The Chris Cuomo Project - The Perpetual Campaign: Why They Stay in Fight Mode

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Chris Cuomo analyzes how modern politicians seem to be in perpetual campaign mode, arguing it's easier than actually governing. He also explains why Donald Trump is turning his trials into campaign ads, and how grievance has replaced gravitas in politics today. 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

You ever feel like they're always in campaign mode now in politics, that it didn't used to be that way? You're right. Want to know why? 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

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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. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to another episode of the Chris Cuomo Project. You know, we're trying to take on some provocative questions that are in the zeitgeist and kind of advance understanding for critical thinkers, for independents. So I got some food for thought for you, okay? And it's just me and you today. And we'll have some kind of visual representations of these things, but we're going to help decode the game about a couple of big dynamics that are going on that don't get spoken to enough.

First, if it seems like politicians are in campaign mode 24-7, 365 now, that there is no more real campaign season, except maybe arguably President Biden and other incumbent presidents who definitely delay it as long as they can. Why? Because it works to their advantage. With Biden, it really works to his advantage because he hasn't shown yet that he really has what it takes to make the case. Not that he doesn't have a case to make, but messenger matters as much as message.

However, if it seems to you that they are in campaign mode all the time, guess what? It's because they are. And that is new. It has not always been that way. In fact, they very much used to adhere to a set schedule. Why? So they could govern the continued erosion of our political culture, subject to the binary battle to the bottom of a two-party system.

And increasingly, as the media has played into and politicians have adapted to, to exploit, which I believe is shameful on both parts, of just a battle of who's worse and what you should be more scared of, they've gotten farther away from governing and more just toward the constant campaigning against the other side. And again, as ugly as it can be, as hostile as it can be, as exhausting as it can be for you, it is easier for them. How so? Well, in just one simple, logical assertion of it. What's easier to beat somebody in a contest? To show that you're better than they are or to show that they're worse? Why do you think campaign ads, commercials are like seven to one negative about the other side versus positive about the side putting them out?

Negative sells. It plays to people's fear, their sense of self-protection, and they will vote on that more often than they'll vote on thinking, yeah, I think he or she is going to do this, and that will be good, and I like this. It's easier than governing. Problems are hard. this. It's easier than governing. Problems are hard. Cooperation is hard. Deal-making is hard. Why do you think we go into all this brinksmanship with the shutdowns and the debt ceilings? They can't make deals because they think making deals doesn't work for them as well as attacking the other side. Now, do I see this as a balanced effort? No, I think it's overweighted to the right. I think they work the game better to their advantage, and I, I think it's overweighted to the right. I think they work the game better to their advantage, and I don't think it's to yours. Why? Because all of this politicking

about which side is worse doesn't play to what's better for you. It's just what's the least of the two evils, the lesser of the two evils. And that doesn't get your problems decided. That is the answer to the riddle of immigration. If all of the answers are so obvious and have been asked for by administration after administration after administration in terms of who's in charge of the border, why doesn't it happen? Because the problem works better for the politicians than any solution. Why? Because the right gets to say, these Democrats are crazy and making you all unsafe because the brown menace is coming for your jobs

and your women. They will kill you, these people. And they're all bringing fentanyl. Now, is that true? By and large, no. We know as a matter of fact that immigrants, let alone illegal entrants, are less likely to commit crimes.

Why? They're hiding, keeping low profile. Are there some gangbangers in there? Are there some bad people? Yeah, there are a lot more of them among our citizenry. So that's not a real threat. I'm not saying you won't find cases. I'm saying I'll find you cases of anything among citizens.

So it's not going to be just one, two cases. That's just what they're using to substantiate something that they're trying to sell you. Well, what about the jobs? We have over 7 million unfilled jobs and available jobs in this country that Americans either can't fill or won't fill. We need the labor. Look at the big hirers, the big employers that get away with encouraging,

if not facilitating, illegal immigration so they can keep the wage structure down and not have to pay the tax burden on these guys. Well, obviously, they need them. And it's not just restaurants and big fat cat cities. It's agribusiness. It's in our homes. It's in a lot of our home household economies. There are jobs all over the place. Construction. Come on. So it's not that they're stealing your jobs. It's that there are jobs that are available. And believe me, if there were no jobs, the people wouldn't come because they're giving up so much to come here and they know they're hated by and large here by too many people. And what's the next one? Well, that the Democrats keep the thing because they believe that the

immigration situation, they believe it placed their compassion. This is America. Bring us your huddled masses. The solutions are obvious. You have to change the asylum laws. You have to have You have to change the asylum laws. You have to have economic desperation driving a move. Dealt with first in home country. It just makes sense. Asylum is when there's an emergent situation, when you're literally running for your life. Everybody claims asylum now.

