The Chris Cuomo Project - Listener Comments: Nuclear Disasters, Hat Stickers, Trump Pardon

Episode Date: April 6, 2023

In a special episode of The Chris Cuomo Project, Chris reacts to a grab bag of YouTube comments and listener calls about nuclear disasters, recreational rage, click farms, hat stickers, pardoning Donald Trump, and many 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. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Visit Indeed.com/CCP to start hiring now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, everybody, welcome to a special episode of the Chris Cuomo Project. Subscribe, follow, please wear your independence, be a critical agent, free agent, critical thinker. Yeah, it all goes together. It all goes together. That's why you need the gear to keep it straight. Listen, if you call, I'm going to take your calls and we're going to answer as we can. If you send comments, we're going to go through them and get back to you as we can. Why? If you send comments, we're going to go through them and get back to you as we can. Why? Because this is a project, okay?

It is a collaboration, me and you, the me into the we. That's why I'm doing the News Nation show, so that you can have your say on how things are being covered and how your interests are being carried by people in the media like me. So, let's get after it. Listen, if you know anything about me, you know, I've been doing AG1 for over five years. Okay. Why? Well, because I heard about it just as I was looking at all of these white and translucent brown bottles in my life. Had to be a dozen of them, okay? Which vitamins I took with when, with food, in the morning, at night. And it was making it so that I didn't even want to deal with it anymore.

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CozyEarth.com, and the code is Chris. You recently did a two-part nuclear roundtable where you interviewed some experts about nuclear energy and power, whether it's green and it's safety and such. Marco Reviews wants to know, after the disaster in Fukushima, what are the safety measures that new nuclear plants have in place to avoid disastrous situations? What if another big earthquake hits California or tsunami, etc.? How would nuclear power plants survive that as well as a bomb strike from enemies? Hashtag, any thoughts? First of all, where you cite any type of dangerous operation matters.

Fukushima is not a great example of a mainline threat of nuclear power because it's where it was put and the vulnerabilities of that area. Look, the wrong criticism is, but everything else is safer than nuclear. That's not true. Yeah, but when nuclear goes bad, it's so is safer than nuclear. That's not true. Yeah, but when nuclear goes bad, it's so much worse than anything else. That's not true. Yes, but it's radioactive,

and that's the worst kind of thing. You know, everything else we can deal with. That's not really true either, but it's about degree. I am not this nuclear advocate for everything. I am a skeptic as to why we backed away from it. I think there's as good a reason that we backed away from it because of unjustified stigma of the fear and special interests and commercial interests of other types of energy that wound up getting the attention. Not because they're better, but because they didn't have the same stink on them, right or wrong, and because people were making money off it. And where my head is, is, okay, we want to get away from fossil fuels. We want to get to green. What's the best,

safest, most efficient way for us to do it? How can nuclear not be part of that conversation when it is in so many other parts of the world? That's my point. Are there safety concerns? Yes, but not just with nuclear. Oh, but aren't they unique when it comes to nuclear? It really depends on what you want to weigh and how. And I don't mean that in some silly way that, well, I weigh whether or not I'm going to glow and whether my next three generations.

I weigh whether or not I'm going to glow and whether my next three generations. I don't think that the research and science and even our experience, even if you look at Chernobyl and Fukushima, which were horrible, horrible, large-scale tragedies, I don't know that the justification is there to just write off the resource. And if it were, then what is France doing? Why are these other massive economies taking it in a different direction? That's why I did the episodes. Here's another piece of pushback on these episodes. This is from a man called Greg Bartel. Chris, this is a very interesting topic, and I'm glad you brought it up. I would love to see a more balanced interview with maybe an engineer or scientist. This guy is a salesman, a very good communicator, but a salesman. One, he's not a salesman.

