The Chris Cuomo Project - The Game: How Politicians & The Media Pit Americans Against Each Other

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

Chris Cuomo exposes “the game” that politicians and the media play in order to retain power, touching on why politicians rely on negative ads over positive ads, how political parties fuel division, why debates typically devolve into whataboutism, and how independent thinkers can overcome reductive politics of advantage.  Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a game going on all around you, and I will show it to you, I will expose it for you, and I will break it down. Are you ready? I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to another episode of the Chris Cuomo Project podcast. Thank you for subscribing and following.

Thank you for being a critical thinker, for being a free agent, and wearing your independence, getting the merch, but more importantly, getting away from the parties. Make the game come to you. Okay?

You know the expression, don't hate the players, hate the game. I agree. The problem is not as simple as the men and women in our system. It's the system. And it has always been the system.

I call it the game. That which permeates our politics and our media culture and now more and more society. But first, the good news. The good news. The game is still very isolated. More and more of us are playing. Trump turbocharged it, that's for sure. Everybody had to have an opinion on him, right? But most of us are still regular, and that's not a bad word. We are reasonable. We're about outcomes. We're about

virtues. We're about seeing people who can lead because they'll get us to a better place, not a worse place. That's where most of you are, which is why most of you are what now? Not Democrat. Not Republican. Independent. Over 40%. The largest grouping. That's good news.

Now, people will attack the independent number as it is. They don't let you give just one answer. Are you a Democrat or Republican? Republican. Next, are you a Democrat or Republican? Neither. Oh, you're an independent? Yes.

Which way do you lean? Why do you have to lean? Why do you have to lean? Because they need you in the game. Let's go through the key questions, okay? First of all, how do we know that there's a game? It's everywhere you look. Why is DeSantis giving his announcement on Twitter

all the leads on all of the news outlets with a burgeoning situation in Ukraine and the debt ceiling and all these other competing interests, why does that get the attention? It's the game. It's what matters most to those that monitor the incremental movements and the play between the two parties that kind of highlight confrontation, highlight conflict, highlight contrast over cooperation. Why? Because it works.

Why does it work? Because we're geared more towards the negative than the positive. Do you think it's a secret or it's a riddle or it's an unknown for why there are multiple, okay, negative ads for every positive ad in a campaign. For every, vote for me, I'm Chris Cuomo, and I'll do the following things. There are five. The other guy's a bum. I think he kicked a puppy. Even the voice changes, right? Why?

The game. Because it works. And that's why the Greeks never gave us a positive opposite to the word demagogue. A demagogue is somebody who plays on prejudice and anger and fear as a self-interest of self-protection. And it works. And it's always worked. And it is turbocharged by parties. Why? Well, what happens when you're for any team? Okay, look, I say it all the time. Politics shouldn't be like sports, but it is.

I'm a Yankees fan. Hate the Red Sox. Why? Well, because I'm a Yankees fan. You don't think our politics has become the same way? That's the problem. With this binary bullshizzle, this is the problem with it. What I call the toxic twosome. It's part of the, both of them called out parties.

Many have. Adams, many said, this is a problem, stay away from it. Washington, who worked on his farewell address with Madison and Hamilton, be a nation. That is all. be a nation. That is all. That parties get you into the interest and agendas of the select few and create division naturally to gain advantage. And that's exactly what's happened. They were more right about this than they were about anything else, our founding fathers. were about anything else, our founding fathers. The parties are killing us, but that's the game. And the media plays into the game. It feeds off the game for good and bad reason. What's the good reason? Well, you're interested in it. You know, there's this fundamental mistake made. Well, but

the media should be talking about what matters. Finish the sentence. What matters to you. Ah. We don't fake the funk here, and here's the real talk. Over 40 years of age, 52% of us experience some kind of ED between the ages of 40 and 70. I know it's taboo, it's embarrassing, but it shouldn't be. Thankfully, we now have HIMS, and it's changing the vibe by providing affordable access to ED treatment, and it's all online. HIMS is changing men's health care. Why? Because it's giving you access to affordable and discreet sexual health treatments, and you do it right from your couch. HIMS provides access to clinically proven generic alternatives

to Viagra or Cialis or whatever, and it's up to like 95% cheaper. And there are options as low as two bucks a dose. HIMS has hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers. So if ED is getting you down, it's time to pick it up. Start your free online visit today at HIMS.com slash CCP. H-I-M-S dot com slash CCP. And you will get personalized ED treatment options. HIMS.com slash CCP.

