The Chris Cuomo Project - Trump Just Turned The White House Into A Freak Show

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

Chris Cuomo explains why a bizarre moment at UFC 250, when heavyweight fighter Josh Hokit declared “Michelle Obama is a man” during a post-fight interview, revealed something much bigger than a bad joke. Cuomo argues that MAGA has drifted away from the populist movement that once appealed to frustrated and disaffected voters and has instead become a spectacle centered on loyalty, grievance, and attention-seeking behavior.   Using the White House UFC event as a case study, Cuomo breaks down why he believes Trump’s political movement is losing touch with the people it originally claimed to represent, why young men remain politically available to both parties, how corporate interests and political branding have replaced real populism, and why Democrats are missing a major opportunity if they focus on mocking MAGA voters instead of addressing the frustrations that drove many of them there in the first place.  Cuomo also discusses Graham Platner, Dan Bongino, Joe Rogan, the No Kings protests, Trump’s Iran claims, healthcare costs, corporate power, and the growing gap between political rhetoric and economic reality.   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 Get $20 OFF the Waver Vibration Plate and Free Shipping at https://lifeprofitness.com with code CUOMO at checkout. #ad  Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://shopify.com/chrisc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

BetMGM, an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League, has everything you need for 26 Stanley Cup playoff action. Hockey fans in Canada can place live bets every game during the quest for the cup. Create same game parlays, take player props, and place futures on the 26 Stanley Cup champion. Check out BetMGM original bets. Hockey markets you can't find anywhere else. And it's not just about what you can do on game day.

The BetMGM app has improved its first line this season. to include instant withdrawals. Download the BetMGM app and enjoy the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs like never before. Betmgm.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-260 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement

with Eye Gaming Ontario. And lastly, Moschelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America? Right there, you just saw why Maga was ever a thing and why it is now nothing. And look, people can get upset and clutch their pearls and say, how could he say that?

How could this happen at the White House? How could they be okay with it? and the counter could be, oh, come on, get over it. It was just a joke. It was funny. No, it was code. It was code. If you want to know why MAGA got to where it is,

and if you want to know why it's going down in flames in the midterms, listen up because it was all on display for all of us, and the code is clear once you see the game, and I am here to reveal it. I am Chris Cuomo. Thank you very much for joining me at the Chris Cuomo Project, subscribing and following is so nice of you. Appreciate you. Appreciate you. Appreciate you. And of course, if you're into true crime, also follow Cuomo Crime Time. Um, pre. Just click on it. The channel's right there. You see it right here. All my stuff is out.

Please check it out. Thank you. Thank you. So, brass tax. UFC 250. See it for what it was. Of course it's all about Trump. Of course it's not about. the country. The man doesn't even introduce people who come up to him to his wife, who's sitting right next to him, the first lady. I watched her all night watching Trump say hello to people and him not even acknowledge her existence. The only time it was different was when Justin Gachie, who won his fight, came over to talk to the president and looked over at the first lady and gave her a fist bump. Trump didn't even acknowledge that.

He didn't acknowledge Don Jr. He didn't acknowledge his new wife. He didn't acknowledge Lara Trump. Baron Trump had to pat him on the shoulder while I was going, he's all about him. See it. His new post that he just put out. July 4th, we're going to have a big rally.

Of course it's going to be about him. You know this. See the opportunity. Because you also saw very clearly why MAGA is DOA in the midterms. Why? Because it's stupid. It's become this stupid point of implosion.

That guy's saying Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right? By the way, didn't even get a lot of applause. Why? Because it's fucking stupid. That's why. But MAGA has become a joke. Maga is no longer this matrix of the discontented.

