The Chris Cuomo Project - Why Politics No Longer Reflects Most Americans

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Michael Smerconish (host, SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program, and CNN’s Smerconish) joins Chris Cuomo to break down why American politics no longer reflects where most voters actually are. Cuomo examines how outrage-driven media, closed primaries, and algorithmic incentives reward the loudest fringe voices while sidelining the practical concerns of independents and moderates — from affordability and health care to trust in institutions.Cuomo and Smerconish dig into why nearly half the country now identifies as independent, why that reality is ignored by both parties, and how modern media economics make moderation a losing strategy. They also discuss whether shared civic spaces can still exist, how the “middle” gets erased by rage-based incentives, and what it would take to realign politics with how Americans actually live and think. 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 Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com Support our sponsors: Get 25% off Cowboy Colostrum with code CUOMO https://www.cowboycolostrum.com/CUOMO Head to https://Superpower.com and use code CUOMO at checkout for $20 off your membership. Support the Freedom From Religion Foundation and protect the separation of church and state—visit https://ffrf.us/newyear or text CHRIS to 511511. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you. What an amazing theme song for an independent political voice. And Michael Smirconish has it. He's got the Steelers' Wheel Anthem. And boy, oh boy, is it fit for him perfectly. And I wanted to talk to the poll master, Michael Smirconnish, with all of his great insights he has in his Twitter polls that he puts out. How does he see the state of play in our politics?

Why does he believe that the independent is the future? And what does he think about me coming into his backyard there at Sirius Radio? He's got something to say about everything, and it's always well thought out. Here is the master of the middle, Michael Smirkanish. Michael Smirkaner. I'm a friend and a fan. Thank you very much for showing us that left and right don't have to be divorced from right and wrong. I don't know what the Mingle Project is.

Help me understand. Okay, first of all, will you cover the guns? I feel like you're going to kick sand in my face next. No. Is that to, huh? No, never. Do I need to show you what's under this size 44 sport coat? 44, that's no joke. No, you don't have to show me and I don't want to know. And you and I are on the same side. And if anybody ever did the wrong thing to you, they would have a very profound price to pay.

I promise, I promise I will answer whatever that question was that you asked me. But I just want to tell you, you like bring back memories that the apex of my physicality was as an undergraduate at Lehigh. I will never forget when I could bench press my own weight. And I don't mean the old universal machine, right? Like, it was a big thing if you could get up your own weight on free weights. And I remember that moment. It was my sophomore year, but it's been downhill ever since. Anyway, nice to see you. I know the trajectory, my friend, brought into sharp relief by my own son,

who I call Muscles Marinera. Mario Cuomo, the legacy of my father, is taller than me. He is a professional model. He is 20. He looks like Tarzan. And he is literally better than me in every measurable way. And that makes me very happy. But look, we're all controlling our rate of death here, right? We're in, you know, once you get over really 40, it's really a battle of attrition. And I am now in a category of of what I call all show no go. I look more capable than I am. And I get it.

I'm working on it. I'm trying. And that's how it is. No hormone replacement yet. But I am teaming up with a guy because my blood work is atrocious. But I'll save all that from another time. And when I see you in person, tell me what the Mingle project is. Are you doing a dating site?

No, and thank you for allowing me to do some shameless promotion. I was going to say self-promotion, but it's not about me. I'm trying to restore common experience. I've had this epiphany moment in the last two years, a particular moment that put me on a path of realizing that the self-sorting among us, the divide politically around us, it needs to get fixed, and the way to do it is to restore common experience. I'm sure that in the Cuomo family, whether it was your mom, your pop, your grandfather, your grandmother, they were joiners. You know, maybe it was sons of Italy, right? Maybe it was the Elks. Maybe it was the Rotary club. Maybe it was the JCs. We've got to be buying into our communities and restore common bonds. And any opportunity, you know, to come on and reach the Chris Cuomo project audience, I at least want to throw in a reference to it. I do videos. I speak on the subject. I'm trying to build bridges. First of all, I dig it. It's the answer. Not a great business strategy right now because we are in division for dollars mode. Totally. But you have always, you've always rejected that. I always thought some of the highest praise I would consistently hear about you, Mike, was, but he was a Democrat, right?

