The Chris Cuomo Project - Why I Refuse To Pick A Side

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

Chris Cuomo digs into the latest comments and questions from the YouTube community, taking on viewers who accuse him of going too easy on Donald Trump, being unfair to Zohran Mamdani, carrying water for Israel, and refusing to choose a political side. He also responds to a Trump voter who says he’s abandoning the GOP over healthcare and affordability, and explains why the anger that originally drove people toward Trump was real—even if Trump ultimately failed to fix the system he promised to disrupt.Chris argues that MAGA has swallowed the Republican Party, questions a political culture where loyalty to Trump matters more than challenging your own side, and explains why he’d probably have millions more subscribers if he simply became another partisan voice. He also gets into criticism of Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, what the government may really know about UFOs, growing resentment toward billionaires, and why Democrats need an economic agenda built around affordability, wages, healthcare and a system that works for more than the people at the top.Join The Chris Cuomo Project on YouTube for ad-free episodes, early releases, exclusive access to Chris, and more: https://www.youtube.com/@chriscuomo/joinFollow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoprojectProtect your family with life insurance through Ethos—get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/cuomo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. like to have your comments you like to ask your questions sometimes they're even good questions less so with the comments and yet it is very important for me to hear them and it is very important for me to think about what they mean and there's nobody who likes to animate your grievances and bullshit more than mr. Gregoriot he loves to look up the comments and find your snarky nasty things and sometimes you're smart and your insightful things And sometimes your gotchas, which are kind of in between.

And I think it is also good for you to hear how people who are listening to and watching the same thing you are may process it in a very, very different way. And I'm all for diversity of opinion, even when it comes to bad opinions, I think we have a temptation in our society that is cyclical and it's coming upon us again, which is we get to a place where culturally we decide that we want to stop people from, saying things that bother us. But history makes it very, very clear, and this is good news, that there has never been a remedy for bad speech except for more speech. There is no censoring that has ever worked and made anything better in a society. Never. You can't find an example of it. Even what they're doing in the UK right now. It's not working. People are pissed. Cops come into the house because of what you put on Facebook about some politician? Not the American way. More speech is the answer. So,

let it come, let us discuss, and let us move forward. Mr. Ott, what do you see? I see a channel that you texted me about the other day that we have been working on the show for four years now. We hit the four-year anniversary. Yeah, you ignored it. I did not ignore it. You missed our anniversary.

I did not miss it. I had to point it out to him and barely said anything. No, the trailer came out on July 18th and the first episode with Sean Penn dropped on July 21st. I'm looking at the numbers right now. That episode did over 100,000 views, which is your metric of success. So how about that? Okay. So it's four years.

You're looking at it. Someone pointed it out. Thank you for pointing it out. You took note of something that even we didn't really have any institutional memory of. I don't care what he says. He never mentioned anything about four years. He never mentioned anything about doing anything about it or saying anything about it. You don't like anniversaries.

We've done many. We missed it. It's been one year since this thing. You never like doing it. But here we are. So thank you for remembering and thank you for giving us the opportunity to last this long. Continue. Okay, I have a bunch of recent episodes. I'm going to start with this one about talking about the general sense of corruption among the Trump administration specifically with Mr. Trump. Janet Joyner, 9,204 wrote, remember at his rallies Trump would say we're going to be so rich? Didn't anybody but me realize he meant himself? No, they didn't. I don't think people who voted for him could have.

ever contemplated, he would be this openly corrupt. Right in your fucking face. What he's allowing his sons, the stuff with crypto, all those people lost so much money and he made money. And you don't give a shit. What does that tell us? We are in such a reductive, toxic place where all that matters is the other side is worse and you own anything you have to from your side. Now, are the two sides equal? Nope. I have never seen a political party get gobbled up by a fringe the way the GOP has been gobbled up by MAGA. Never. I heard a sitting senator who was a businessman, who was a centrist, say on my air, Ron Johnson, Wisconsin, Republican, it's a team sport, Cuomo. You don't go after your own side. Wow. That's where we are. This is a post from Chris Dengler 8,811. He is a paid subscriber to the channel members. So thank you, Chris, for your membership.

