The Chris Cuomo Project - The Paradoxes Tearing America Apart

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

In this episode of The Chris Cuomo Project, Chris discusses paradoxes in politics and how anger and hostility towards the current system is leading many to make choices that actually work against their own interests. He argues that desires for change have manifested in counterproductive ways, and that more reasoned approaches are needed. Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you know what a paradox is? Do you see them playing out in politics? Oh, you should, because they are in ways that are messing with your mind. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to another episode of the Chris Cuomo Project Podcast. Thank you for checking out the sub stack and subscribing there.

You know, you get this ad free and you'll get to things early and you'll also get a real window into this long COVID community I'm trying to build with sharing of information about symptoms and what can be done with it and what experts are telling us. Okay. And thank you for checking out News Nation, 8p and 11p every weekday night. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now, my return of your favor is to explain something that is happening, and I don't know why we continue to let it happen. Paradox. What is it? Greek word para from dox or paradox is about a conflicting opinion. And it's something that's self-contradictory. It's something that on its face seems one way, but when you pursue it,

it turns out that it's not absurd. It's actually true. Like what? Simply stated, it turns out that when you step back from your work and give some time to think about it, you actually become more productive, even though you're working less. That's paradoxical that less can be more. That's simple. All right. Now, where do we see it in politics? All over. However, however, there are a couple of ways that matter more than others.

And I want to lay them out. First one is in the inherently paradoxical notion of democracy. Now, there's this little gotcha going around that I don't think really matters, but I'll lay it out anyway. You keep seeing these people on the internet, I'm sure, because I do, saying, you think we're a democracy? We're not a democracy. America's not a democracy. It's a constitutional republic. Okay. Now, here is the answer to that arrogance. What is a constitutional republic? What form of government is it? It's a democracy, okay? What their point is that they're making is that democracy is supposed

to, in its pure form, be direct democracy, which means the mob wins. You don't have protection of individual rights. You don't have the minority rights. Individual rights, you may. It depends on if the mob wants to go with it or not, okay? Mobocracy, a direct democracy means that whatever the people want is what they get. Even if it's bad for 49%, 51 wins. We have something better than that, in my opinion, which is we have a constitutional republic, which means based on a set of guiding principles, we as a population elect representatives to carry our interests through the lens of their own beliefs, opinions, ideas, and perspective into our governmental bodies. And that's how it works, through representation based on a constitutional set of principles, as opposed to just everything being

referenda. Although I do believe there is a place for referenda, and I think states like California and others have shown some real progress, and I wish my state had more of that. I think there are a lot of things, especially when they're cultural things that you can put on the ballot that might be a more efficient way of kind of getting culture to reflect the majority as opposed to just pockets of micro agendas that have got outsized power now because of the influence of the fringes on primaries of these two parties. Now, by the way, the two-party system is in fact paradoxical to what our goals are supposed to be. If what we're about is inclusiveness and the idea of diversity of strength and a marketplace of ideas and a robust democracy. The parties do the opposite. They pull us away from each other. They don't create a more perfect union.

The formative language, okay, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare. You know the song, right? Schoolhouse Rock. Anyway, this two-party system actually takes us away from that. It is actually a paradox that what we say we want, we're actually doing in a way that we won't get there. 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. Three million members.

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So, again, go to prizepix.com slash CCP and use code CCP for a first deposit match up to $100. Again, go to prizepix.com slash CCP and use code CCP for a first deposit match up to $100. Prize Picks. Pick 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. Now, one form of this is okay in a democracy. How so? How can a paradox be okay in democracy? There are two propositions, A and B. You believe in A, okay? You want A to happen. and you vote for A.

The votes are tabulated. B wins, and it was a fair election. The person who wanted A as a responsible free agent in a democracy can now have wanted A, but believe that B is the right outcome because it was the fruit of the process. So at once you can want A and B, even though they are mutually exclusive propositions. Okay. Meaning, do you want it to be red or do you want it to be blue? It can't be red and blue. You want it to be red. Comes out and the answer, do you want it to be red or do you want it to be blue? It can't be red and blue. You want it to be red. Comes out and more people wanted it to be blue. So now you're okay with being blue, even though you want it to be red. Why? Because that's what the process yielded. And you think it's a fair process and you believe in the process. So you believe in red and blue at the same time. That's a paradox, but it's also okay. Now, here's when it's not okay, okay? And we're seeing this

way too often. What do you want? Okay. Now, there are a lot of answers to that question, but one of the main things we're dealing with in the United States right now, or at least we're giving voice to it, at least this concern is being magnified in a way more than it has in the past because of media, because of this devolving of our party system, this zero-sum battle to the bottom where it's more and more about division and nasty and rancor and about who's worse as opposed to anything that's better. And if you want to test my idea on this, just look at the border. Everybody knows what the fixes are and everybody would rather complain about the problem

and blame the other side. The condition exists. They would rather have the problem than solve it, even though they know how to. Why? Because that's the nature of it. So what do you want? You want responsible government.