He's a journalist. He's one of the guys who did the WikiLeaks. He has written and spent a lot of time on the ground reporting on homelessness and how different political solutions have created different outcomes. He's not a nuclear power operator. You just think he is because he was so compelling. So ask yourself why. And by the way, then I have two employees of a nuclear facility and I had a nuclear physicist on, a scientist. This is what she studies. Now, could I find some who absolutely hate nuclear? No, it's not that

easy. And also I did have a point of purpose in this where I'm trying to open the conversation back up to nuclear. So I'm not looking for it to be a 50-50 proposition because I think it's been unfairly quieted. Why? My own research. Oh, well, what are you getting out of it? Nothing. I did a partnership with the Nuclear Energy Institute to help get the resources, the money to pay for doing the podcasts. And it's their interest because they want these issues explored. And it's mine because I want them explored. I look them up as an organization. They're not like big tobacco or something that just seems to live to kill people. And I am open and transparent about doing it because I got nothing to hide.

This is from your interview with Dr. Phil. CLM writes, I honestly think a lot of the rage on the internet could be classed as recreational rage. Oh, yeah. I don't think people say what is the deepest truth in their heart or their head all the time. But, you know, why would they, right? I mean, what's the currency? The currency is nasty. The currency is hate, at best, sometimes clever in its delivery of animus. It's anonymous, right? People don't even have their real names on there. They don't have their real pictures. They pose as people they wish they were or somebody else. So, you know, it's completely set up for us to be the worst version of ourselves. So, you know, it's completely set up for us to be the worst version of ourselves. And that also happens to be contagious.

We are very, very negative and reductive right now. And I don't see us getting any better, and I don't see it getting us anywhere good anytime soon. Here are some questions from the most recent round of YouTube comments that we put out. This is from Excentrifical Chris. Would you ever run an independent election for public office? Never. Next. Why?

Because I don't believe in it. The process is too poisonous. I think media is too poisonous. If I could redo my life, which I think about all the time, as much as I would like to think that I've done things that help, but I've encouraged people to see situations

as critical thinkers and to be more open and to understand dynamics in the world by showing them to them and testing power, man, it comes at a big price. And you could say, oh, you've done fine. Listen, you ever see anybody in the afterlife? Me either. It's all about what you get done here. And if you believe in the afterlife, that's awesome. Good for you. I may too. I just, I don't want to let you in on it. But what I'm saying is, it doesn't matter

how much money you make. That's not the sole metric of your happiness. And if you say, oh yeah, right. Say that to a poor person. Seriously? So you've never met a happy poor person before? The point is this, there's a lot of negativity in this business. There's a lot more in politics. It's so reductive right now. It's so zero sum and about who's worse and what's worse and gotchas

that I think it's disgusting and I want nothing to do with it. On the most recent YouTube comments episode, somebody also wrote, this is from Matt22, this ocean of positive comments reminds me of Bill Maher's podcast comment section. Two guys with deep pockets employing click farms and anything else to keep their sinking enterprise relevant. Maybe this is just me chiming in because I'm selecting these comments. These weren't all the most positive comments.

I think you actually get a fair amount of pushback on these pages and positive comments because people like the stuff you put up, but people also want to weigh in. Look, I've said it many, many times. I really do think you have to think before you speak, okay? Negativity should not be a proxy for insight. I really, I hear that comment, and all I hear is somebody wanting to take somebody else down, but without any really good reason why. And if nothing else, you should think about, well, if I'm able to think that,

and I'm sure a lot of other people will take it the same way I am because I don't really care one way or the other. You know what I mean? You can criticize whatever you want. But if you don't have cogency and you don't have decency, then what do you have? Like, what could I take away from that comment that is even worthy of me commenting on? I don't even know how to run a click farm. I mean, those things, you'd have to have all sorts of phones. You have to have all sorts of computers. Like it's, it's a lot to set up and I'm not equipped for that personally. those things, you'd have to have all sorts of phones, you'd have to have all sorts of computers. It's a lot to set up

and I'm not equipped for that personally. Now, if you want me to, I'll happily set up a click farm. I don't even know what it is. It's people who have all these devices

that are connected to put up fake likes and fake comments and fake, to boost the traffic and make it seem like there's more engagement than there is.