Overwhelmingly, the cases are rejected. Why? Because they're not legitimate. They're based on economics. And I'm not saying that that's not a level of desperation that can totally end your life. But either you change the rules to accommodate it or you change the processing to do it the right way in home country.

And I got to tell you, the Trump administration, maybe not because of Trump, but because of the people who were running CBP at that time, had more deals in the home countries than we do now because the Biden administration canceled them. That was a mistake. And they did have Mexico more knuckled up. And letting that be decreased is a mistake.

Not going after the cartels is a mistake. But be very clear, illegal entrants aren't the burden for our fentanyl problem. We're making fentanyl in this country, okay? And the cartels are bringing in and amassed shipments through the legit ports of entry,

not on people's backs. More and more cartel guys tell you that they're putting it on people's backs just as a distraction to get people to fuel this argument that, you know, you look at the migrants, don't look at the cartels. It's all bullshit.

But if it looks like they're campaigning 24-7, 365, that's because they are. Because it's easier to are. Because it's easier to raise money than it is to figure out how to reduce the need for government revenues and tax policy and immigration policy and what to do about the reduction in trades in this country, the people we need to build and manage and repair and sustain our way of life. You know, I grew up 53 years old. Everybody wanted to go to college. They wanted to be a doctor. They wanted to be a lawyer. We need first responders.

We need tradesmen and women, welders, people who build, who fix, who install, who repair, entrepreneurs who aren't just starting crypto businesses and selling bullshit on Amazon Prime. It's not what an entrepreneur is in the main. An entrepreneur in the main is someone who's got an idea for a business that's providing what's needed. A plumber who winds up with six, eight trucks, different teams.

I can't tell you how many guys I know in the trades who are driving around in these humongous sport fishing boats and God bless them and good for them. It's as much the American dream, it's as much realized success as any piece of paper that says I learned a lot of stuff. Those are big considerations that we should be talking about.

We don't. Why? It's hard. That's hard. We'd rather argue about how liberal universities are and how gender is a thing, and we're going to make reproductive rights, not a rights argument, but a political argument about what we can control in other people's lives because we're so pro-life. Because who's pro-death? And why is there no consistency in pro-life? Where is our philosophy? Where is our mentality of design, our intellectual construct

that fuels our beliefs and our principles and our practices? What am I even talking about? That's not what we do anymore. It's 24-7-365. Let me tell you why this woman is crazy. Let me tell you why this man is a crook. Let me tell you why they are corrupt. And let me tell you why you should be very frightened. Because what your kids are having done to them in school and what's happening to you in the workplace and what they think about God or what they think about you as a minority, how they feel about you as a woman, scary stuff. Why? Easier than making my case to you on immigration and how to pay for it and how to work with the other side. I don't want to work with the other side. I want to kill the

other side. Why? It's easier. It's much easier. Get rid of them. Now it's my job. Like every bad streaming show that we binge with all these stupid little subplots of sabotage. That's what we've become in our politics. If it feels like they're campaigning all the time, it's because 24-7, 365, it is easier to be on the hunt to take down the other side than it is to build up your life better. That's the truth.

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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. 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 their options are as low as two bucks a dose. HIMS has hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers. up to like 95% cheaper and their 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 dot 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. Now, it gets tricky when you get into the fix because that works well for us. It makes us feel like we're policing the system.

Trump benefits from this greatly. Guy's been indicted like 5 million times. All kinds of charges. Probably did most of the stuff but The people who are indicting him the systems that are evaluating it. They're not even handed They're going after him on purpose and they're going light on others. I don't believe that that's true. By the way, I think he begged for these Actions against him. The classified documents, he begged his lawyers.