many of whom were right about things that are wrong in this country. No, not that trans and gender and all this nonsense and caring about reproductive rights, not really, only about babies in the womb and never about them ever again once they're born. Not all that culture war bullshit that is particularly effective on the right. Not that. They were right about the discontent, about not believing in the same. system anymore, about wanting disruption, about wanting things that happen within this system to happen for them and not to them. They were right about all that. You know how we know? Because

those desires are bigger than ever in the matrix of people who feel that way is broader and deeper with more spaces from more places and different faces than MAGA ever even imagined. How do we know? Oh, the no kings rallies. They're the biggest protests in American history, not because we've learn something new about organizing, but because the outrage has spread because of Trump, because of what MAGA is and is not. And it was all on display for you at UFC 250. The least of it is that he's bullshit about it not costing us anything. Of course it's going to cost us things. Just his security. Just turning the lights on. I'll tell you what pissed me off about it in terms of it being private or public. If it was for the people, if it's about us at all, why'd we

have to pay Paramount Plus to watch it? Now look, I choose to have an account with Paramount Plus for my own reasons because I love to watch the UFC primarily. Once in a while, there's some series on there that someone in my family wants to watch, but for me it's about the UFC. That's why I had ESPN Plus. Now I have Paramount Plus. Why? I love MMA. I hate what the UFC has done with it because of Dana White. I hate how he's politicized it now made me have to explain why I like it for a whole new set of reasons of people who are pissed off about it being politicized

and I'm one of them. It shouldn't be political. It's about guys hitting each other. And Trump is exposing it and I'm sure he is getting paid from it. I'm surprised he has such a small stake. But why did it have to be Paramount Plus if it was for us?

I mean, obviously it wasn't. It's just corporatizing our democracy and Trump loves doing that. He did it with Easter Egg Hunt. of course, of course the country's for sale. It always has been. It's just ugly and obvious and in your face now. And he's finding new ways to exploit it all the time.

And Maga just keep gobbling it up, gobbling up his bullshit like it was chocolate ice cream. Why? Because they're stuck. But on display there was everything that made it what it was and everything that's bringing it down. Right there for you to see it about why the midterms are going to be a crushing and resounding rejection of everything that night was. But there's some caveats.

You've got to see what you want to add. You want to see who you want to include. You want to see what you want to emulate and capture as well. First of all, alienating young white men, no need. No need. They're not the problem. Don't do that. We have problems with systems.

in culture. There's no reason to force these guys into these toxic little wormholes of the manosphere. And you don't have to make stupid jokes about Michelle Obama to get young men to care about you. What you have to do is say that you care about them and you don't think they're their problem on every level of everything. That's something that Maga did well. Maga had a good feel for the discontented and the disenfranchised. And that is, very visible and yes this sport is a very good conductor for them but you don't need sport to reach young men all you have to do is talk about the trades talk about opportunity uh talk about uh talk about uh where they are referenced and where they're not and how hard it is for them how hard it is to

have a family how hard it is to do the things that we used to consider uh proof of your manhood just talk to that. Talk to what it is. Because right now, they're being given such a cheap proxy for any kind of real patronage within the manosphere. I mean, these guys are just, they're a joke, they're an embarrassment.

They're not real men. Why? Because they do this. It's the easiest thing. It's the easiest kind of strength. It's picking up heavy shit and putting it back down. It's what you say no to. That's hard. It's what you say,

what you stay consistent on. It's what you endure. to whom you protect and it's how you do it these are these are real things these have value this is what their fathers have been telling them if they have them this is what their mothers have been telling them if they have them this is what the people who care about them have been trying to get them to understand you should be having that same dialogue so that's what you saw with ufc 250 that this guy knows how to put on a show he knows how to sell and that was good um you know in terms of it's effectiveness, the appeal outside traditional politics, dominating the media and cultural space.

The Knicks had won the night before, poof, absorbed in this within our media sphere, absorbed in it. There was almost no talk today about the Knicks. It's all about this and this stupid joke. But the joke is an opportunity because the joke is on them. The joke about Michelle Obama's on them. Why? Because it shows how people's grievances and appetite for disruption and change have been reduced to a stupid joke. That's all MAGA has. It's a stupid joke from a fat white guy who won his fight. It's actually not a bad fighter. But he's an idiot.

And he's proof of what that's catering to. The opportunity is that most people who are upset about things aren't idiots. and they're right about what's wrong. And you should speak to them and you can. And they don't want to be part of MAGA. They're disgusted and embarrassed by it. And a lot of them are embarrassed that they ever were part of it in the first place because they weren't wrong about what was wrong.