Prescriptions, you need an online consultation with a health care provider and they will determine if appropriate restrictions apply. You see the website, you'll get details and important safety information. You're going to need a subscription. It's required. Plus, price is going to vary based on product and subscription plan. 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 and tweaking their formulas. Why? Because the science changes, okay? It's not like politics where people decide to believe one thing

and no matter what happens with the facts, they never shift. This is the opposite. Ooh, prebiotics work with probiotics, but in this way. D works with K and this type of B works with that. They have the scientists doing it, so I don't need all the bottles. I don't have to spend all the money and I don't have to figure out when to take what and why. More importantly, it's not just the regular list of vitamins. It's the extras, okay?

The adaptogens, the prebiotics, the probiotics that support your body's universal needs. Gut optimization, immune support, stress management. That's what foundational nutrition is about. And these are the people at AG1 who've been doing the work to get it right. Okay? I tell friends. I tell family.

I get no complaints. Okay? If you want to take ownership of your health, it starts with AG1. Try AG1. You get a free one-year supply of vitamin D3K2 and five free AG1 travel packs. Okay? That's what happens with your first purchase. So make it. Go to drinkag1.com slash ccp. Drinkag1.com slash ccp.

Check it out. So do you want to hear about the realities of the debt ceiling the same way you want to hear about whether DeSantis can beat Trump? Be honest. Do you want to talk about policy and Ukraine and the history and Russia at war? Do you want to see the latest of somebody saying that Zelensky's dirty or Putin's a good guy or any other perversity to draw some point of contrast, to be provocative, to have your voice heard, and then magnified on social media. That's the game, okay? That's what the game is. That's the what. Who's the who? Everybody who's involved. But more important is who isn't. You, in all likelihood. Those who are observers of the game. You know how you know if you're an observer versus a participant? Does it make sense to you? If the answer is no, I really don't get it. I don't get

why they're so hyped up about these things, why things seem to matter so much, and how they're on to the next thing, and how they seem so gullible and believing things that don't make any sense, and banking on people that they shouldn't, and seem to be supporting people that seem to reject what they say they're about, that's good news for you because that means you're not part of the who when it comes to who is in the game. And that's really good. And we need more of you. We need people to reject the game, to not want to hear it, to not watch it on TV, to not listen to it on podcasts and radio and anywhere else, to stay away from it on social media, to not be part of the food fight. We need that very badly, much more than we've ever needed parties.

That's why I want you to be a free agent and an independent and a critical thinker, because that's not what they're setting you up for. DeSantis is trying to say, and this is a very, very smart guy. I'm probably even has a better pedigree, really, in some ways, and even like a Ted Cruz is like a genius, right? Harvard this, Princeton that. Why is he playing this dumb it down, divide game? Because it works. Because that's the game. I got to win the primary. I need to scare as many people as possible.

I got to show people that I'm as rabid and as big a warrior as Trump. I just don't pay off porn stars. That's his play. Now, is that the right play? I don't know. It's hard to say yes. From my perspective of, is he better?

But is it the right play for winning a primary in a party that's completely invested in the game and division? I mean, guys who can't even openly shout down QAnon, who openly can't, like, you know, they have to be forced into a position to say, I don't want Proud Boys or some other kind of borderline extremist organization in my backyard, in my support group. I mean, what does that tell you? You know, I knew that we were in trouble a million different ways, but I remember when Donald Trump was trying to pretend he didn't know who David Duke was. I was like, oh boy, that's the game. Where is the game? Everywhere you find power. Because those in positions of power are always looking for the easiest way to keep it.

That's the truth. People in power want to keep it. Now, for good and bad reason. Good reason? Well, they believe they can use it to the advantage of their constituents and maybe more. The bad reason? Works for them. Power's good to have in America. Gets you to get things done, gives you advantage, gives you respect, gives you legitimacy. Now, it's really the how that bothers me most about the game because the plays are so ugly and obvious. We see it in the media. The media loves negativity as a proxy for insight. How often do you hear them saying good things about anybody or anyone or anything that they're not eventually going to tear down?

Because that's how they get like two news cycles out of it, right? She's the best. She's the best. She's the best. She's the best. Oh, until this. And now she's the worst. She's the worst.

She's the worst. Build them up, tear them down. That's the game. It's not balanced coverage. It's contrived coverage, the illusion of balance. But it's really just about maximizing attention span. That's the game. Party politics is rife with the game. DeSantis being on Twitter, the game, everything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's one of the better players of the game. You know, there's a really fundamental assessment of how to sniff out the game. Did you ever notice that politicians never answer questions? And when they do, they don't answer the way anyone else in your life does, who's going to have a modicum of credibility. Think about it.