His lawyers were saying to him, don't do this. But he knew it would work for him as an agent of grievance with people who he's trying to make believe can't trust the government. It actually works for him. That's why Jason Miller and his team are putting out all of these press releases that go along with the prosecutions and the litigations. Why? Because every time he gets indicted, it's

like propaganda for him. Look how they're coming after me. Look how they're coming after me. And nobody's going to take the time to look at the fact that, well, look at the facts that they have. You know, I've often felt that this analysis that Merrick Garland, the DOJ, is going after Trump, I see it as the opposite being true. I feel like they've done everything they can since the Mueller stuff to avoid doing their job. I do believe that truly independent commissions are probably the best way to do congressional oversight, but not prosecutions. What do I need you for if I got all these special prosecutors every time there's anything political? Oh, well, that makes it less political. Well, but not prosecutions. What do I need you for? If I got all these special prosecutors

every time there's anything political? Oh, well, that makes it less political. Obviously not. So I think Merrick Garland has done everything he can to stay away from these things. Trump included, Biden included. I don't think he wants to investigate these things. I think Trump forced his hand on a number of things because he thinks it works for them because he's playing to people who are pissed off. But I do not think he's going to get people like you. I do not think he's going to get critical thinking independents. I don't. Because at a minimum, even if you have misgivings about how the institutions are working and how who's pulling the levers, do you really want the next four years of your life to be

about Trump's problems? Because that's what it's going to be in all likelihood. I also don't believe this, that he's going to go on this revenge tour. I don't think that he has the appetite for anything beyond himself that much, that he would actually go on a jihad against people like me.

I'm sure I'd be near the top of the list, which is redonkulous because I talk to his supporters all the time and I try to have a clear-eyed look at what's happening. And certainly my attacks on the system are not meant to denigrate Trump. It's meant to denigrate all of them. But what's one more enemy? I'm always willing to take on the fight. That's what I'm built for. That's what I signed up for. But it's not what you signed up for. You signed up for giving people your power, agency, over your rights and privileges to make your life better.

To act on your interests. And they're not doing that because they found a way around it. A loophole. Easier than governing. That's why Trump is using trials as advertisements. I don't think it's going to work with 50 plus one. I don't. But you know what?

advertisements. I don't think it's going to work with 50 plus one. I don't. But you know what? That's also a disingenuous formulation of what the election comes down to. It really comes down to like, what, 45 counties in a bunch of purple states that will determine the next election? Why? Because as much as I don't believe it's balanced, even though I know I get accused of this false equivalency all the time by Democrats, which really pisses me off. First of all, you young people, you are the future and you should be getting pissed off and getting way more politically activated

than people over 60 years of age, okay? This is your game to lose. This is your life that they're fucking with most, okay? Not people who are over 60. And there's a huge division in our country. I think it's more along age lines than anything else. Why? Because faith doesn't really hold sway

with a majority of American voters anymore. And I don't think it's positional or even partisan. I think it's age. And I think it's how that breaks down because the next generation does not see a lot of things the way even my generation does. I happen to think that's a good thing. And others will say, no, it isn't. They don't even know what gender is. I don't really believe that. I think there's an openness and an acceptance that a lot of people older than me or about my age are uncomfortable with. Whereas the younger people are not.

Hey, whatever it is, it is. Whatever they say they are, they are. You know, as long as it's not affecting me, it's not hurting me, go ahead. Live and let live. I think that we had gotten away from that in my parents' generation and mine. I think there was a lot of judgment

and a lot of culture plays that don't resonate with younger voters. And I think that'll be a good thing. Of course, I'll be dead when it comes to fruition, but that's okay. I have no interest in longevity anyway. But I'll tell you this, that's why they're using the trials as ads. And as perverse as that sounds, it makes complete sense if you're looking at it through the aperture, through the lens of grievance. They don't think that Trump is a good guy. They think the people and the institutions going after him are bad. And they're not gonna reward them

with allowing and accepting and respecting their judgments, even about Trump. And I do believe there's a desperation and an appetite for better in this country. I know there is. I hear it all the time. Even in East Palestine, people wearing Trump gear, they were very much open to the idea of anybody giving them anything

better. And I do think there's space for that. It's just not as easy as it is to run down the other side. I'm sorry, but that's, I guess I'm hashtag sorry, not sorry, right? I mean, I know that that's an unfortunate thing to say. It's almost a cynical thing to say, but it's true. It's just true. Look, here's a simple example. Johnny, you got a 79 on your test. Oh yeah? Well, Pete got a 60. Ever heard that? If you're a parent, ever say that? If you were a kid and a student why because the relative suck is seen as an excuse to your own deficiency hey you think i'm bad someone else is worse right that plays to our sense of self-interest and relativism and protection it just shouldn't be

so dominant in our politics and all of that politicking and degradation and running people down is a distraction to your interests. What are you going to do about real wages? What are you going to do about the trades? What are you going to do about immigration? What are you going to do about updating our voting system? These are the big ticket items that'll make a difference. Now, I also feel that I feed a little bit of this. I make no apologies for covering the people who have the most power and seem to have the most influence in or shaping our dialogue. I don't believe in deplatforming. I don't believe in any form of censorship. I think the best idea should win. And I welcome them all with very, very few exceptions.