You want the people who are in it, who are just in there for the power and the system that enables them to just stay in as a function of advantage for themselves and enriching themselves out. Responsible to you and beholden to you because they are your agents. You have given them agency, stewardship over our laws. They are, in effect, safeguarding your rights and you want them to be responsible and not motivated by political agendas, but by your agenda. Okay. You want culture and what's okay and not okay and how you're being socially pressured, this new level of scrutiny in our society, that's not really new. A lot of this, all of it, I would argue, is not new.

You know the pillory, the stocks, where your head's in there like this, we always like to take the picture. You can take a picture now. Did you know that a lot of that started not merely as a punishment for crime, but as a consequence for social ridicule by the masses, by the public square? It's true. So cancel culture is not new.

It's just been magnified, especially by our media culture that is driven by division in too many ways. So what is the point of this paradox? Well, those are the things you want that I just outlined. You don't want cancel culture telling you what your kids have to be or not be, what's okay for you to say or not say. It's not just criticizing you. It's not just calling you out, but you have to lose your job and your life has to be ruined and everything has to go away

just because people don't like what you're saying. Those are the things that you want. Responsible institutions, not about political agendas. Some of you call that deep state. I think you're getting sold a little bit of a bill of goods about that, but the main intention is a pure one. You want different people in politics. Okay. so many of you have decided that the remedy is someone who has no real interest in giving you any of those things in the form of Donald Trump. I don't know what he needs to tell you or to show you to make you understand. He just understands what you don't like, and he's telling you that he'll serve it, but he was in there and he did not serve it. he just understands what you don't like. And he's telling you that he'll serve it,

but he was in there and he did not serve it. He did not drain the swamp. He added alligators to it. And I mean, that's demonstrable. And yes, they're coming after him. And yes, you can argue there is overreach. But even if he's being victimized by a system that you hate, what evidence do you have that he would make it any better in a way that no one else with an R after their name won't? If you think about it, what really matters most at the end of the day is that he seems to be the

most hostile and the most capable of getting into a fight with the same things that you dislike and want to change, even though he is no change agent. Now, some of you will say, well, that's not true. When he was in there, this was better, that was better. But again, you have to ask yourself, is that because of him or despite him? And to the extent that, well, you know, the economy, look, just take this one example, and I'm sure you'll dismiss it because, again, part of this paradox being in play here

is that you're supporting something that's working against your own stated interests. The man literally said he hopes the economy tanks between now and the election. Now, some of you are saying, well, he's just saying the quiet part out loud. Everybody always wants things to go bad. It helps you the election. Now, some of you are saying, well, he's just saying the quiet part out loud. Everybody always wants things to go bad. It helps you in election. Maybe, maybe not. But for someone who wants to be your leader, to say out loud that he hopes that things go shitty for you between now

and when he can get back into power, you really believe that this guy's a change agent who's got the same set of interests of common good that you're hoping he has? Now, look, you can say, oh, you just hate Trump. No, I hate the game. And I hate that you're getting played this way because it is paradoxical to your own stated interests. It's anathema to them. It's the opposite of it. It's an absurdity of what you're trying to do to get what you want. Now, some of it is party driven. Some of it is desperation that you just feel like

that system can't yield anything better. And he's a disruptor. And I want this shit disrupted. I want an agent for my animus. I want someone to go in there and to smash it all. Okay, but then you're going to have to rebuild it. And he ain't the guy. Okay?

Oh, no, he's a builder. No, he isn't. He puts his name on things that are built. And when he runs them, they most invariably go south. That's always been the truth. He is a salesman. And that is a very big and powerful thing in politics. The sell is clearly more powerful than the need for delivery, paradoxically, right? Because it's supposed to be about what you

do. You're supposed to run on your record. Nobody even says that anymore. It's all about the other guy just sucking and who can make you more angry. But if what you want is for things to get better, more angry. But if what you want is for things to get better, why aren't you picking change agents that are capable of that? Why is Chris Christie so unpopular when he probably has as good a set of tools to get the kind of changes that you want as anybody else running on that side? Why does nobody have a chance except Trump, when arguably many of them are more capable unless and except it's not really what you want to fix, it's what you want broken. 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.