He shared a quote to announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Theodore Roosevelt, 1918, I just want to clarify a lot of fake quotes float around the internet. This is a real one on the Teddy Roosevelt Center. You can find it yourself. No, this is real. and it is really relevant.

You know, Teddy was like the first progressive. He actually coined the phrase, the term progressive. That's what Bull Moose was because he rejected the Republicans. Now, in truth, it's because the guy he installed Taft, they then wanted Taft instead of him. Because now he was the party's guy, and people thought Teddy was done. So Teddy had to become an insurgent with his own party. He wasn't going to become a Democrat, although his relative, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, would be a Democrat. And, in fact, a campaign against Teddy as the Bull Moose, when he was,

running against Monroe or Wilson. I forget. But either way, FDR campaigned against his own uncle. So, Teddy was right. Teddy was right. And we have forgotten that. And these mofos are acting out of fealty to the president. And in fact, I asked Ron Johnson exactly that. And I said, when you took the oath, man, there was nothing in there about a party. And he said, look, I got limited resources. And I'm going to focus on what I can. After saying this is a team sport, they are about fealty to Trump and to a side the parties have poisoned us. Next. This is from your episode following the death of Lindsay Graham. A. Tenari dash K7R wrote, Lindsay Graham was a monster in all caps. And 35 people like that. People like nasty things and they'll say it's just the truth. No, it's not just the truth. Why?

Because you didn't know Lindsey Graham. And I didn't like how he. capitulated to Trump, but I get it. He wanted to be relevant. And that's how you do it. And Trump was craven enough and shallow enough to let Lindsay be a confidant when he knew he thought he was a piece of shit. So, you know, but look at how Lindsey Graham took care of his sister. Look at what he meant to his constituents. Look what he meant to the Air Force and all the cases that he did and the laws that he was a part of. I didn't like a lot of his politics or his persuasion. But the idea that he was a monster and he's the worst, what the fuck do you know? You don't know. You don't know. him. Have some grace. Have some mercy. How do you people, how do you want people to remember you when

you die as your worst or as on balance or to lionize your virtues or to just be cognizant of the fact that the guy's dead. Okay. So maybe you should take a look at why it matters to you to be negative now and in this way about this man even when he's in a box. Because I got to tell the truth and he shouldn't have back Trump. I agree. I agree. I don't think that is best justified by spitting on someone's grave. Next. Maybe along those lines, X, X, Jenna, James, X, Y. This is potentially inappropriate, Chris. She wrote, I mean, your brother was starting to lick Trump's behind just like Graham did. Heck, your brother wasn't even GOP and his lips started puffing.

What does that mean? Oh, well, Andrew has such skinny lips. It took me a second. Although my daughter pointed out the other day that my lips have shrunk a lot, but I'm dying. You know, so I guess the collagen is one of the indications. Oh, yeah, I'm clearly dying. Well, we're all dying. I mean, you're... But different rates.

Look at my hair. I can't. You're wearing a hat. Look at my hair. It's gray. Why? Because the color is coming out of it. Why?

Because I'm dying. That's what... That's what gray hair is. Why don't babies have gray hair? Right? It's because they have good things flying around their body. I have a lack of them. So,

Look, this political extremism is on the rise. You don't want Andrew to work with the Republicans. No, they're not just wrong. They're evil. Nazis, fascists, bad. I would beware those inclinations. Look, the Trump administration is some dirty dogs. There's no question about it.

And what they're doing with ICE is downright scary. However, if you want your government to do things, there must be cooperation on some level, in some way. Otherwise, you're going to have more extremism because what do you think is going to be a proxy for progress? What do you think you're going to focus on in your politics? If it's not what your idea was, what you were able to execute, and what that meant as an outcome for the many, what do you think it's going to be about? Which is worse? That's where we're stuck. and that's why because of people like you who think that working with anybody except your side is treason.

