The Chris Cuomo Project - The Met Gala Is Why Regular People Feel Left Behind

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

Chris Cuomo uses the Met Gala as a jumping off point for a bigger argument about the midterms and the widening gap between those in power and the people they claim to represent. With Trump fumbling affordability, health care, and a war in Iran with no clear exit, Cuomo argues the opportunity to fight for working people has been handed to anyone willing to pick it up — and events like the Met Gala are proof that nobody in power seems ready to do it. His case isn't anti-rich or anti-fashion. It's that showing up in expensive outfits to celebrate among the elite — at an event sponsored by someone whose workers you claim to be fighting for — sends exactly the wrong signal at exactly the wrong moment. You can't bash the elitism and be the elitism at the same time. Cuomo also pushes back on the instinct to demonize the rich as a political strategy, arguing the real winning message is about fixing a system that doesn't make everyone play by the same rules — and reconnecting with the many instead of performing for the few. Join The Chris Cuomo Project on YouTube for ad-free episodes, early releases, exclusive access to Chris, and more: https://www.youtube.com/@chriscuomo/join 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 For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial [phone] to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/cuomo - *Paid partnership *Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. Upgrade your wallet and get 10% off at https://www.Ridge.com/CUOMO with code CUOMO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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For less. Give AncestryDNA.A. Today. Offer ends May 10th. Terms apply. The big Met Gala, I'm watching this video about the Bezos piss bottles. Now, look, it says Boycott Bezos and the Met Gala, and there's so much here that we have to examine before we get to the midterms, okay? And the piss bottle is a reference to the reports that so many Amazon workers are under so much pressure that they don't get enough breaks and they have to pee in. bottles and the juxtaposition between Amazon having that as a working condition and Jeff Bezos being

one of the wealthiest billionaires, you know, anywhere. And that juxtaposition, that paradox. And, you know, the whole Met Gala is a paradox. And the whole thing is a great reminder, okay? It is a teachable moment. what do you want to be about? If you want to beat Trump, everything about this is wrong. Literally, every narrative that comes out of the Met Gala is hurting the chances of beating MAGA, beating Trump in the midterms, and I can prove it. I'm Chris Cuomo.

Welcome to Chris Cuomo Project. Critical thinkers here. Critical thinkers. The Met Gala, the optic sucks. You get all dressed up with your gazillion dollar dresses and your stupid obnoxious outfits to impress one another and to be seen and to pretend you're special. Okay? It is elite. It is privileged on every level.

Okay? And it is a little bit of a waltz of the lefties, right? They've always owned it. So everything that's wrong with those things winds up getting owned by the left. that's a problem. You had the AOC controversy where she had to pay back for that dress that she had to tax the rich. And the irony is you're going to this opulent thing that's filled with almost exclusively rich people. And you're saying tax the rich. And it just shows this hypocrisy, right? That is part of politics. That's really annoying. And that was particularly damaging to AOC because she's supposed to be better than that. Right. Okay. Now, the defense is always, well, but the Met Gall is about support. the arts, you know? Is it, is it, is it really about fashion? Is it, first of all, these costumes that they wear are fucked stupid, right? I mean, you know, forget about couture, hot couture, whatever you say, I don't speak French, but the point is, even if it's from a runway in Paris,

it's not like anything anybody's going to really wear. And it's not really about like helping kids understand how to color or stuff like that. So what it's about shouldn't really get this kind of attention anyway. And I'm not saying I'm anti-fashioned or anything like this. But this has become this major cultural event. And everything about it is wrong. Now, they're upset this year. Why? Because the lefties don't like Bezos. Why? Well, because Bezos is a billionaire and billionaires are bad, right? No Kings. No Kings isn't about getting rid of billionaires. It's a about rich people not being able to cheat the system. Okay?

And nobody should be in favor of rich people cheating the system. No rich people should be in favor of cheating the system. And I got to tell you something. I know a lot of rich people. You may also, okay? Most of them want to pay their fair share. They don't like how the money spent. They think it's irresponsible.