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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. 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

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plan. This is the answer to the paradox for me. And I'm not saying that you don't want better, but there does seem to be consensus among people who are desperate enough for change to throw their lot in with Trump, who I'm sure none of you want to be like, except maybe for his money, but look what comes along with it, is that you're so disgusted by things that you'd rather see it stopped

than see it improved, and that you'll deal with improving after. Let's just stop it now. Let's throw them out now. Let's do what we're doing now. But look at where it's getting us. The paradox is you want better. The reality is that the choice structure that goes along with this as an avenue of change is making them worse. More and more prosecutions. I told you that when the Republicans got into power, they were going to investigate Biden the way the Democrats investigated Trump. And no, no, no, they've been saying that this was wrong what they did with Trump and they're gonna do better. They did the exact same thing. Biden just hasn't given them as much to work with.

They're looking at financial dealings of his kid like, well, that's a shocker, right? I mean, forget about Trump and his son-in-law getting $2 billion that even the Saudis didn't wanna give him. That got muscled through, right? I mean, that's a more bold-faced situation. Yeah, but it didn't influence anything. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure it didn't. I'm sure that MBS and the treatment that the Saudis have gotten and the lack of

attention they've gotten for their role in the spread of extremism around this world, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Kushner eventually got $2 billion. Now, why am I skeptical? Because they made it easy, the same way you feel about the Biden thing with Hunter. Oh yeah, but save it. The point is, if you go down that road, you're never going to get to a better place. Yeah, we're going to clean it up. No, you're not. You're going to just prosecute yourself into oblivion. And that's all your government is going to focus on, is how to take down the other side. Is that really what you want? Or is it the opposite of what you want? And that is something that I have seen as being so self-contradictory.

And yet, it continues to grow. My father used to say all the time, any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good man or woman to build one. And that's very true. And I just think that you gotta be honest with yourselves about what it really is that you want right now. Now you can say it's make America great again and America first and all those other things

that sound like what really angry and toxic white people said here in the 50s and 60s. But when were we greater than we are today? When did more people have more rights? When was there more opportunity? What it really is that you don't like is the current culture shift. what it really is that you don't like is the current culture shift. I get it. I get why you don't like it.

Whether I agree or I don't agree is beside the point. I get it. But when was it better? I really believe that the answer to that is not found in the past, but is in the future. I don't believe that you can look at a point in the past and say, I would love to live then. I remember this being asked of me in school, when would you want to live? And I had said the 60s. Why? Because of the muscle cars and because of the great change dynamics in society. And I've always really found interest in being an eyewitness

to history of big moments and big changes. But man, it would have been so ugly. And to see people that I care about being treated like dogs and less than, so violent. Would I have gotten caught up in the violence? Would I have wanted to hurt people who were hurting what and who I cared about? How uncomfortable would it have been to see the people who I loved and trusted and the women in my life being devalued and told they were less than? So the past rarely holds anything better than the future potential of things. potential of things. So other, if that's the idea, like let's make us great again. Okay. Maybe it's not about going backwards. Maybe it's about the again, meaning no, that we're just great in the future because we used to be great. Okay. How?

With somebody who's going to be on a revenge tour? Now, if Trump starts saying different things, then you can measure him differently. But the most recent thing the man has said is, I won't agree to any preconditions about what rules of evidence or of what's been established in a trial or how you have to carry yourself at trial, but I want to speak and do my own closing

at this civil trial. And when they say no, because he won't accept any of the preconditions that everyone has to agree to, to do a closing in a court, a civil trial, he's seen as having his speech restricted. You see what I'm saying? He's not agreeing to any of the rules

that everybody has to agree to do what he wants to do. And he's a victim only of his own choice. So you want these things to be better. He agrees with your anger and your animus. He tells you that you are right. And you are. It tells you that you are right and you are. You should want way more productive and reasonable governance than we have.

Men and women in our Congress are not getting it done and they're not getting it done for the worst of reasons. It's not because they can't, it's because they won't, because they're playing to advantage and you see it and you smell it and you feel it's because they won't, because they're playing to advantage. And you see it and you smell it and you feel it. They're taking care of themselves and not taking care of you. And then they're going to point the finger at somebody else, even Donald Trump and say, he's the problem. No way. They do not get that right to suck the way they do and then say, he's the problem. He's worse than them. No, they're the worst. I get it. I get how you feel. I just don't understand the choice of change agent

because you've already seen it happen once. Oh yeah, but things were so much better then. No, they weren't. No, I disagree. I disagree with that. Oh, the economy was, look, it was as much circumstantial as it was. Now look, when you're president, everything that happens on your watch, positive and negative, is on you. The buck stops here. That was a reference to poker, by the way, and where, you know, who gets to deal and who has to bet. Anyway, the point is, it's a paradox that what you say you, I want Trump, and the reason I want Trump is because I want these things to change. You're reducing the chances that it happens based on what we already know.