They still feel the same way. And now they're supposed to be able to blame for it. That's the mistake. See the opportunity. Don't demonize. Don't divide. Develop an understanding with these people that you agree about what's wrong, that you're all right about what's wrong.

That purchasing power is out of whack. That things are too expensive. It's too hard. The system is set up clearly to reward the wrong people for the wrong things. It shouldn't be easier to go from being a millionaire to a billionaire than it should be from going from five figures to six figures. That shouldn't be a thing. It shouldn't be that way.

It shouldn't be that you have to think about whether or not to fill up your fridge or fill up your car. That's not right. Working as hard as we are and as well as everybody that we work for is doing, it's just not right. And agree about what's wrong because that's what was on display there. That was everything that makes MAGA icky. Right? and I mean look even the interstitials where they were trying to talk Americana it was so cheap it was so plastic it showed such a cursory understanding of things it was such just a it was just such a low rent kind of thing and that's where your focus should be is it's so easy to do better than that so see what made MAGA effective reaching out to people that usually aren't part of the political

discussion, validating their discontent. I'm not talking about people wearing red hats because they don't like black people or brown people or that they want to blame somebody else for everything or that they see themselves as having some kind of manifest destiny here. You don't want them in your coalition. You're not going to get them anyway. So don't worry about it. That's what's bringing MAGA down. It's not what made it beat you in the first place. It's why you're going to beat them in the midterms. You just keep focusing on what's wrong. Just keep focusing on the economy. Just keep focusing on the many. That's what's what was wrong at the White House. It wasn't about the many. It was about the privileged few. It was about those with pure fealty to Trump who got that special

invite. The rest of us had to pay. We had to pay for them to have that ability to be there. Same grievance I had with the Nick game. Making a ticket so prohibitively expensive. And, you know, and when you should have been making them free to reward the people who've been real ones with you all along, that's what Jim Dolan should have done. But he didn't, why? Because corporations do what they're going to do for themselves until somebody stops them. Why? I got no problem with you making as much money as you possibly can figure out how to make.

I'm just not going to give you preferences within our system of governance for doing things that you don't do. I'm not going to give you a different tax rate than I have for a reason that you no longer satisfy. We gave them corporate tax rates. Why? Because they hired so many of us because they added so much of the economy for everybody else that we gave them a preference. Now our biggest employers have so many people working for them who need government assistance that why would they deserve the tax preference? Why don't you make them work for it literally? you want to have a 25% tax rate or whatever it is,

then you have to have no workers who get government assistance or a certain level of it. What's wrong with that? Oh, that's socialism. The fuck it is. It's capitalism just like giving them a preferential tax treatment is. That's not socialism. And why is that okay?

You see what I'm saying? It's not about capitalism, socialism. Those are just words. The government makes choices. it picks winners and losers. And that's what it's doing. And why don't we do it on the terms that work for the many, then for just the few?

Why should the tax code have all of these different little, you know, all these little loopholes and rules that you can use if you're someone whose most of your money is investment income, but not if you're a W-2 person. If we're going to reward them for these things, why don't we make them make sure that they're doing what they were supposed to do to get the preference in the first place? otherwise why don't we have a special tax code for small businesses

they're 50% of the workforce they're 50% of the GDP they're 99 plus percent of all the businesses in this country why don't they have a preferential tax code why do you give it to the 0.1% well they hire half the people and they're half to do okay and they're not doing what they were supposed to do they used to pass along their productivity to their workers

now they do it to the investors that's why the C-suite guys make so much more money than they used to, you know, as a relative function of their workforce. They've always made more disproportionately. I get that. But why exponentially now? Why has it grown so much faster than wages? Because it's what they're catering to. They're not catering to their workers. They're catering to their investors. So they're trying to impress Wall Street, not sustain Main Street. They don't pass along their productivity growth onto their workers and their pay anymore. They don't do that. They give it to their stock people. They buy back stock. They pay their seat suite people because the investors and the people who play

and run the gambling on Wall Street are impressed by those people because they know they know how to pump the stocks and do what you have to do to make the company look good so that you can gamble on them on Wall Street. So that's who they want rewarded. And so that's who you reward because you need those people so you can be impressive to the people on Wall Street. And we get it. This isn't complicated. It's what are you going to do about it? And that was on display at UFC 250. You have to start conditioning the preferences based on their performance. And if they're not doing what they're supposed to do, then you're not going to give it to them. That's how you get young men.