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Now, if you are not young and healthy, they still have a lot of partners that can help you find the sweet spot between what you want for your family and what you can afford. Take 10 minutes, and you might get covered today with life insurance through ethos. That's ethyos.com slash Cuomo. Use that code. You'll get a free quote at ethos.com. slash Cuomo. Application times may vary and of course, rates may vary. Next. This is from the episode called Deal with the Devil about Trump making a deal with the devil. Colmets one wrote, you do not like Mamdani, Chris, because he beat your brother. You need to

get past this and move on. You need to kiss my ass. And that is not true. And I think that given that my brother ran against him and lost twice, I don't think you see a more clear-eyed analysis in the guy than I. What have I ever said about Mamdani? That's not true. Ever. The guy doesn't have an unusual sympathy for Islamism. He does. Not Islam. I'm not criticizing him for being a Muslim. That's fucked up. You shouldn't do that. Islamism is a perversion of that faith that justifies violence. And I think that's a mistake. And I think it's a mistake for him. And I think it's a mistake for the city. and I also think that he's being different as mayor than he was before. And I have also not even covered what's happening in New York City vis-a-vis Mamdani and this spate of violence against Jews.

I haven't even covered it. Do you know why? Because I don't see a fair angle in it. I think he's got problems because of what he said in the past. And I think what's best for the city now is to bring the temperature down, not to foment the obvious tensions by sticking his nose in it. So it's not that I don't like Mamdani because my... brother lost to him. That's simplistic and stupid. That may be the way you think. It's not the way I think. I think that extreme solutions rarely make anything better. Okay? And I think a lot of his ideas are

never going to happen. And him proposing them were a problem. I think that they're enticing, but that's politics. I think he was right about what's wrong, that the economy does not work for the many. I think his solutions to those things were far-fetched and not going to happen. And so far, I've been right. That's not true. The budget is so much. That's a bullshit answer. He did not fix the budget. He got a bailout from the state. And he changed the books to delay payments on obligations of the city government. That's not good governance. It's a shell game. And you know it. Now, are there avenues of exploration that I haven't taken up with Mom Donnie that will come up? Yeah, like, why aren't there more blacks in his administration?

Why? What does that mean? Where does that come from? Is that related to his father and his father's presence in Uganda and why he was sent there from India in the first place and what that overseer class was about there? I don't know, but it's going to come up. But I want the mayor to succeed. Why?

Because I want the city to succeed. And I think a lot of his suggestions, I think he was right about what's wrong. I think his ideas to fix it are problematic. and I don't think they're going to happen. So then the question becomes, well, then what will happen? That's my take on it. But I haven't even covered what people are beating Mom Dani over the head with. What does that tell you?

Next. I just want to say, like, having worked on all these episodes to date, even when Mamdani ended up winning, I thought you were pretty fair in your analysis. You really weren't, like, covering this like, I can't believe this guy beat my brother, blah, blah, blah. You've been pretty clear-eyed about this. And I think people who are just like coming at you like this,

hearing your criticism of Mamdani in the current moment, they might not have even heard what you said in these episodes. You know what I mean? Like running all the way back to him being elected. Look, people see what they want to see. People feel how they want to feel. I am that way sometimes also, less so than a lot of you mofos. Why?

Because I work on it. Because I see it because I'm the big brother in this conversation. I don't mean that in terms of like the man, the surveillance, the overlord. I mean, like, I've been through it. I'm older than a lot of you guys. I'm a lot more experience than a lot of you guys. I have a lot more life experience than a lot of you guys. And so I have mellowed.

I have changed. I have evolved. I still fail. I see my failures. I see them differently. I make different accommodations. And I get it, especially in politics. It's very much like the movie The Matrix for me.

I see the code. I see the code. It doesn't mean I'm going to see the outcomes, but I see the alchemy of the moment. And I get why you're going to want to believe that I don't like Mom Donnie because you do, because you want change, because you're so pissed off,

because the traditional political class hasn't gotten it done, and you want insurgency, and you want new, and you want young, and you want different, and you want diversity. I get it all. I get it all. But just like MAGA got it all. And then they picked an agent who couldn't get it done.

I think Mamdani is closer to that than he is to a Teddy Roosevelt. And I think what we need is a Teddy Roosevelt. Now you'll say, fuck that. We don't need another rich white guy. I think that that is a stupid position. Not that you need rich white guys. But I'm saying you shouldn't just discount somebody because they come from a certain place. And look, I was raised by a guy like that.

