others. Use it in anger, of course, yes, but throwing it out casually just drags things to the bottom.

You especially just don't need it, man. Yours was the only CNN show I looked forward to watching. It was a masterclass, breath of fresh air, expose of the truth every single night, revealing this tidal wave of pernicious lies that is really just relentlessly chipping away at our country's foundation. As you know, it's the same old story. Keep the masses ignorant, poor and hungry.

They get them to mount rabid protests against their own interests. And I can see that the right has done a very good job of that over years and years and is now dangerously re-energized to kick up many more notches. We just can't allow that to happen. I believe that your project commentary can go a long way to help those oblivious masses first understand and then act to change their predicament. So, Chris, articulate answer. I look forward to listening. Thank you. Shit, I think you're right. No, that was articulate and right. And you know what?

You're right. It's too cheap. It's too easy. Maybe I'm erring on the side of authenticity and being real as opposed to being reductive. I think you're right. I'll try on that. I happen to curse a lot, by the way. But so what? What about trying to be better? What about trying to do at your best? You're right.

You're right. And I will remedy. Now, let's go slow in terms of writing people off in the masses as a bunch of mouth breathers, oblivious. I don't think they're oblivious. I think a lot of them have been turned off. So what may seem as though they're not paying attention is really about them not wanting to deal with the noise and the anger and the hostility and the cursing as you suggest. So let's go slow on that.

My experience, you know, Americans have so much coming at them to persuade them. There's so much noise. Social media, I'm telling you, I'm a fan of the technology. I'm a fan of the potential. I am not a fan of the practice or the reality. It is absolutely a magnified

minority. Every measure they do confirms this. This isn't me saying I don't like it. I have big followings on social media. If I wanted to monetize it, I think I could do okay. And I am on social media. I know. Why? Because it is so important to the media as Vox Populi, which I don't believe that it is, that I have to be a part of that. Even though I want to expose the game to you, I'm still in the game to a certain extent. So I have to understand the basis of what's going to be coming at me because of what's coming at you. But I do believe that it's not that Americans are stupid or they don't understand their

self-interest. They don't understand their pain. They don't understand their wants. They don't understand what is righteous and rightfully theirs here in terms of what they should expect from government and leadership. I think they're turned off. And that's why there's such power

in the persuasiveness of this poison, just to keep it alliterative, of division and outrage and fear and anger. It works. That's why the Greeks gave us the word demagogue, but there's no positive opposite. It is very rare that you see people in politics, especially on social media,

saying anything positive about anything except something that is bad about the other side. So where is the hope? The hope is that most people are like you in this country. They may be turned off and disaffected, but they're regular. They're not extreme. They're not fringe. They're not left right in terms of some zero sum. They're about reasonable solutions and decency. I believe that. And that's what I believe free

agents are like you, my brother. And I wish you well. And thank you for the correction. You are right. And I will try to remedy. and I wish you well, and thank you for the correction. You are right, and I will try to remedy. Hi, this is Monica from Grasshopper. This is a call from Mr. Chris Cuomo. If you could give me just a call back. We have some problems with the account,

and we think you might need to give us your password so we can access them and get all better. All right? Thank you, and give us a call back. That was a call from Grasshopper. They need your password. What is Grasshopper? Well, it's where she's calling from. What is Grasshopper?

It's a very small insect. First of all, they're not that small. And they're different varieties. And they're the same color as your shirt, which you should give back to whomever you stole it from. You don't like that i'm wearing a green shirt this is the criticism this puke green army green oh armed forces military color what is grasshopper uh it's a flavor of cookie i'm going to punch him in the nose this is your phone call man i don't know is there such a thing apparently that's why she why would somebody call to try to get your password

if they weren't trying to help you? Better question. That's funny and deadpan. Why did you pick this call, Captain Productive? Because you wanted more interesting and provocative phone calls. And I think if you want to help the audience, you should help this woman help you with your own account.

So that is such a sad commentary on where we've arrived at as a society. The scams are all over the place, especially on the elderly. And it's something I'm going to be covering on my new show. Listen, I love interacting with you. That's why I called the podcast and streaming show The Chris Cuomo Project. It is a collaborative effort. Me and you banging off each other, what works, what doesn't work, what we want to see better. I appreciate the constructive criticism.

I appreciate other ideas. Mine are not necessarily the best. Mine are not even necessarily mine. Very often, I'm just putting stuff out there that exists intelligently, sometimes to me, not satisfyingly, but they're real and they're relevant. And I want this exchange.

So thank you for reaching out. Continue to do so. Consider the free agent gear. Let's get our money together so we can give back. Thank you very much. I'll see you next time.