They'd pay more. They'd do in their private lives. They give away. They give. I had to raise money for the fire department. I made a handful of phone calls. I got the money I needed. Why? They have money. They recognize the need. They wanted to help. And yeah, they're my people. So they help me. I help them. We're friends. But everything about this,

I think is a problem for the midterms. You don't win the midterms because you demonize the rich. You win the midterms because you recognize the affordability problem. And you recognize that the system has to work for the many, not just the few. And this ball, this gala is, about everything that's wrong with the difference between the few and the many. It just is. You were celebrating all the wrong things with the Met Gala. And I'm not talking about how it was conceived, but even the Bezos thing. You're bad on Bezos.

Well, why? Well, you should be. He doesn't treat his workers well enough. He doesn't pay him enough. He rewards his investors more than his workers. And it shouldn't be that way, and it didn't used to be that way. Back when we were great, you know, I believe the country's great right now. now, I just believe that this is a struggle and we've got to get to a better place.

But where else would you want to be? Everybody wants to come here for a reason. We have a problem with all this illegal immigration because people are desperate to get here. Now, we're doing a great job of sending a very different message around the world that maybe you don't want to come here. And I think I hate that message. But let's put that to the side and stick with the moment, the met of the moment. When you look at it, yeah, you should be paying his workers more.

that's what we did in the 50s and 60s when we had such a burgeoning middle class of people who could live dreams and aspire and expect better for their kids if they did the right things and applied themselves and now it doesn't seem like that's attainable. And the majority of us feel that way. So yeah, Bezos is emblematic of that.

Him taking that little salary and yet he makes like hundreds of millions of dollars or whatever every year. It's a scam. It's a cheat. And the system shouldn't allow that. It doesn't allow it for you. you know, it can't be like, oh, I just put all my golf outings on this different line and it's all okay, I guess I write it all off. You know, it reminds me a Seinfeld. They write it off, Jerry. They write it off.

You know, we don't even know what we're talking about half the time. And when it comes to the Mac Gala, since when are they picky about what movie money they take? They've always had corporate sponsors. They've always been in bed with the deep pockets. Okay. And by the way, even when back in the day, when this started with those the dynastic New York families, right? The Whitney's and the Carnegie's and, you know, all that other stuff. All those, you know, the Firestone, all those, you know, those families, they were the robber barons. They were big industry.

They were the people who made all the money. And that's how you get charitable enterprises. Is the deep pockets want to see their names on things or want to give back, whether it's good reason, bad reason, no reason. It's always been like that. Basel is no different. Just now you're deciding to get righteous about it, or you're trying to have it both ways.

You want to go, you want to wear the fancy shit, you want to pretend you somebody that you're elite, and then you want to bash the elitism. You have to decide what you want to be if you want to win, okay? And why are you allowing MAGA and the right to get this free shot on you? Why? Why are you making it so easy for people who are totally not living up to their promises to the many? Totally allowing them the lapse, totally ignoring them.

And now you're giving them this like sheep shot of saying, look at these people. Look what they're about. Look at them with their outfits. Look at them. Look who they hang out with. Look what they do. It's a bad look. And I get it.

And I don't like it. And I'm not saying I don't like charity or I don't like fashion or I don't like the arts. That's silly. You need all of those things. You need them. They're a signature of what makes us amazing as a culture. But you've got to see this as a metaphor for not knowing how to get across the finish line. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from chapter.

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So if you are 65 or you are already. on Medicare, click the link. Most folks wished that they call sooner. Look, President Trump has handed you advantage. This war in Iran is a cluster fuck, okay? And that doesn't mean I want the regime to win. I think the regime sucks, and I couldn't believe it. Not since President Obama said,

you know, we should have never gone into Iraq, but Afghanistan. Not since that crazy revolution. has Trump going into Iran and saying he's not going to remove the regime, boggled my mind in terms of why would you mess up high ground this way? I don't know how we get out of it. Of course, it's good if you can reduce the capabilities of Iran, but it's costing us so much here at home.

And there is no clear upside that's going to make this all worthwhile. I mean, it's just so eerily reminiscent. of what we've been through before. And even the, I remember, I remember the mission creep the first time. Oh, no, it'll be over soon, be over soon. Oh, we need a surge. Oh, blah, blah, blah.

Here we go again. Why, this misplaced sense of might makes right and of distraction this time. So he handed you that, okay? He says he's going to go after credit card rates, and he's right because so many Americans, more than ever, are using credit cards, the most expensive money you can get except from a loan shark.

To pay real life household needs. This isn't, oh, you're buying too many dolls as he, you know, and he gave you that gift at Christmas. Stop buying so much for your kids. Buy less. Yeah, that's what you tell the American voters. You know, reduce your dreams. Get another job.