I was raised by a real one. He had a real distrust of wasps and people with money. real. But he was a depression baby who was one generation deep in this country. And he was treated as another. And he was called an ethnic. And he was disparaged for being Italian. And, you know, so that's who I was raised by. So I totally get it. The idea that you look at me and you see privilege, I totally get. But I wasn't raised by a privileged person. Can I throw something odd out there right now? I'm watching this Burning Man documentary. And Elon Musk's brother plays a major role in it because he's like an investor represents of investors who we're trying to keep this thing alive and going. And he talks a lot about wealthism as though it's like racism, like how people

are biased or have prejudices against rich people and wealthy people. And it's in the context of like how it's nice actually that billionaires show up to the desert to, you know, fuck and you know, like shit on fire and stuff. Do you do you think, I mean, I just think like in this era right now where people are so angry about, you know, tax rates and billionaires and inequality. Like, what can you say about Kimball Musk and wealthism? Do you have anything on that? Wealthism? Yeah, wealthism.

What is that? It's like racism. It's like wealth. It's being prejudiced against the wealthy. I mean, that is that is absolutely a thing. Now, does that mean that they are going to be oppressed? No. But, you know, look, here's the weird part.

Okay. One, eat the rich has always been a thing. It's always been a thing in this country. So when they were trying to get the Constitution passed, they send it around to the states. What happens? The locals start being like, who the fuck are these guys? What is this aristocracy that they're trying to get going here? Especially the federalists. People hated the federalists. They're trying to create a monarchy. These are all the rich people telling us what it is. These are all slave owners. What the fuck? That's how it was then. This has always been the paradox of our design. We the people, but some more than others. It's been that from the inception. That's why it's called the experiment. This is imperfect. It's flawed. It's hard. So it's not new. It's not a new

antagonism. It's new for me and my family to be included in it. And I guess there's something nice about that. You know, we assimilated to whiteness. I mean, to me, that's not nice or not nice. I think it's kind of strange because my own identity is so profoundly ethnic. You know, like being Italian matters to me, like understanding the language, understanding the tradition, understanding the culture is so important to me. The connection to that country is important to me to the people. I know you don't give a shit and that may bother you on some level, but I don't give a shit

about how you feel about it either, so we're equal. But I accept it and I understand it. I'm definitely a white guy. definitely privileged and I think that is a great sign of the potential of the American dream because look at one generation look what a difference it made

and I want to live in a country where that can happen for anybody no matter their background so I'm not surprised that you want to demonize the wealthy what's so funny is that you keep voting in ways that help them disproportionately and the reaction to it is

equally unjust which is well let's destroy all of it and be communists or socialists or whatever you want to call it. And there's no need for any of that. It's about adjustments. It's about adjustments that were made, that shifted the emphasis and the influence to the few, and that could just as easily be shifted back so that they're still rich and not rich. But it's not that the fastest growing socioeconomic group is billionaires. When you have a raging underclass, that's a bad imbalance.

Next, this is a different line of comments from your Ian Bremmer episode. Soyl Hussein 2689 writes, Cuomo's heartaches hearing the criticism of Israel that he has been defending so vehemently. And the replies to that from really mysterious 4520, he and his brother must be getting $4 signs from Israel somehow. And Be Skinny, 9,009 says he's paid. Where's the check, man? Where's the check? Where's the A-PAC check? Do you know how burdensome it is, how difficult it is, how much easier it would be for me to say, fuck the Jews, that Israel is a despotic state, to make BB Netanyahu a proxy for 15 million people?

It's so much easier. So much easier. It's so in vogue. It's so sexy right now. The idea that I'm paid off because I think Israel should exist. The fact that I'm paid off because I don't see Jews as the white oppressor class. I see them as David and Goliath at once. The fact that I tell you every time I mention the fucking guy that Bibi Netanyahu is a problem.

He's a problem for the Jews. He's a problem for Israel. And he's a problem for us. Who says that? if they're on Apex payroll. Who says that? Why would I say that? Because it's true.

Now, do I think he should be arrested? Who told you that a mayor can arrest somebody on an international criminal court warrant? The mayor of New York City can't arrest BB Netanyahu. Do I think he should be arrested? No, I don't. But why? Because I don't think the mayor can do it.

Do I think Bibi Netanyahu is rightly being prosecuted by the ICC? Yeah, I do. I'm not saying that they can make the case. but I get that the allegations have a sufficiency to him. He was investigated by his own people multiple times. He may go to jail when this is over in his own country. I think he's running the most right-wing coalition I've seen in my lifetime in Israel. I think what they did with the courts was disgusting.