No, but he was a Republican, right? But now he's now. So not only that they not know, which is amazing, but they did, even in the, their ignorance acknowledge that you had transcended that. So you were, you were, were and are way ahead of where the situation is. Now, that's challenging commercially because what you should be doing is picking aside and beating the shit out of everybody who's not you. So, when you're pitching the Mingle Project, what does that look like? I see the polling that you do all the time and they're very interesting questions and I want to know what you've learned from your own efforts. there. But tell me, so what are you doing to help people mingle? And what does that look like? So I constantly bring on guests, not always that exciting, Chris. A lot of them are social scientists and

academics, people who are familiar with the data. I feel it intuitively, but I've got plenty of science behind me. I'll give you an example. Robert Putnam, 20 years ago, he writes Bowling Alone. That was really the seminal book in this subject, which says that it's all about joining and it's all about building bridges. But it's Putnam and it's Gene Twangy with IGen and it's Bill Bishop with the Big Sort. And it's Jonathan Haidt with the anxious generation. I don't see these works as one-offs. I see them all as pieces of a puzzle that need to be assembled and presented as a narrative. So, I mean, you want to talk about a poll.

The most important poll that I have seen came out. from Gallup this week and said that 45% of Americans regard themselves as independent, like the two of us, okay? 45%. But if you tune in to your, you know, your most popular pundit, somebody who's got a big, they're all stoke in that flame against one another. They don't want to know that 45% of plurality are independence. But that's where most of the country is. You and I've talked about this before. The issues are a mixed bag, conservative on some, usually the fiscal issues, and more progressive on the social issues. So, explain to me then why what you and I have to process every day and what social media is,

is nothing like the apportionment that you just outlined. Yeah, well, because I think that passion resides among the fringes. I think that a greater number of people are somewhere between, the polar extremes, but we got stuff to do. We've got bills to pay and families to raise and responsibilities to handle. And perhaps for us, we're not out there hanging the yard sign, the bumper sticker, writing the check, and going to all the meetings that are required for people to express themselves politically. They win on a passion index, right? But they don't win in terms of the numbers, at least according to me. Okay. If they don't,

when according to the numbers, then why, how can it just be the fringe when it is the dominant dynamic in what trends and who has influence? I don't know if you know this. I'm the lead plaintiff in an action pending in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania right now that seeks to overturn our closed primary situation. Our state, your state, your state, and Florida are like, yeah, are the big three. And look, the answer to your question is that for a lot of these elections, it's preordained by the time of the general election. In the midterm, 435 congressional districts, how many are really in play?

35? I don't know. That's what David Wasserman tells me. So, you know, the passion gets rewarded in closed primary states, gerrymandered districts, a lot of self-sorting taking place out there where People are collecting among the like-minded. And that's what I'm trying to fight against. And you're right. You and I together. You were never that way at CNN. You're not that way now.

We're not that way together on POTUS. We would have a hell of a lot easier path. If we were like the extremist, can you imagine how easy it would be, Chris, to show up and read the fucking talking points? You know what I mean? Instead of thinking about an issue, it's like, just tell me what to say.

Oh, okay. Trump good. Trump bad. and then follow the bread and crumbs. Oh my God, what a day at the beach that would be. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from Cowboy Colostrum. So, I took it this morning. You're going to need a scoop, which comes in the little container,

and you're going to need a frother. Because this stuff does not mix easily, but it is worth the frothing. Why? Colostrum. That's why. If you take any supplements, you better be looking at colostrum. Colostrum and creatine have so much research and so much obvious indication about their benefit for us. Now, we know where this comes from, right? Cowboy colostrum takes the name of the substance from what we all know is in mother's milk, okay, which is the first thing that you need to be creating all of the brain, gut, uh, connections that make us develop the right way, okay? And Cowboy Colostrum offers the highest quality bovine, that's cow colostrum, available in the United States. I take it, my family takes it every day. For a limited time, my listeners can get up to 25% off your entire order. Just go

to cowboy colostrum.com. Colostrum is C-O-L-S-T-R-U-A-A-S-R-U-A. as in Mike, by the way. Cowboy colostrum, one word.com forward slash Cuomo. Use my name. That's how you get the 25% off. Okay? Tell them Cuomo sent me. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health. From the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body checkup that provides a clear picture of your health today and may uncover early signs. of conditions like heart disease and cancer. The healthier you means more moments to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book an assessment today. Medcan, live well for life.

Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. Well, I got to tell you, I mean, it is getting harder. You know, the challenge is that not only do I consider myself to be losing, and I do believe in the Pyrrhic victory of, of fighting the good fight. I do believe in that, even if it's a little man in La Manchae. But it is hard to,

it's not hard, it's confusing to see what works for people. Like I was watching, I'm like Neo, I'm like Keanu Reeves at the end of the first Matrix where I just start to see the code. And I'm like, oh, I know why Megan Kelly's going to Candace Owens. Oh, I know what this is about.

oh, now she's saying that she's a yellow signal in Venezuela. Oh, she's trying to get them back. She took a beating last week. She's trying to make that adjustment. I see it. Oh, look at Don. Oh, look at Acosta. Oh, look at Benny Johnson.

Oh, look at Pacman. I see these people and I see why they're doing what they are doing because it's generating clicks and revenue. But it has become, I think, Michael, not fringe anymore. even if, even if it is reflective of minority populations looked at demographically on the whole, in terms of our media political culture, they are now what is driving our dialogue and our decision-making. I mean, it's not about, look, I mean, look at affordability, Mike. There's no question that the Democrats' best angle for the midterms is just beating the drum of no culture wars, just affordability. The cost of this, the cost of that, purchasing power this, purchasing power that, wages this, wages that.

But they can't stay on that. They've got to do the dance because they want to get the clicks every day, Mike. And I don't see a way out of it. I can cede a lot of those points. We've ceded the ground to the loudest voices in the room, and the algorithms, I think, reward the kind of bad behavior that you and I are talking about, right? And they reward rage. They reward hate. And the quickest path to get a following is to be one of those individuals. I couldn't sleep if I played that game. You know, hey, Chris, do you know what I want to do? I want to buy your boat, and I want to buy your boat paved with a message like, we need to mingle, we need to build bridges. Wouldn't that be a great thing? Wouldn't it be nice if the people who want to put the society together again and restore civility are the ones who get rewarded? Call me a dreamer. I think you can do what we do. I think we're proving it and be successful. Maybe not to the extent as those who are stoking the animus, but,

The water's warm. Listen, I agree. You and I are depending on human nature and something other than, I hope, abject, unconscionable crisis. Because that is the refractory change, right? The refractory change is something so terrible that all the artificiality of conflict falls away. Nobody can tell you what the state of play was in government on September. 8th, 2001. Nobody can tell you. They just know that once September 11th came, everybody was on the same page and we all knew who the bad guy was. I don't know that would happen again. By the way,

I don't know if that would repeat. There's no way. There's no way it happens again. Here's what happens. Unless, again, it's got to be unconscionable. It's got to be so an order of so much greater magnitude that you don't have time for contrivance. It's too existential. But if it's anything like what we've seen before, then it's Trump saying, this is the left. And the left is saying, this is it. This is this guy. This is Hitler. He's normalized all these wrong things. And the American people, sadly, would then move on from whatever it is. It would get six to eight days of coverage. It could be 10,000 dead people in a secondary city in New York, in America. it would get six to eight days of major coverage and we would move on to something else.

I fear that you're right, but I think something that's relevant is the immediate aftermath of the Minneapolis shooting. And it was predictable but so frustrating to see that when one video had come out, even before a video had come out, people were suiting up in their usual partisan jerseys. I was looking at that, you know, with hopefully some critical thinking and an independent eye and seeing fault on both sides. You know, she put herself in that position. He overreacted. Oh, no question. The legal analysis is easy. The legal analysis is the easiest part of the situation, whether or not their criminal charges or not.

I get what the test is. I get what she did. I get what reasonable people would do in those situations. I get it all. What we saw, which was interesting to me, is the right saying, oh, I'm not going to get in the heads of the investigators. I'm not going to do that. Let them do it. It's not for me.

Which is such a bullshit hedge that they will do all day long. And the left was doing what it should in this case. Now, calling it a murder, saying that this is what ICE does. Of course, everything is going to go too far in an angry moment like that. But to me, what the sticky bit is with Minnesota is there is what was on known. podium, one of us, all of yours. On the Homeland Security podium that she speaks in front of, the motto is, one of ours, all of yours. Who is she talking about? They're all ours. Who's yours? Who's the them? I have never seen anything like it. And no, I'm not going to tie it

directly to Nazism. Yes, there have been fascistic exercise of this collective strength versus the non-believer in Nazism and in a lot of different movements. So it doesn't have to be that. But you and I have never heard of anything like that before. And you got to ask her, who's the yours? The illegals? Who's the yours? I would love for there to have been. And if you know a name, then you can correct me, a conservative, a single conservative who would have said, something along the lines of my natural inclination, my loyalties lie with law enforcement. But in this case, I viewed this as an excessive use of lethal force. Or a progressive who would say, my instincts lie with the activist. I think that ICE is out of control. But geez, why didn't

she obey the ICE command? Why did she accelerate? Why did she, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And I'm hard pressed to identify anybody who broke character. And that's what it's all become. Just a play on an ongoing basis. Yes. And that's what we see again and again and again. Here's the problem. It has taken over.