Let them make their stupid joke about Michelle Obama. That's all they got. Well, you know, it was funny, says Dan Bongino, the pod father. You know what I think is funny? is that he actually has the unmitigated gall, the balls on him, to tell people, oh, you know, they're lying to you about this,

and you got to make sure. You, who got paid and made Rumble a thing on Epstein, selling people bullshit and conspiracy theories, that then you get a gift given to you, that nobody else in the media has ever been given before, which is you got put into a position to actually do the, things that you said needed to be done and you did dick. And now you're going to tell us what's right and what's wrong and people are rewarding you for it. There's your opportunity.

You talk about a desperation for disruption and for something approaching some kind of hope. If people watch that chuch after how he lied to their face, do you know how great the opportunity is? for you to reach those people with something real. That's what was on display at UFC 250. See it for what it was and for what it offers as an opportunity and an insight into how ham-fisted and useless MAGA has become. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from LifePro.

So this just came, and I'm very psyched. Why? Because joining a gym isn't necessary. More and more of us are doing stuff for ourselves at home. And I'll tell you what we now understand about a modality in terms of how we can enhance whatever it is that we're doing. So you have that calisthenics app or your Pilates app

or Power Yoga or whatever it is, Pliometrics. Here is the booster for it, Life Pro, okay? Here's why, all right? When I tried it out, you get 10 minutes on the, Life Pro Waiver, and it burns approximately 50 to 100 calories depending on your body weight. Why? Because the vibration makes you activate and makes you compensate, and it creates muscle confusion. And that's why vibration has always been used. And also, that's why STEM technology has always been used. Why? Because when you start sending those nerve signals, the body has to

respond and adapt, and there's a chance for growth in that. Okay? So for a limited time, my listeners are going to get 20 bucks off the waiver vibration plate plus okay and you're going to get free shipping with that so the waiver vibration plate that's what this is called I'm saying it slowly because there are a lot of products out there okay and LifePro is different it's sturdier uh it comes more recommended it has better settings uh it's it's they're not all the same okay so if you go to lifepro fitness dot com L-IFFDness.com L-I-F-F-F-E-F-E-F-E-S.com P-R-O-F-I-T-N-E-S-S dot com, and use my name, use the code Cuomo, at LifeProFitness.com, you're going to get 20 bucks off, okay?

After you purchase, they're going to ask you, where did you hear about us? Tell them Cuomo sent me. I'm telling you, if you're going to work out at home, this is a good booster to help you get more out of the time that you spend. BetMGM, an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League, has everything you need for 2026 Stanley Cup playoff action. Hockey fans in Canada can place live bets every game during the quest for the cup. Create same game parlays, take player props, and place futures on the 26 Stanley Cup champion.

Check out BetMGM original bets, hockey markets you can't find anywhere else. And it's not just about what you can do on game day. The BetMGM app has improved its first. first line this season to include insid withdrawals. Download the BetMGM app and enjoy the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs like never before. Betmgm.com for terms and conditions.

19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866 531-260 to speak to an advisor, free

of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Now he's telling them that, oh, I got a deal done. No more nukes. Never going to get one. That's not even close to true. Not at this point.

It's not even for more, all we understand from all sides, that Israel doesn't want to be part of this and that the straight's going to get reopened. They're going to get a bunch of money that's theirs or not theirs, whatever. Feel any way you want about that. That's how you felt about the money. that was given during the JCPOA. That wasn't our money either.

That was money that was frozen assets just like this is, but this is okay and that wasn't, right? See the opportunity in that bullshit hypocrisy. There's no deal that's going to keep nukes from them forever. There are no safeguards. We don't know what it is. It's just us.