And now this time, I don't know. Now, look, I'm the guy who was being blamed for telling you that I'm not impressed by these ideas that Trump will bring down America. That's because I, it's not because I don't believe Trump has it in him to do things that are bad for the rest of us

because he thinks it's good for himself or he wants to punish the people who he sees as bad for him. I believe that. I've seen it. I'm just saying I believe more in our institutions than I do in his capabilities,

in his instincts, his wants, or his capabilities to get it done. I do not think he's going to take down the United States. I think its institutions are strong. I think its people are too strong. I think America is stronger than any one man, let alone him. And that's why January 6th and the events thereafter didn't go where he and a small group of his followers wanted it to go. he and a small group of his followers wanted it to go.

And that's what I'm saying. I'm not minimizing the threat of Trump. I just don't believe that America is that susceptible. Oh, then you didn't learn the lesson. Well, all I saw was that it didn't happen. Okay? And you can get mad at me for, look, I believe in reasonableness.

Okay? What happened on January 6th was very wrong. But I'm not going to contribute to this paradox by adding to the problem of exaggeration and blowing things out of control for advantage that I'm trying to get rid of by calling out January 6th as extreme, which it was. And I believe it's absolutely disqualifying as an event

in terms of who you vote for, but is it an insurrection? Did these people really want to take over the government? which it was. And I believe it's absolutely disqualifying as an event in terms of who you vote for, but is it an insurrection? Did these people really want to take over the government, largely unarmed? And don't show me pictures of a guy beating someone with a flag. I'm saying, and don't talk to me about bloodless coup. A bloodless coup is when people come in

and they have enough of the power structure lined up that the transition happens because they know the violence is imminent otherwise, or that they come in so armed to the teeth and so threatening that they don't actually have to act. That's not what this was.

This was a bunch of assholes doing horrible things. And a lot of them were prosecuted. And they wanted to disrupt Congress because they didn't like the outcome, but they didn't want to overthrow the government and take over America. That wasn't going to really happen

the way they were doing it. And what he did thereafter kept getting flagged and caught and negated by state and local representatives who were about something bigger than Trump. And it didn't happen. And now he's getting prosecuted out the ass more than he should, if you want to say, or as he should, if you want to say, because of the institutions. And let me tell you something. The second time you try to do something, your chances are not as good when we were on guard after the first time.

So that's why I'm saying it. Not because I don't get what Trump is. I know more about Trump than most of you will ever know. So you got to see the paradox. If what you want is better, then make choices that have a chance of getting it to better not just that satisfy your need for the anger and hostility towards these people you got to divorce yourself from those feelings if you want to get to a better place what's the most dangerous thing to be in a fight? What's the most dangerous thing?

When you're fighting against somebody else, why do they talk so much trash? Why do they try to intimidate each other before the fight? Who has the advantage in a fight? If I get you angry at me, you're going to make a mistake. I guarantee it. Guarantee it. Happens every time. And I have literally experienced it in fights many, many times. And I've been the guy who gets taken advantage of because they're too angry many times. That's what's happening here. You're so angry. You're so pissed off, whether it's about identity or speech or different values and how they

seem to be being manipulated to advantage in a way you don't like or what's happening with governments and prosecuting of opponents. You're right to feel the way you feel. I'm not here to judge your feelings. I'm here to ask questions and test your motivations versus your actions.

That's where the paradox lies. That's where the paradox lies, That's where the paradox lies, not in whether or not we have a direct democracy or a constitutional republic. That's bullshit. That's a distinction without a difference.

It's about fairness and equality of approach, equality of rights and access of the franchise of voting and determinations that are free and fair. It can take a lot of different forms. But we are getting roped into a binary system that's

a battle to the bottom. And Trump has exploited all of these things for his own advantage. And you know what? That is nothing but kudos to him. Don't hate the player, hate the game. If you want better, you have to make choices that have a reasonable chance of getting you to a better place. Otherwise, you just live in a paradox. Thank you very much for subscribing to the Chris Cuomo Project. To subscribing at the Substack so you get it ad-free and often get it first and can be part of this long COVID community and get insights into what's happening in my life

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AP and 11P every weekday night. Thank you. It's growing and it's showing. Let's get after it.