Your boss comes to you. That project is due next Tuesday. You're going to have it. What's the chance that you answer this way? Oh, that's not the right question. The right question is whether or not this project is the right project. And I believe it is. And I think when this project is done, people are going to benefit it from ways that are really going to show what we're about. How's the boss going to take that? Or how about this? Yeah, I know I asked you, is it going to be ready on Tuesday? It's supposed to be on Tuesday. Listen, you're a bad person for asking me that question, boss.

And it shows your bias. And you're really not about this place. You're really just about bad things. You're a bad person. How's that going to work out? Or this one. Tuesday? Are you going to get it to Tuesday? Will you do that? I mean, that's what I told you to do. I mean, look, there's a lot that can happen between now and Tuesday, certainly that that is our optimistic,

cautiously optimistic outcome. We're doing what we can to make that, but you know, the other side, the other teams, they're really just acting in bad faith, won't come to the table, won't do things. And I don't know. I mean, really, if it doesn't happen on Tuesday, it's about them. None of that passes muster. Think about hearing that from a partner or a sibling or a friend. So I'll see you Wednesday. You know, it depends. A couple of other invites out there. Maybe Wednesday happens. Maybe it doesn't. That doesn't get a big F you.

You know, you tell your kid, I'll see you at six. You know, six, maybe. No, no. No, no, no, no, maybe. I told you six. Just like you tell a politician, figure out how to make my life better. But they get away with things. That's the game.

It's part of the culture of persuasion that we've allowed. And when it's not unique, I mean, politicians are like that all over the world. They find ways to give non-answers. Why? Because they're trying to please as many and offend as few as they can. But if it's not properly policed

and if it's not properly valued by us, it gets out of control. And that's where we are. And I see it everywhere the way Neo saw the Matrix near the end of the movie. There is no spoon. And that is often the case. We don't fake the funk here. And here's the real talk.

Over 40 years of age age 52 percent of us experience some kind of ed between the ages of 40 and 70 i know it's taboo it's embarrassing but it shouldn't be thankfully we now have hymns and it's changing the vibe by providing affordable access to ed treatment and it's all online hymS is changing men's health care. Why? Because it's giving you access to affordable and discreet sexual health treatments. And you do it right from your couch. HIMS provides access to clinically proven generic alternatives to Viagra or Cialis or whatever.

And it's up to like 95% cheaper. And there are options as low as two bucks a dose. HIMS has hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers. So if ED is getting you down, it's time to pick it up. Start your free online visit today at HIMS.com slash CCP. H-I-M-S dot com slash CCP. And you will get personalized ED treatment options. HIMS.com slash CCP. Prescriptions, you need an online consultation with a healthcare provider, and they will determine if appropriate. Restrictions apply. You see the website, you'll get details and important safety information. You're going to need a subscription. It's required. Plus, the price is going to vary based on product and subscription plan.

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.comcom and the code is chris biden increasingly being called mentally deficient this is the game first of all how can an 80 something year old be at their best i'm sure there are some of you octogenarians out there who are mentally far superior to me and closer to at your best than many people half your age.

Okay, you're the minority, okay? I've watched one of the greatest minds I've ever been around, and I saw the effect of age on it, and so did he. And my mother would tell you the same thing. She wouldn't want to be put in a position where she had to make decisions for everybody else. And of course, Biden's not at his best.

But this idea that he can't process things, especially coming from people, even whether it's Bill O'Reilly or anyone, I've been told that he can no longer remember what you said to him. I don't believe his source. Okay. And it just builds on itself. And more and more say it if you don't check it effectively which Biden and co have not you just make it even more saleable and effective because that's the game you got to check it or it's going to check you so now that's becoming like common parlance about Joe Biden is that he's somehow deficient.

I even notice in how agencies show him walking and stuff. There's such an increasing inclination to show him as infirm. It's interesting, but that's the game. They don't want to tell you what they're due for you. They're not about policy ideas. They're not about critical thinking. They're about convincing you that the alternative to them is worse and scaring you to help you see it that way, or more importantly, to have you not see it the way it is. And that's why I play to those who

don't want to play the game, who see it for what it is or see it once it's exposed and want better than it. If we can't agree that COVID-19 was something for us to avoid, if we really can be so easily led to believe that everyone telling you things were lying or some weird agenda, and that the vaccine has some type of nanotechnology in it to control our minds. I mean, when that becomes like a mainstream understanding, the game has gotten out of control. Would I want things to be done differently if we could do it over again? Of course. Who's going to get everything right the first time they go through something? Come on. We are in a weird place, and it's because the game is out of control. And the biggest reason for it are the two parties. The two parties. You only have two choices and the choice structure has been broken down into which is worse.