He handed you that. He handed you affordability. He beat you with it and then he handed it to you. Healthcare. He's handing it to you. They won't even pass the subsidies that three out of four or four out of five of us almost know that these people need and should be passed. They haven't even done it. And it's on them. He's handing you these things. He had that other big idea. I'm going to cap the credit card rates at 10%. I'm going to call in the health care bigs. I'm going to read them the Riot Act and tell them you're making too much money. We're going to change this. We're going to change it. you or without you. Those are two winning ideas. He did neither. Why? He doesn't want to take those guys on. He would literally rather start a war with the most toxic Islamist terrorist regime in the world than take on the banks or take on the health care companies. He showed you that. He gave it to you. His base knows it. The people who moved over from you, you know, being blue-collar,

Democrat union voters, two MAGA. And often because they were right about what was wrong, they were right about what they wanted to disrupt it. They were right about what they wanted to see change. Not all of them were bullshit culture warriors. You know, the few or the, or the fringy, prejudiced, angry, red hat brigade, it's not the many. The many are desperate for better.

And that's the lane. The lane is to deliver for the men. many to get people to agree with what's wrong and what's wrong is so obvious so why would you live the problem by how you parade yourselves in front of people in these stupid-ass costumes basically screaming i'm different than you i'm different than you we're not like you we celebrate weird things instead of buckling down and knuckling up on the real fight for the many of affordability of the promise of this country. You do not need to dress up.

You do not need to show yourself off. You need to show you out. You need to show out that you are a real one, that you want to have this fight. You people should be showing up in communities that are under pressure. In places that aren't just in big cities. Big cities, yes, yes, all problems are concentrated.

when you get into the bigger population centers. Of course, of course they matter. But you should be elsewhere also showing you get the need. That that's what you're responsive to. That's what you're about. Not just Trump sucks. But that we all know what's wrong. We agree.

Let's agree on that. You are right about what's wrong. I'm not going to shame you about that. I'm not going to force you to say Trump sucks that you fucked up. That you picked the wrong. you should have been with us, you made a mistake. They didn't make a mistake. They were right about what was wrong.

They were wrong in their choice of who would make it right. But they got duped. He duped them into a set of priorities that really aren't there. And now he's meeting with small businesses and celebrating his gains for them. What? He's handing it to you. Jump on that. Celebrating his economic wins for who, the investors?

Those are the few, not the many. You should be about the many. Get people who voted for Trump to agree on what's wrong. Don't tell them they're wrong. Look, even if you feel that way, even if it's true, it's not pragmatic. It's not psychologically, you know, in terms of psychology, it's just stupid to do that. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from Ridge. Look, you want something that is.

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Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. If you want me to join you, and I made bad choices, in your opinion, if you sit there and say, you made stupid choices, you know that? You really think that I'm feeling you right now, that I want to listen to you, that I want to listen to you, that I want to be what you're telling me to be? I mean, when you're talking to your kid, you're talking to your partner, you're talking to an employee, you're talking to, whoever you're talking to, your friend, you know, you're really fucked up, you really screwed up, you really screwed it all up.

That's not accountability. That's just blame and shame. you're not getting to a better place. When you're in a bitch session at work, an adult in the room at some point says, all right, I got it, I got it, I got it. We got it. We got what's wrong. Now, how do we fix it?

Right? Happens pretty fast. In politics, we never get there. Why? Because the blame is enough. You have to transcend that if you want to win the midterms. It's not going to work. Trump sucks is not enough.

Great bumper sticker. Not enough. And it's right there for you. And the Met Gala is you shutting your eyes. as to what matters because you like how it feels to be an elite, to me, to be among the few, to be among the privilege, to be special, to be fancy, to be celebrated, to be special. You're losing what connection actually matters, which is to the many. Why would you set yourself up for this?

Why would you give this to MAGA when you should be harping on what they've given you? affordability is everything. Look, I would also argue decency, how we do politics, how we do dialogue, social media. But maybe that's just me. Maybe that's just my obsession, my focus. And that pragmatically, in terms of what wins the elections, changing the algorithm won't win the election because it's, you know, it's too out there. It's not specific to pocketbook politics that loom large, especially in an economic environment like this. Maybe so.