I'll make this easy. One, we don't do any of the monitoring of our own engagement. Otherwise, it would be a lot higher, okay? Second, I think I have one of, again, I don't study people's social media. My following on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and you can check it. I don't know that you can check it the same way I can, but I'll tell you something and, I don't know, try to disprove it. My algorithms, I haven't gained following in a long time. My follows and unfollows net to neutral to negative on almost every platform. And let me tell

you, I don't believe that. There's no way, because look, I'm on social media too, all my friends are. I rarely unfollow anyone. They're just channels on my thing, right? Unless they were like posting, posting, posting ad nauseum, and I didn't like them, maybe I would unfollow. But for me to get 15,000 unfollows in a day? I think it's the algorithm. So if anything, the system is set up right now to take me down, not to build me up. And I'm certainly not doing anything to artificially boost myself. I don't even know how that would help me.

I'm not even making money off my social media. I just do ads on the podcast. Who's your favorite follow? Who's your favorite Twitter account that you follow? Do you follow like Wint? Who? Drill, at Drill, D-R-I-L. If you don't follow it, then, yeah.

No, listen, I don't use social media the way many other people do. It is not my kind of connection to reality. And I follow mostly news sources and opinion uh cognoscente types you know who are shaping ideas on the right or the left um if it's my personal like social media like instagram it's a lot of fishing it's a lot of hobby stuff uh it's a lot of fishing and fitness and fighting. The three Fs. If you'd like that, you'd like drill.

This is from a recent walk and talk where you're wearing a free agent hat. One of the ones that we sell here on the channel. This is from Automated Teller Machine 1995. That hat that says free agent is a cry for unemployment. He looks like a permanent park camper. And Gail Bennett writes, Chris, guys, take the stickers, all of them, off your hats. Now, second comment first.

If you've seen multiple people with the stickers on the hats, doesn't that tell you that maybe you're missing something? The answer is, yes, you are. A lot of hobbyists who collect gear want all the stickers and labels and tags on them because it increases their value. I happen to not be one of them.

I had the stickers on the hat because I thought it was funny. And I like to give people like you something that bothers them that I find completely irrelevant. Now, as to the other comment about free agent is like a cry, whatever that is. Again, if you're going to be nasty, you got to get your hate straight. Your game's got to be strong. You got to be clever. And you have to target it in a way that using cleverness points at something that is a sensitivity. You failed on all fronts. You have been weighed and measured

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Hey, Chris. Name is Phil. I know you talk a lot about being Italian, and I get it. You and I both have a hypervigilance about what is said, what has formed us. And it's funny how I listen to you and I hear myself a lot of times. And I wanted to talk to you about race in this country, being married to a black woman, being in an Italian family, you know where I'm going with this. It's a funny thing because, you know, we live in a culture that's pretty judgmental at times, and it makes you hypervigilant to the fact that you see it outside in the world we live in, and I pick it up a lot.

And of course, everyone says, oh, there's no such thing as racism. Yes, there is. It's gotten a lot better, of course, but it's still there. And I have a radar for it, I think a little bit more than my wife does. And I've always wanted to discuss this with somebody, not in a sense of bashing, but in a sense of being aware about how the room changes when you walk in a room, not in a hateful way, but in do a lot of people know how to talk to each other, whites and blacks? Do we know how to just be ourselves and realize that we are just all the same? I listen to you every day, buddy. Keep it up. Keep up the good work. I love what you're doing.

Take care. Look, I appreciate the call. I appreciate the insight. And I think you have some powerful perspective there. I do believe that there is a reason. Not that I agree with it, but it's or that I like it, but there is a reason.

We fear the unknown. Animals tend to keep to their own kind. Now, you can say, well, we are all the same kind. We're all humankind. Color, creed, culture, these are dividing lines. Some would argue they were created for those reasons. And they can be barriers to entry for people. Now, here's what I'll say. I do think that there's a difference between somebody who has animus and somebody who has an unfamiliarity or a basis of ignorance. And they should be judged differently. and they should be judged differently.