Yeah, I agree with you. Now, here's the one missing. Here's the one piece we control that keeps getting ignored. And I do believe this is going to change and it's going to change this year. So right now, the piece of sophistry that justifies the state of play on social, media is. You will call it legacy, call it MSM, call it whatever you want, anything other than social media. You people, including me obviously, fucked it up. And so now we all get to do it. Okay. But that has become a justification for doing it worse. We have never seen mis and disinformation

like we see now. We have never seen the lack of corrections. We never. We never seen the lack of corrections. have influencers who say, um, breaking news coming into the Michael Smirkconnish newsroom. There's no newsroom. There's, there's no staff. Nobody works there. You're getting it from some social media feed that you saw on Twitter. And that's their justification. You screwed it up. So now we're going to be able to do it worse. Now there is one aspect though. Here's the here's the one aspect, Mike, that I want your take on. Never in the existence of media before. Have we allowed the main editorial direction to be a consistent feeding of human beings' worst inclinations. If you did that on your serious show or on your next CNN show, and you were like,

today I'm going to talk to you about the three things that should make you want to kill your neighbor most, you would get immediate phone calls of, Michael, what the, what are you doing? Get in here. We've got to have a meeting. That's what the algorithms do. By design, they find the most provocative to drive outrage. They admit it. They say it.

People who advertise want their ads placed adjacent to that content. We've never had that in media before. Bleeds at leads? Yes. But there was always an editorial pushback that, hey, you guys are just doing infotainment or you guys are just doing sensationalism or what about, not with social media. So now we have what decides what trends is something designed to deliver us feedings of only our worst inclinations on a topic.

We've never dealt with this before, and it's destroying us. And it becomes self-fulfilling because artificial intelligence can then feed that system, not only with content selection, but also with audio and what worries me most video. It occurred to me as we were watching those multiple videos from Minneapolis that the day has arrived where there could be a video that would be floated. We'd have no idea whether it was bogus, right? And we'd be arguing about something that was completely fictitious. That's a new wrinkle to it.

And I don't know how we win that battle. I don't know how we win any battles. I got to be honest. You know, people are like, you've got to get off. table, news nation, you know, whether they like or they don't like it, you got to have your own thing. It's all independent now. I don't believe in that. I believe in resources. I believe in bosses, in fact, you know, I think that their challenges with it, yes. But in this business, I've seen the upside of editorial layering and accountability and responsibility more than

I've seen the downside. Yes, there's downside. We all know it. It's been going back a long time, but not like what I see with these independent guys. They don't even give a shit if they're right. They just move on. They just move on. Yeah. No guardrails, no structure. I agree with you.

I'm old school in the same sense as you that we need some type of, we need parameters that are established and enforced to rein in all of the insuffility and all of the content that's false. I think it's over. I don't know what comes next. Again, it's like The Matrix. I can't believe how far ahead those Wachowski brothers were. I'm telling you, I would like become a disciple of theirs if they hadn't become like sisters instead of brothers now.

And not because I'm anti-trans. It's not it at all. It's just I don't understand. Or maybe they were even ahead of it again. You know what I mean? Because they transitioned before anybody else was. But when I watched that movie, the Wachowski brothers were talking about things

that we're like five years away from right now, right? now. And that was like 20-something years ago that they that they came up with the matrix. But even then, it's the message is, I don't know what comes next. But I want you to know we are aware of what you're doing and we're coming to stop you. That's where some of us are coming. That's what you see in the Smirkanis number of the plurality of Americans are now, no, I'm not a Republican. I'm not a Democrat by choice. I am neither. That's what you're seeing. I also do get the counter argument there, Mike, which I'm sure you get hit with all the time also, and I don't have a great answer for it, which is, oh, so you don't want me to be able to vote in my state's primary. And all of these people are on