It's not Coke or Pepsi. It's bird shit or dog shit. I mean, those are shitty choices. shit or dog shit. I mean, those are shitty choices. And that's what the game reduces us to. Which is worse? Marjorie Taylor Greene. Oh, well, what about AOC? It's always like that. Well, why did Ivanka get to represent the US and get all those patents from China? What about Hunter Biden's laptop? Well, what about Trump's taxes? Well, what about Biden making money? You see what I'm saying? It's just a hate parade. It's just a battle to the bottom. That's the game. Why? Because it's easier to play. That's the game. Why? Because it's easier to cover. That's the game. Why? Because it's easier to accept than doing the work and the rigor of comparing plans and complicated things.

Remember when we used to debate health care? What our plan's going to be and what their plan's going to be, and here's what universal is, and this and that, and this is what it's going to cost. And that was so tedious. We couldn't wait for Trump. I know all the best plans. I'll have all the best health care plans. I'll have the best.

That's way easier, right? Never happened, but so what? Build the wall. Yeah, because we were always a wall away from being safer, right? You see now how big the problem is. And do you see now that the problem plays better than a solution?

Immigration is a beautiful test ground for the game. This new immigration bill, this bipartisan one, you think it's going to pass? I don't think it's got a chance in hell. And for all the wrong reasons, I think it's a fairly ambitious proposal that focuses on some of the right things. And I think we would be better off with it than without it. But we wouldn't be as well off if we're in the game with this solution as with the problem that allows the right to point to the left and say, these people have no head and they're keeping us unsafe. And the left to point at the right and say, these people have no heart and they are reducing us to something less than we should be.

That works. That's the game. That's why the problem persists. You really don't think we can figure out how to get other countries to assist us in the effort to keep their people out of our country without proper processing? You really don't think we can find a way to get the workers we need and vet them. Really. We got AI figuring out how to be us more and more every five minutes. We got technology doing all kinds of things we never imagined,

but we can't count people and find places to hold them. We deal with the cattle. We deal with, if that's the way you want to treat them, like livestock. We do that all the time, if that's the way you choose to see fellow human livestock. We do that all the time if that's the way you choose to see fellow human beings. We have the ability. We have the capacity. We have the money. We don't have the will because the problem works better than any solution for the game.

And that's why I talk to you about it all the time. And I want to explain it to you because I want you to see it and I want you to reject it. And I want you to demand better than it. It's everywhere that you see politics of advantage. And it becomes even more stark when it is put in relief to beautiful moments that still exist of communities coming together and crisis. The worst of situations bringing out the best of

us and the helpers and the selfless and those who want to do what they can for others because they believe it is better for all. And that's when the game becomes even more obvious, when it's not being played. And I see it all the time. And I know that we are so much more capable of doing things for better than for worse. It's the story of this country. We're all its warts and flaws and mistakes and failings. We are capable of amazing things in this country. We have an asset no one can match, and it is our diversity. Exactly what is vexing us right now could be fixing us if we just decide to see it. It's not about taking somebody else's slice. It's about making more pie, and nobody can do it like we can. We are in our own way and it's because of the game. I just hope I live long enough

to see what breaks us out of it. And I hope that it's not the only thing I've seen do that in my lifetime. Extreme crisis. It's the only time I've seen us break out of the game. 9-11. And I just hope that we can do it without having to pay such a price for just making a choice to be the best that we can be. See the game, expose the game,

reject the game, be an independent, be a free agent, be a critical thinker. And if you need another reason to do it, they hate when, be a critical thinker. And if you need another reason to do it, they hate when you're a critical thinker who assesses for yourself and will not follow. That's what people who play the game hate the most. So if you want to piss them off, and if you want things to be better, I got a twofer for you. Reject the game. All right. I hope that this was instructive. I hope it helps you see what should be obvious.

Okay? Thank you for subscribing and following. Thank you for wearing your independence and being a free agent. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to break things down for you. I'll see you at News Nation, 8 and 11 o'clock, weekday nights. And I really believe that we got to get after it and get out of this game. And I hope that you take care of yourself and that you take care of the people you care about. See you soon.