There's no coalition of the willing on this. There's no UN Security Council. And I'm not saying that JCPOA was the panacea. It wasn't. It was really flawed. But it was something, and it had them at a level of enrichment that they have far exceeded since you left it.

Oh yeah, but that was just terrible. Yeah, for the same reason this is, you're making a deal with people who fucking hate you because you didn't have the balls to take them out because you knew you couldn't get it done. And you thought you'd be able to hide behind bombing this shit out of people there and it would look like strength

and they would just cater to you. But they're not because they're a bunch of freaky zealots. Oh, no, these are the good ones. These are more reasonable. Yeah, they're really reasonable. Ask the fucking Iranian people how reasonable they are as they're rounding people up with their Baji and executing people.

They're lying to you. That's what was on display at UFC 250. All this love of the country. That's the De Niro mistake. Don't make the De Niro mistake. I love Bob De Niro. Don't get me wrong. As an actor and I love being around him,

I was at his 80th birthday party, by the way. Great guy. Here's the problem. You love the country, you don't love the policies. You don't love the governance. You don't love the culture of this current administration and what it is motivating and what it is fomenting. But that doesn't mean you don't love the country. Don't make that mistake.

Don't make that mistake. You care about all of these insults to the country because you love the country. It's not I can't love a country that has ice running around doing what they're doing. No, it's, I love the country, so I don't want ice running around. doing the job the way they're doing it. You see what I'm saying? This is not a semantic difference. This is a big deal. When you say you don't love the country, you are not going to get elected in this country. Why? Because that bothers people. And it should. And you can say, well, too bad. The truth is that this country sucks. But then don't ask to lead it. Don't ask for power from the rest of us.

What are you saying? These things don't suck. No, no, they absolutely suck. I'm not saying you're wrong about what's wrong. I'm saying that this is advertising. Okay. This is psychology this matters see what they did wrong at ufc 250 what's wrong and having this asshole go unchecked by that stupid joe rogan when he says michel obama is a man is that you're you're becoming what embarrasses us it's embarrassing us as americans i don't want to be i don't want to be part of that i don't want to be part of that guy i don't want him connected to me i was embarrassed It was embarrassing to see rogue. Stupid.

So see what they are, what's killing them. What's ruining MAGA. That's all MAGA is now, is a cheap show. And a co-opted slugfest and a president who doesn't even introduce people to his wife, it's so deficient. It's so hollow. It's so desperate.

it's dying right before your eyes but not some of the fundamental motivations that are living on in the populist sentiment that is sweeping this country and that has a lot of people on the left looking for their own disruptors why do you think Graham Platner is acceptable now for the Me Too folks

because they want the seat because he's about things that they know people are pissed off about it's not like my brother my brother was an establishment guy. He didn't have a unique populist base that the Democrats needed and didn't have without him. That's why they could advance their agenda and their rules and their one allegation is enough and all women should be believed. You know, forget about corroboration or anything like that. Forget about any standard. Forget about due process. Now they give a shit about those things. Now you got Rokana

out there with Graham Platner giving him an excuse structure. Why? They need the seat. They need his base. why because people are right about what's wrong and they're angry for good reason and they're going to be angry at you or you're going to be there for their anger so now they're making a different choice now you can call that hypocrisy it is but at least they're doing it for the right reason this time in my opinion which is instead of giving people false promise about you caring about change in the space of how we treat one another which i don't believe was ever a thing and here's my basis for proof for all the bold face names, for all the lawsuits, for all the settlements,

what has really changed in our culture? We don't even know the answer to that. Nobody's ever gone back to NBC or any of the media companies or the Hollywood companies where they took down the boldface names and looked at how those corporate cultures have changed, how HR has changed, how hiring has changed,

how anything has changed. We don't know. Nobody ever followed up. All those journalism warriors who got all these awards for being advocates. Now they're making excuses the same reporters for why Graham Platner is not really me too. Oh, really? Women say I was his girlfriend and he hurt me. That's not me too. Okay. So see, see the game. And when you look at UFC 250, oh my God, they wasted our money. He lied. Of course he lied. That's not what matters about it. That's not why it was good for you that that happened. Why? Because he's a sellout. He's a sellout to corporate commitments in his own vanity. That's why we had to pay Paramount Plus, just to watch at our house.