And okay, but it still leaves you in the same place. But the Meggala sends all the wrong messages. And you want to be against Bezos, then don't go to the ball. Okay? And if you want to be against what Bezos represents, then you shouldn't be at the ball. And you cannot rationalize it. And if you care about the people pissing in the bottles, don't go to a ball and hold up a piss bottle, right?

Help the people who have to hold up piss bottles. Do that. You can't have it both ways. And you shouldn't want it both ways, but you do. And that's a problem. Now, when I say you do, not you, these people do. Because I don't know that any of you are going to go to the Metball. But, look, and again, it's not about anti-fashion.

It's not about wanting that to be celebrators. That's not what I'm saying. It's that it's become much more than that. And I think it's a metaphor for the disconnect between what we need to be about in our politics in terms of getting things better and where we are. That's what I think.

And I think you should see this moment for that. I'm not impressed that they give Valhardt time about Bezos being there. There's always been deep pockets that fund that thing. They've always fallen into the same category. Who else is going to sponsor it? Seriously, who's going to, who's going to sponsor? The Boy Scouts of America?

Who's going to sponsor a big gala? Rich people do it. And now some rich people are better than other. Come on. It doesn't make any sense. It's never made any sense. What does make sense is realizing where your advantage lies, where the opportunity lies, where the mandate lies. And that's in reconnecting with the many.

and that our government is supposed to help those who can't help themselves. And there are a lot of them being exploited, yes, by the Bezos's. So seize upon that, I don't think you demonize the rich. I think you tighten up the system for that they can't get around what you and I can't get around, and they pay their fair share, that's all. I don't know about all these extra and ancillary taxes. I really don't. I think that how we spend the money is every bit as much of a problem and frankly, more on just about every measurable level than how much money we're taken in.

The reason that the U.S. debt just passed the GDP for the first time since the 40s is not because of how much we're taking in simply, but how you're spending it. Trump spends like a drunken sailor. He is not a real conservative. by the way, real conservatives have never been real conservatives. They're only conservatives when they're out of power. When they're in power, they spend as much as anybody else. It's not me making this shit up. I'm not a Democrat.

I hate the two-party system. I am anti-partisan. But I accept that this is the system right now and that you need it to participate in a lot of ways and in a lot of places. But it shouldn't be your identity. It should not be your identity. It should not be, this should be,

this should be your identity. You're a critical thinker, period. That's what your identity should be. It shouldn't be that by default, you just agree whatever they say you have to agree with. You just accept whatever it is. That's an identity. That's bullshit. Should be a critical thinker. You should be open to other ideas. You should be open to better progressive pragmatism. That's what it's about. That's where we should be. That's the label. but we're not, not with stuff like this, not with the Meggala, not having to live that down,

send that message, talk about not being normal, talk about not relating to the average guy. I mean, why, why do this to yourselves? Because you want to go. You want to be fancy. You want to be seen. That's why.

But then you're not a real one, okay? And I think now is not the time to be having it both ways. Now is the time to knuckle up and buckle down. Mixed metaphors. Why? Because there's a real opportunity here and there's a real need. Okay? And you've got to see the opportunities that have given to you. Now the war, look, I think the war is going to be something that underscores that underlines just how he has not delivered on MAGA. I don't know that people are going to vote on the basis of the war. Why? Because it's subtle. War, no war. It's not that simple. Because the regime is bad. And beating them down matters. And how you do it matters too. So the idea that this should have

never happened, oh, you don't want to see the regime degraded. Arguing, no, I don't want to see the regime degraded. That's a tough argument. Politically. I'm not saying that there isn't merit to it, but I'm just saying politically, I don't like that. I wouldn't. want to be on that side of it, that, yeah, we should just leave the regime alone. That's not a good side. So I don't think a lot of people are going to be voting on this. But I do think it will be symptomatic of what they think is wrong with this administration's leadership, with Trump's leadership. And I think that it's going to be about the economy and the economy, not Wall Street, Main Street.

And let MAGA make that mistake. Let them point to Wall Street. Let them point to the stock markets. That's not your life. Okay? Your life is about what you get paid and how much of it you get to keep and what things cost you

and what your purchasing power is and what you're left with. It is not about your portfolio. Less than 50% of us are involved in that game. And to the extent that we are, most of us, it's through some defined contribution, you know, or in 401K or that kind of thing, you're passive at best. And I'm not criticizing that. I mean, I think it's a casino. I mean, I think it's a dicey proposition anyway.