Well, like what? Pretty much exclusively straight up hate. A Nazi, a white supremacist, a bigot is not going to come on my show and get a fair hearing. Now, I may bring one on who is supporting somebody in power or talking about why people like them support somebody in power. Why? Because that I think is instructive to you. I'm not there to vet their beliefs.

In fact, I did this once with a guy who was running for Senate, I think in Virginia, North Carolina, and Trump had endorsed them and they were a bigot. They were like a Confederacy nut. And I had them on just to say, just to remind everybody out there,

this is you with the guy with the Robert E. Lee impersonation act, right? And the Confederate flag. This is you with the rebel yell. This is you, right? These are your people. And Trump endorsed you for Senate. Thanks. Bye. I wasn't there for a fair hearing of his ideas. Why? Because his ideas are disgusting. But short of that, and there's a lot that's short of outright hate, bring the idea on. Why do you think I have Bill O'Reilly on? I agree with very little of what he says, certain to the degree that he believes it.

I think there are a lot of alternative facts that people like Bill and people on the left who were pundits ignore. Alternative facts? No, they're only facts. Kellyanne Conway got a bad rap for that line. I'll tell you why. She wasn't saying that

the facts don't matter. She was saying that there are a list of facts involved. Let's say we're looking at the economy. What's the GDP? What's the GNP? What's the unemployment rate, the U6? What's the U9, which is the underemployment rate? There are all these different numbers you can look at. So when you say the economy's great, inflation is on the way down, I can say the economy sucks. Wages are on the way down. Well, which is a fact? Both. Well, with who? In what sect? In what place? And why? Context. But they're alternative facts, okay? Economy's bad because of this. Economy's not bad because of that. They're both facts. She got a bad rap for that.

I said that, nobody wanted to listen. Why? Because they didn't want to like Kellyanne Conway and they wanted to expose her as a bullshit artist for Trump and that was their easy opportunity to do it. I felt it was disingenuous. There's no reason to take something out of context

and to twist it to win an argument. If you have a better argument, you have a better argument. You want to take somebody else on in their best platform and position. You don't want to twist this shit just to your own advantage. That's my thought. So all of this is beside your interests. Why? Grievance has replaced gravitas in our politics. Now, demagoguery, old word. Why? Because playing to people's prejudices and their hatred and their fear is an old thing to do because that's how humans are. And it's been going on from the beginning. So the Greeks gave us that word. They did not give us a positive opposite of it. Why? Because it's rare that people get together for a hug-in.

They get together for a riot, to protest, anger, hostility, redress. They don't get together to say how happy and appreciative they are. That's not how we work. Why? Because it's not what drives our concerns the same way. We're not concerned that we better have enough reason to celebrate. We're concerned that we're going to be exposed or hurt or compromised. Grievance has replaced gravitas, meaning if I can get you to believe that I respect,

understand, appreciate, and want to motivate why you're afraid or angry, that is more impressive to you than hearing my ideas about how to make things better. Grievance has replaced gravitas. The more you look at it, the more you'll see what's obvious. They are campaigning 24-7, 365 because it's easier than governing. And while it's a distraction from your interests, it plays to their advantage. Problems work better for people in power than cooperating and being judged on the results of their efforts to solve them. That's why it's going on. We've allowed grievance to become a proxy for gravitas. You don't have to have the good plans anymore and the optimism and the belief that captures your imagination and

gives you a reason to believe in something better, even though you're desperate for it. If they scare you enough about what it means if you vote the other way, that gets it done. And that's why they're doing it. And that's why Trump is using every legal dynamic that goes against him as proof of how he's a good agent for your grievance. Because look, the people you hate, hate me. It's like a bad movie where you're getting bullied. And then another big guy comes in and says, try it on someone your own size. That's what Trump is, right? Rich, powerful access. That's what he sells to you. Grievance has replaced gravitas and you should be aware of it. You should see that game and I expose the game

so that you can force it to change. How? With your own choices and judgments and reasoned actions and inactions. That's the best that we can do. And that's what we're doing here. And that's what we're doing together. So that's how I see it. How do you see it? I'm Chris Cuomo.

Thank you for subscribing and following. Please comment. Happy to read it. Happy to hear it. Happy to respond. And I'll see you at News Nation, 8 and 11 P Eastern, every weekday night. Let's get after it.