Of course, it's costing public money. But the fact that he let a corporation cash in and co-op the White House, that's what's going to piss people off. Because those same corporations that are doing it get a pass and get a different set of rules that doesn't work for anybody but them anymore. That's the opportunity. That's what was on display at UFC 250. that's what you need to understand

because that's where you're going to find your advantage for the midterms. That's where the real change is going to come in. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from Shopify. Look, starting a business is hard. Knowing how to make money off your business is very tricky. And the longer you do it and the better you do it, the more you understand it, it's about the business behind your business who's helping you make your business better.

That's a lot of bees, but Shopify is the word that you need to understand. And they have the number one e-commerce platform. They're behind millions of businesses, 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. Heinz, Mattel. I mean, it's all Shopify, okay? And I'm using it, I'd like a discount for using it, by the way. They are one of my advertisers. I'll have to think about that. It makes you more efficient, okay, uploading new products, trying to improve existing ones. It's got all these AI tools that help with descriptions and headlines. even enhancing your photography, okay? And don't forget the purple shop pay button, okay, that's used by millions of businesses

around the world. That's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet, all right? And it's really like having a built-in expert on your staff, world-class expertise, managing inventory, shipping, processing, pitching, ads, all of it, all of it. It's all right there, okay? So it's time to turn those what-ifs into and you can do it by going to Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash chrisc. Don't forget my code to help yourself get a special deal.

Go to shopify.com slash chrisc. Shopify.com slash Chris C. The people who weren't allowed in were partying on their own next door. They were having a better time. Why? Because they're real ones. They weren't there to pose. It was the same thing with the Nix.

The watch parties were way more exciting than what was happening within the crowd in the garden. Why? Because they're real ones. Because it matters to them. There's an authenticity to their belief. They're not just there because it's the place to be like the celebrities. Right?

That's where you want to be. You want to be in that watch party. Those are your people. What happened at the watch party? White House is not what it's about. It's what was driving those people there. Right? Who was the most powerful guy in the UFC last night when they had those fights? Sean Strickland. Why? Because he was the choice of the watch party. Why? Because he was calling out the UFC for being a bunch of sellouts. He was calling out the president for being a sellout. Why? Because they wouldn't let him be there because

he thinks Israel has too much control over America's foreign interests. look i don't agree with him but i think ostracizing the guy only made him more powerful trump doesn't get this man he thinks he can beat down his enemies he doesn't understand he makes him all rich the only people he can beat down are the people who owe him who pay filthy to him within maga those are the only people he's got any power over he isn't any power over me why because i don't give a shit about maga i don't give a shit about how his people feel about me any more than any other people. He can't, he's not gonna do anything to me.

I'm not, I don't get, I don't get views or anything off of him. I'm not his guy. He doesn't help me. You see what I'm saying? There's power in that. Sean Strickland showed that power. That's what UFC tells you about what's happening with MAGA,

which is what made it, is now breaking it because they're not real ones anymore. They're just selling out to corporations, and find a ways to get themselves paid and saying stupid shit and not getting anything done for the many. It's all about him and his chosen few. That's what was on display at UFC 250. And there's a backlash coming. Why?

Because all the things that really matter are going the wrong way. No, gas is going down. Depends where you live. But it's a lot higher than it was when he got in. Oh, but it's going to go down. How long? how long do they have to pay? How long do I have to pay more for your bad choices?