Over time, I know it's worked, but, you know, I think you've got to be careful about it. Put it this way. But what I'm saying is that Main Street is not Wall Street. And President Trump used to know that. He used to say it all the time when he'd be arguing against those big shots and how the regular people were getting boxed out. He was right then. And he was right when he campaigned on it. He's just not doing it now. He's doing the opposite. And he's more corrupt than anybody we've ever seen. But even that, part of the Trump sucks, you know, case. It's everybody knows it. It's weighed and measured. And the reason that it never seems to be enough to get people to quit on him is because they're not going to abandon what they know was wrong,

even though he's now demonstrating to them what's wrong. They're not going to own the problem. They won't. They won't do it. Why? Because it's too unfair to them, that they're the ones getting done dirty and now they're the reason?

Now, you may say, yeah, they're the reason. But that doesn't win. We're in a persuasion game here. This is about campaigns. This is about messaging. This is about building coalitions. You really think you're going to get somebody to be on your side by telling them they suck?

It doesn't work. And that's why Trump sucks, even though there's so much evidence of him doing things that are supposedly anathema to what he's supposed to be about, about draining the swamp and the deep state and all that other bullshit, lawfare, right? I mean, all these things that he campaigned on that now he's making worse. I get it. But just seize on the part that they're getting worse, that it's wrong, and that we all know it has to be better. Seize on that, you will build on that. The Med Gala is a divider.

It's not a uniter. It's a bad look. People are suffering. They're struggling. And I don't care what you're right on your dress. It doesn't matter. You're not with them. You're not a real one when you're there. You've got to think about

that. And you've got to think about what this means. And then you can bitch about Bezos, but you shouldn't be there. If you care about those things, you shouldn't be And I don't think it's as simple as demonizing the rich. I think that's stupid. I think it's a big part of the American dream is to be rich, to make the money so that you can live the way you want to and do what you want to do.

Money is licensed. Luker is license, my father used to say, filthy lucre. Luker is license, he would say. You use it to give, you use it to take care of, you use it to help, you use it. You use it for to give to yours and those you're responsible for, those you care about. And that is what's going to win, is to remind of that, to remind to our commitment to one another, to the many, to the needs of the many, not the wants of the few. And that right now our politics is dominated by the few, by magnified minorities,

people who get paid to provoke you, to outrage you. And the parties have bought into it, and the pundits are making money off it, and the influencers are all about it, and the media echoes it. And that's where we are. But the people are understanding it and waking up to it more and more every day.

So don't send them the signal that you're part of what is a part from them. You don't want to be a part of what is a part from them. You want to be a part of them and an extension of what they need and what they want, because we all know what's wrong. We know what needs to be addressed and to be fixed. Build on that.

Don't be part of what divides us. Be part of what unites us. And what unites us is that we all know what's wrong and needs to be better. Be about that. That's plenty for the midterms. And that's where people are going to be with their votes. See it or get beat by it. You should have learned the lesson by now. This

Medgala is proof that you still don't understand how you got where you are, which is not where you want to be, which is out of power. The midterms are coming. Being handed to you on a platter, don't drop it. My friends, thank you for being a critical thinker. Thank you for subscribing and following. Thank you for listening to me on Sirius Radio 7 and 9 in the morning on Channel 124, POTUS channel. Thank you for checking out the podcast a couple times a week. Thank you for going to YouTube and picking a subscription that works for you. And we're building and growing and we're having our weekly zooms now. It's going to start to be weekly if you sign up for it. We've been doing it on Sundays. If that stays for people, that's great. We spend time. We speak. You ask about

whatever you want. You get a different lens into me and where I'm coming from and et cetera, et cetera. Seems to be working. We've got the swag that you should be buying so that you can brand yourself and put the message out there, that you're not some lemming whose identity is some party. You're a critical thinker. You're a citizen. You're different. You're a free agent. Okay? Very important. Very important. And then, of course, I see you at News Nation every weekday night, eight to nine, Eastern. Appreciate you for giving me the opportunity. opportunity for helping give you some food for thought as a critical thinker. So you can benefit from my experience and what I see. You take it in and use it as you please. My brothers and

sisters, the challenges are real. So let's get after it.