I think he's killed too many people for too long. And no, I don't think it's a genocide. But I don't think America's interests and his line up as well as they need to. You really think that makes me an A-PAC plant? Good for you. Or as my son would say, fuck you very much. From that same episode, David Martin-X-5K writes, Well, I'm a three-time Trump voter.

I'm voting for Roy Cooper in North Carolina and all blue. I'm just tired of a lobbyist and people being strapped to survive. Healthcare is one big reason. I'm a 60-year-old independent. Also, Democratic socialism is still capitalism, but it enforces boundaries which we need with food, housing, and health care. And then the reply to that from Caesar's revocation, Venge 8,945 is, glad you've seen the light. However, I'm personally still baffled by the fact that

so many people fell for an obvious con man. So what does it tell you? It tells you, first of all, it tells you that what I talk about in the podcast about what's going to matter in the midterms is true. Second, desperate people do desperate things. And the mistake is trying to get people who voted for Trump, especially the first time, to say they were wrong to feel the way they did. They weren't. They were right about what's wrong. They were right about the civil. They were right about the swamp. They were right about the deep state. He just wasn't going to fix any of them. But the idea that it was so obvious is not that obvious. He said the right things. He is a disruptor. He is from the outside. He is a major celebrity. There was a lot to it that made it make sense at that time. Does it make sense today? Fuck no. Next. Here are two comments from your episode about J.D. Vance having a big problem on his hands. The first one is, Maverick at 4544, they write a great channel. What's the point?

Let me finish my sentence. For the lunatic left. So they're saying I'm a lunatic left? I think they're saying this is a great channel for the lunatic left. Look, there's nothing moon struck about me. I am annoyingly reasonable, which is why the channel doesn't have six million subscribers as opposed to 600,000. Because if I were to pick a side and just go all in on destroying MAGA, I would do a lot

better. If we were to go all in in saying that the lunatic left, as you call it, is going to destroy America. So we got to find some kind of accommodation on the right, I would do much better. I just don't believe those things. And I very

rarely say things that I absolutely disagree with. Sometimes I do. Why? Because sometimes I change my mind. Sometimes I do why, because sometimes I'm promoting an argument. Next. Well, if Maverick thinks this is a great channel for the lunatic left from that same video, Nick Smith-pit bull writes, Chris, CRIS, you capitulate to

petto-publicans. So from the same video clip, these are the two. I don't capitulate. Well, I don't capitulate. Capitulate means that I give my head over to, that I don't think about it. These people are in power. Am I supposed to not discuss the political state of play with the agency that they have been given by you? I mean, that's nonsense. And then it's, well, yeah, no, you can have them on. I'm not. saying censor them. First of all, yes, you are. That's what you mean when you say platforming. So don't think that you're fucking have high ground. All right? You want to censor what you don't like. All right. And I know that makes you feel uncomfortable and it should because you shouldn't do it.

But I can never test them enough for you guys. And any testing is too much for their side. You see what I'm saying? So the job can't be about accommodating you. It's got to be that I'm comfortable with disappointing you because I know I can't satisfy you. And when I do, satisfy you. Okay, but it's fleeting. Next. From your interview with Jeremy Corbell, this is a different line of questioning, a different line of comments, the 46 UFO videos, the government doesn't want you to see. Post the mogul writes, only old white men see UFOs. Is that true? No. Although we do see them a lot more in English-speaking countries than we do

in non-English-speaking countries. But that has been changing also. Look, I, I don't believe that aliens are among us. Okay? I could be wrong, but I haven't seen any reason. Otherwise, I would tell you. I saw a picture of Hillary Clinton, but there was a lizard, and she was like wearing a skin suit over the lizard body. Hmm.

I've always been a little suspicious of her. Although if I were going to pick one person that might be an alien, it's got to be Elon. Gotta be. Musk? Yeah. Yeah, probably. Be that as it may.