And that's going to make me feel better? Well, it won't always be like this. You won't always be fucked because of what I did with tariffs, because of what I did with the Iran War, and leaving the regime in place and now getting a deal that looks a hell of a lot like the JCPOA, except it's not even that yet. It's just about the Strait of Hormuz,

which they absolutely have some control over and are getting paid to reopen when it was open, and they didn't get paid anything for it, before you did this. So what exactly is better? You see what I'm saying? You can't distract from that. You can't distract from that with UFC 250. You can't distract from that by trying to say that July 4th is going to be about you in a rally. What is better? What is better on your watch? Of course the people who are building the ballroom and giving money to it are getting government contracts. his sons are investing in things they get government help. Of course that's why those guys want his sons involved. Of course they're making money off their token or whatever they sold and other people

are losing. How many times does the Trump family have to get hit for fraud, whether it's Trump University or Trump stakes or Trump, whatever it is? How many times? That's who he is. It doesn't mean that the people who voted for him because they were desperate for disruption of what they hate were wrong to hate what they hate. Don't confuse the two. See what UFC 250 really calls out to you that people are desperate for something better. Desperate. That young men are desperate to be seen as something other than as a problem. That he is a corporate sellout and the obvious space to connect to the many is to change that and call it out for what it is. If it's for the people, you shouldn't have to pay for but he is pay for play.

That's why he allowed it to be pay-per-view because he's paid for play. That's capitalism. It's crony capitalism. It's a toxic form of capitalism. Those companies need to be put in check. The banks who charges the credit card fees should be told they are charging too much.

They should charge less. That's anti-capitalism. No, it isn't. No, it isn't. We have usury laws. Pass a law. Is there usury or is there not? There is, right? Right.

Okay. Him calling in the healthcare bigs, that was the party that he should have been having. Not UFC 250. He should have called in all the health care bigs. Like he told you he would. See the opportunity in that. You should do that if you want to win.

Call them in and say this vertical integration of U.S. guys capturing all your profit centers so you have all the control it ends we're breaking your ass up we're breaking your ass up you make too much money yeah you're growing your stock prices and you're hiring more and more of us all the time you're expanding and expanding your care's not getting better and you know what you do there you start with your big companies you start with the big private employers why because remember that's how most of us get our health care in this country right Don't forget. We don't get it from the government. We don't get it from the government. We don't get it from the ACA. We don't get it from Obamacare. There are tens of millions of people who do, but not the majority of us. We get it from our employers. And do you know how lousy a job employers do with understanding what things cost? It's weird, especially for private businesses, right? Why? This is a weird space. But there's a big opportunity there in getting those big companies to understand that the big businesses in health care are taking advantage of them, that they don't even know what they're

paying for things, that they use these middlemen to figure out that system because it's not really what they do, but they've got to provide these services and benefits for their employees, and they're getting taken advantage of, and that could be exposed, and that's got political currency, and you could actually get some businesses realizing the need to crack down on other businesses for the benefit of the many. Oh, what an interesting alliance. That's the opportunity. That's the opportunity that comes from when you reduce a populist movement to just a pageantry, a parade of the absurd at the White House. That passion for wanting things to change is still real and you can do so much better in realizing it and doing something for it than Trump has. He's only made these things worse.

They just lie about it, but you don't have to. You can tell the truth. You can see UFC 250 for what it was. It was proof of what is dying. That MAGA's not working anymore. It's a joke. It's a freak show. That's what it's become.

And it only works for the few, not the many. The opportunity is doing for the many. Don't get caught up on the joke about Michelle Obama. The joke is on them. There wasn't even a big laugh line. on that. They're not about decency. They're about disruption. And one of the norms that they want to disrupt is decency. Fuck it. Be mean. Curse. They all suck. Everybody sucks. There's something better than that. I'm not saying you've got to become the love brigade. We're not ready for that.

People are angry. Go with that. They have a right to be angry. They're not wrong about what's wrong. They're right about what's wrong. So build consensus on that because there was no consensus there. That's all us and them. That's all UFC 250 was about. You kidding me? There was no diversity in that crowd. There wasn't even any diversity of opinion.

That was just a loyalty test. All the diversity was at the watch party. That's where you want to be. You want to be at the watch party. You don't want to be at the big ticket. You don't want to be there. You don't want to be at MSG. Now, you want to be with the people on the other side of the wall.

That's where the power is in politics. That's where the people are. They're looking at you. They see you. They see you in that White House. They see you in MSG. They want what you have, but they don't want to be you because they don't like how you use it. They believe that they would be better than you if they had the same opportunities and the same privilege.