Somebody who's just never been around people who are different than they are based on whatever identifier you want to use, it can be just organically difficult for them. They may have preconceived notions and implicit biases, as they say, that make it hard for them to relate. And that's okay because you can learn your way out of that. Then you have another category who thinks they understand and they know and they've been exposed

and they decide to have ugly feelings about an entire group. That's dealing with something else that's harder to fix. When it's just about the head, you can fix it. When it's about a marriage of the head and the heart, it's harder. But I also think that we have to give ourselves more credit for how far we've come. There are very few societies, actually none that I know of, that discuss their shortcomings as freely as we do. Now, I would argue that we don't discuss them in the interest of improving upon them enough,

more than just to kind of seek out advantage among the suck. This is Henry calling from Los Angeles. I think a good question to ask any Republican candidate for the presidential election is, if elected, will you give a presidential pardon to Donald J. Trump? Thank you, Chris. You're doing a great job. Look, it's a question, sure. It's kind of a good question, but I'm not sure for the right reasons.

It's a little bit of a gotcha, right? Because if they're going to say no, then people are going to hate them within their own party. And if they say yes, then they're going to have a lot of other people not like them. So you always have to be careful about questions like that. Like, what is your point? If that person, I think a person could fairly duck that question. And the reason it'd be fair

to duck it, because usually ducking the question is not a fair thing to do, is because every answer to that question does nothing to make the situation any better. We don't really know the full picture of what Trump did or did not do in terms of illegality. In propriety, we got a better picture on it. But yeah, it's a good question. I'll give it to you. But I don't know that it's going to get a good answer. And I don't know that whatever answer it gets really makes us any better or more secure in that person as a leader. Now, you may say, well, hey, if they don't see what Trump did as criminal and wrong and that he should never be anything but prosecuted,

that's your right. That's fair for you to believe. I don't know that I share the opinion, but you're definitely within your own right to feel like that. This goes back to the YouTube comment about recreational rage. I swear I'm not just cherry-picking mean comments.

No, not you. This is a two-second phone call that we had in our voicemail. Hey, Fredo, you're a freaking international jerk-off. Like somebody took two... Let's hear it again. Hey, Fredo, you're a freaking international jerk-off. I can't get the second part. Hey, Fredo, you're a freaking...

Hey, Fredo, you're a freaking international jerk-off. I thought he was saying asshole, but it almost sounds like he's saying international jerk-off. It sounds like international jerk-off. Before that, though, it's, hey, Fredo, you're a... I'm hearing international jerk-off. I hear freaking. I hear, Fredo, you're a freaking something. You're an asshole jerk-off.

If Fredo, you're freaking something, you're an asshole. If Fredo, you're freaking, you're an asshole, jerk off. The whole recreational rage. Somebody took two seconds out of, a two-second phone call, a perfect phone call, a two-second phone call to call you this. They had to find the phone number, which means they either watched the show or they Googled it. Can you speak more about that? I find this, I'm a serial lurker on the internet. I never post anything. But the fact that somebody would go out of their way to do this, I'm just always shocked by. People feel that they're not being heard. People feel that they

don't matter. People want power. People want power over other people. And there is a perverse delight in saying what you wish you had the gumption to say to somebody's face over a phone call. Now, here is the irony. It is not hard to say things like this to my face, because as long as I need these public-facing jobs to satisfy what I want out of my life, you really can get away with it, because I can't do anything. It is funny how there is a perverse paradox at play. The more perceived power or the more power you're perceived to have in public life, really,

the less you probably have any power to deal with anything that happens to you because you're constantly trying to avoid controversy because it's such a gotcha society and the media is so cannibalistic. I just like the idea that it. If it was international jerk-off, like you going all over the world and being a jerk-off instead of just an asshole jerk-off, like there's something kind of, you know, romantic about it.

Yeah, yeah. I guess if you're going to be a jerk-off, you should be an international. Yeah, be well-traveled at least. I mean, or unless you're just one of those people where every time you decide to travel, you're like, I'm turning it off. Turn it off.

Not until I get back. Thank you for the calls. I hope that there was some edification going on here, some level of sophistication of thought. And I really appreciate the interest. I really do. Please subscribe, follow, keep writing those comments, keep sending in those phone call, voice messages,

even those special two second ones. And I will do my best to try to help advance whatever your interests are. Again, subscribe, follow, try to get into the merch on YouTube. You'll see a place to get it because I want to get a kitty of cash together so that we can make some group contributions.

I'll see you next time. Don't forget News Nation, 8 and 11 P Eastern. On my social media, there are buttons on how to find the channel near you. Bye. you