I do believe that the government knows things that it hasn't told us and I think that's wrong. And I think that trust but verify is dead and I think we have to verify as much as we can and then you can decide if any trust is warranted. So that's my push on UAPs. It's not that I think that they have a little green man in a box. I think it's that they have things that they do and don't understand that the reverse engineering, they spend a lot of our money on it and they don't tell us anything. about it and I think that's wrong. That's what it is for me. Next. Quinton McDaniel, uh, 2327 wrote, uh, replying to a short you put out where you're wearing a particular t-shirt. He wrote the dad bodd shirt, worn on a fit man who is also supposed

to be telling me the truth, but his shirt is lying. Fascinating. They're calling you a liar for wearing a dad bodd shirt because they think you're in better shape than what a dad bod would imply. And so they're saying, you're supposed to be telling them the truth, but the shirt that you're wearing is lying to them. Is this a man or woman? Quinton McDaniel, the avatar is of a hand-playing guitar. All right, so let's say it's a guy. What you're saying is a violation of man law. Because you're jealous because I'm jacked. But I am in shape because I choose to be because I work at it. And also a little bit, I'm still benefiting from having been in much, much better shape. And this is actually me dying on the vine that you see here.

Had you known me in my 30s, you would have been like, wow. Now this is kind of like, yeah. So I do believe I have a dad bod. And I get a lot of reinforcement of that idea for my son, who looks like Tarzan, on a regular basis. And I'm okay with that, you know, as I take a defensive posture. No, I'm okay with it. I'm carrying, you know, more belly fat and stuff than I'm. I'd like. I'm a little weaker than I should be. I get hurt. Easy as I age. And I thought this

shirt was funny and it was a gift for my daughter. So none of what you said is true. Next. I have some questions here from the subscribers of the channel. I hate doing these, by the way. This is why I hate doing this. Your friend is here and she was saying how much she likes these. I know. The people love this segment. I don't like, do the same way you say that I shouldn't capitulate to these MAGA people. I feel like I'm doing that when I answer. for a lot of these comments. It's like, why am I justifying you being a dumbass? I try to curate a fine selection. It's like a charcutory board. I find a variety of cheeses and a variety of meats and little nuts and little cornucon. He says that word every chance he gets. Because this is,

I'm not, I could look, you get a million comments are like, I agree with you, Chris. Good job. You're wrong. Like, there are so many. Why do you have to make me feel bad? I'm not trying to make you have to feed my insecurities and myself loathing. I could, you want me to give you the most boring comments I could find you give me two seconds I'll find like incredibly boring go ahead so these are from people paying you good money to get ad free versions of the show and to get your exclusive takes and blah blah blah so here here's some this is just from them from from subscriber exclusive questions debby ebbord 6,730 writes hi chris i just have a comment regarding senator joe mansion and his daughter's segment on tuesday serious xm i love joe mansion the two of them together

their thoughts about the nonpartisan independent voters what they'd like to see going forward was spot on. The problem I see going forward is how they actually plan on getting this party on a ballot. I wanted their website to see if they're trying to get signatures, how many they would need to bring this to Congress or wherever they need to get the ball rolling. Even the thought of all 50 states opening the primaries would be a positive step forward. Your thoughts. Federal laws, one, no more Jerry or Gary, which is how he said his name, Mandery. We're going to have a body that does the districts for the entire country. I think that is a law we're fighting for. I think it has a chance constitutionally. Politically, it has no chance. But that could

change. Why? Because they're not about principle. They're about practicality of advantage in the moment. So that could shift, you know. Second, yes, I agree. I think that the parties, so there's a Supreme Court case that says clubs get to decide who their members are. And that is used as the jurisprudential basis for allowing them to control the primaries with their own membership. But my point is that we don't allow clubs, any other clubs to control our democracy. So look, the point is that you got to figure out what you want. Okay? And if it's just advantage against the other side, that's all you're ever going to get.

Nothing's going to get better. Nothing's going to be changed. And I got to tell you, with AI coming down the pike, the idea that is good enough to say Trump sucks, because he's filling his pockets with his tokens and all this other bullshit and letting the tech bros do whatever they want, that ain't enough. You got to have a better plan, better rules, better ways. That's what not just wins the next election, which is just one step down that road. But that is the fight for the future.

Some more exclusive comments. Donna Motley-T6-T writes, Chris, what do you think about the political party John Morgan is trying to start called Common Ground? And do you know anything about it? Yeah, I do. I love John Morgan. He's Morgan and Morgan. It's the largest plate of firm in the country. Maybe the largest law firm in the country, if not the world. Very successful. Good guy. Look, it's about moving reasonable. And I like him doing it because he's a big fundraising.