And you know what? You should feed that. That we can have a class of people in this country who do really well but still believe in doing something that's good. I'm caring about other people and not how to keep them down, not how to break the ladder after you, but how to pull people up. There's a huge opportunity in that. UFC 250 was everything that's wrong with MAGA, but it was a lot of the things that made it so powerful in the first place also. The power of narrative, the power of patriotism, the power of love in this country. That's why you don't make the De Niro mistake. See, Trump says he loves it, he loves it, he hugs the flag, and then he

fucks everything that makes us great. You do the opposite. I hate this country, but you're really fighting for it. No, learn. You love this country. That's why you've got to stop what's hit, what he's doing to it and what other people are doing to it. That's the space. Of course you love the country. We all love the country. Show it. Show it and what you say about it. The flag's not a bad thing. Be honest. Tell people you're not going to lie to them. They know everybody lies and you won't and then build that trust up over time by telling them the truth. And expose UFC 250 for what it was. An ugly and obvious demonstration of all the wrong things. You want to care about the country. Why did you lock all those people out? You want to care about the country. Why aren't you doing

anything about these ideals and values that you had with your little AI videos? I mean, you can't expect them to step up Joe Rogan in that moment and say, what kind of what's stupid thing to say? I'm trying to talk to you about the fight. You're going to say something that's stupid. You can't expect him to say that. Why? Because that's how he gets paid. That's how he gets paid is by having those people think he's one of them.

So he's got to let that joke go. No, of course I wouldn't have let that joke go. Why? Because I don't think it's funny. I think it's rude. But I'm not somebody who's, you know, who's going to ever think it's cool that a guy sits there ignoring his wife. when people are coming up and saying hello either.

And look, I don't give a shit about their marriage. It's not my point. It's about what his preference structure is. He's about him. See that. You're not going to beat him on that basis. You're going to beat him because of the opportunity that is revealed on that basis. He wants a party that is for the few.

You should be set in a table for the many. That's where the opportunity is. Not to say, oh, I hate the UFC. It's a bunch of toxic males. don't make the same mistake. You got to go mega. That's the answer to MAGA. More people.

Broader base, more places, more faces, more spaces. Same mission. Change. Change what is all about the few instead of the many. Fix America first. If you're going to only try to change another place, well, then change it. Or don't do it.

either you take out the regime or you don't. And I'm not saying you do it. I wouldn't have done this. No way. No way. Oh yeah, but you're saying he should have changed the regime. If you're going to go fuck with that, then you better do it right. And he didn't. And now he's just going to bullshit himself, but it's only going to work with the people who were at that fight last night.

It's not going to work with the many. They know it's bullshit. They can read. People aren't stupid. They sometimes will suspend disbelief because they're desperate for something, hope against hope. Use that. Give them something to believe in. Give them reason to believe.

Give them reason to believe that something could be better for them and people like them. Talk about us, not them. Talk about us, all of us. see what MAGA is never going to be and see that opportunity in that. That's what UFC 250 showed us. It's not that MMA sucks and anybody who likes it as a Trumper. Don't do that. Don't do that to people like me.

All right? I'm no Trumper. And I never would be. I would never even join a political party unless I had to. But if I did, I would only do it because I need to to participate in a process that matters to me. not because it's my identity. That's where the country is.

Be there. Be at the watch party. Be with the many. Okay? Tell the truth. And tell them that you're going to try to do something about these things. Not try to make them pretend that it's just somebody else's fault or that the problem isn't really there anymore.

That's the space. That's why UFC 250, the joke is on them. not because UFC's bad or white males are bad or any of this is bad. It's just that it's not delivering on what was supposed to matter. And these people are still right about what's wrong, but the opportunity isn't actually doing something about it. That is a fight that is worth having. What do you think?

Thank you for subscribing and following. Thank you for being with me here on the Chris Cuomo Project. Checking me out on Sirius XM in the morning, 7 to 9. Checking out Cuomo crime time, picking up your first. free agent gear so that you can show your independence, show you're a critical thinker, right? And I'll see you at News Nation, 8P Eastern every weekday night. Look, the challenges are real, but the opportunities are huge. Change is coming, my brothers and sisters. Let's get after.