And look, it's this weird existential battle where the Democrats say, look, man, we just got to beat MAGA. Whatever it is, we just got to beat it. These people are evil. This is the next Reich that these people are trying to get. That's scary shit. And it's an easy, slippery slope to not make yourself better and just default to the fact that they're worse. But then you're really no different than when you're opposing because that's what MAGA does also. Next. This is from Dana-0-1-1.

He writes, it seems to me that Democrats right now have a popularity problem. They are struggling with getting general support by a wide spectrum of the U.S. population. What is the best path in your view to creating an alternative to Trump that helps Democrats secure a more popular party with the general public? What should they specifically focus on that would create a more popular party while keeping some semblance of the values and concerns of the party? What's the easiest way for me to say this? How about that? That's the least easy way to say because you block the mic when you do that. Fix America first.

That's what wins the midterms. Underemployment, affordability, and economic. status quo that is not meeting the needs of the many, only the wants of the few. And that's not about socialism. It's about choices. And just like you made choices, the takers off the gold standard and furnish a ton of money and loot the trust fund for Social Security and allow banks to do more with less regulation and allow derivatives and bail out the banks and allow healthcare to explode in terms of the verticals and allow college costs to explode because of free government money and loans, free to them, not to the people borrowing it, all of these things to allow a tax

rate that's lower for corporations, even though they don't take care of their workers and they only benefit the investors and passing productivity gains along to their dividends and their investors instead of them wages to their employees. These were all choices. Why do you get a reduced tax rate if you don't do what we gave you the preference for. Why? Why don't we have a tax rate that's you get 25% tax rate as a company as opposed to an individual and a small business doesn't get that? They get some write-offs for an LLC, but they're paying top-tier income. It's a flow-through, right? Why not? Okay, Walmart, you pay 35% because you have a disproportionate number, which will make up as lawmakers, of your employees are on food stamps. Why would I give you

a preference as a tax rate when you've got employees are not paying enough to keep them off the public dole, which I'm paying again. So I'm giving you a tax cut and I'm paying for them? No, you're going to pay more in taxes to make up for the fact that I've got to give them money because they're on food stamps. What's wrong with that? That's not socialism. Any more than our current tax structure is. Why do they get 25%? I'm paying 39. Why? Why? was a choice. Is that socialism? You see what I'm saying? Next. Well, to try to transition out of this episode, I think this is appropriate to what you're saying a moment ago. Uh, 2016 TGND writes, I like T-shirt America first. I want buy it. Where get this T-shirt? Must be a cousin of yours.

No, it's a, they want to buy. I'm proud to plug the merch for you. Try to insult me. I'm trying to give you a merch plug here. Um, you'll see the link. And there's a link right there. Go get it. It's reasonably priced. And we crowdsource the money and I give it away, usually in like chunks of like 10 grand to people that I feel like it. And I tell you about it. And so you can feel good about it because you contributed to it.

And it doesn't work for me tax-wise because you're supposed to set up a foundation. But I don't want to deal with it. So I just deal with the tax implications. And I think it's really important to brand back independent. free agent, critical thinker, I'm different. Fix America first. We want transparency. I think those things matter. I think they matter now more than ever. And I think you should be about it. The same way that you take the time in the initiative, which I actually do appreciate, I do. You take in the time to watch, listen, think, write, respond, feel. It's good. It's good.

Even when I don't like it, it's good. Why? Because it's better than the alternative, which is us being indifferent, just turning a blind eye to the collective. This is better. So thank you for the comments. Thank you for the questions. Thank you for making Greg out so happy to say nasty shit to me. Thank you for subscribing and following here and on Cuomo Crime Time, where we really can't have fights about right and wrong without being burdened by right and left.

Because crime doesn't bring that same partisan bullshit along with it. That's why I answered the true crime space. And also because so many of those podcasts are just feeding stupid narratives. So thank you. Thank you for checking me out on News Nation and on Sirius Radio, and I will see you here. Look, the challenges are real. I'm not trying to pretend otherwise. But I know that our approach of staying together is the best chance of getting to a better place. So let's get after.