one team of the other, and I am antagonistic to absolute things that I see on one side, and you just want me to not have any agency. You just want me to just not be part of it? That's what you're asking me? What's your response? Yeah. My response is to say, I think, we all benefit from increased participation. I think we water down the fringes when more people get in the pool. And right now, there are institutional forces at play that preclude those independents among us from having the same seat at the table as the rest of the Republicans and Democrats do. And by the way, my glass is half full. You're kind of bumming me out. But I'm looking forward to us bookending on POTUS, this conversation where people are going to get a healthy dose of the two of us

back to back talking to people who are on the left, on the right, but also in the middle. Because I think they need voice and we're going to give it to them. But the glass half full is that in that Gallup survey, what has changed that now has 45% of society saying they're an eye, not an R or a D, which is an all point high, it's the millennials and the Gen Xers. So I would like to think, Chris, that they could save us because this is the only environment they've ever known and they don't like it and they don't want to be a part of it. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from superpower. Now, I am all about the data when it comes to my wellness. If I can't measure it, if I don't understand the metrics involved, then I don't take it or I won't try it.

Okay. Superpower is the key ingredient to understanding you. Okay. Here's what it works. They send a licensed professional to your home or they work with, you know, labs that'll be nearby you. All right. So you can do it either way. It's a simple blood draw and they have over 100 biomarkers. By the way, that's a lot more than you usually get in a CBC from your doctor, okay? And what these biomarkers do is they are the metrics that tell the story of you, okay? What are you doing well with? What are you not? What do you need?

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Go to superpower.com, use my name as the code at checkout, and you'll get 20 bucks off your membership, okay? Now look, they're going to ask you, hey, where did you hear about superpower? Show the love, man. Tell them. Cuomo sent me. First of all, you've,

You've been doing it. You are a steady diet. You change with the dynamics in terms of not your principles, but your positioning and how you deliver the perspective. That's why I love what you do. And it's a big reason that I wanted to go back and be with you in the morning. I didn't want to do an afternoon thing. One, I don't have the time. But also, I just don't see the need. I got the podcast. I got the cable thing. But in the morning, you know, and being someone who listens to your show, you're a big reason I have, SXM, by the way, because I listen. and the potus almost exclusively. It's politics of the United States, Channel 1,24 on Sirius. And I listen almost always for you, and not because I just, I love you as a guy,

and you've been such a good friend over the years, but I need to hear people who are open to what they disagree with. And I understand why there's no appetite for it, but it's now become a precious commodity. What I'd like to do that I didn't do the last time, and you and I go on each other's shows fairly regularly, but we used to do it even more, but then I got shit can't go on those shows anymore, but I wish him and all the brothers and sisters there, good luck. I have no grudge against CNN. All you guys know that here, it's different for me. But I want to come on your show more, and I want to have more of the anchors there who are driving perspective on each other's shows, because I want to show that people can disagree with decency.

And that's easy for us. I'm going to defer to you nine out of ten times we disagree anyway. But in general, like even if it's like this Dean Obadiah guy who was like calling for me to be canceled the other day, I used to have that punk on my show all the time at CNN. I want to have them again now. And I'm calling him a punk tongue in cheek. I get why he feels the way he does about me. He's wrong about seeing me as Islamophobic. I am the opposite of that. I want people to understand the difference between the perversion of that faith called extreme Islamism and the 1.6 billion Muslims that we have in the world. It's like blaming all Christians for the people who blow up the abortion clinics. So that's my message. I'm not an Islamophob, quite the opposite.

But I want to go on a show. And I want to have it be face to face if it can be. And not because I'm a vanilla gorilla, but because people are different when they're looking at each other. people are different. And they remember civility that the veil of anonymity, the digital veil makes you forget. You don't get what I get and you don't deserve it either. But when people want to light me up in person, if they are a female, they light me up. Unless I'm with my kids, women have always been decent, unless they're drunk. But if they're not drunk, women are decent.

And if they see me with my kids, they leave it alone. If I'm not, they come up. Hey, let me ask you. But it's never a question, right? It's an accusation. And they come. They don't give a shit myself. Men, here is the dynamic nine and a half times out of ten.

When there's going to be animosity, all right? Huh. You're much bigger than I thought you were. I'm telling you nine and a half times out of ten, okay? My response is always the same. Oh, it depends on the size of your television screen. Oh, you need a bigger television screen. And then they say, huh.

And you can see they're struggling because they wanted to come at me and say, you hate Trump, you are anti this, you're wrong about that. But now they don't want to say it for the stupidest reason in the world, which is male to mail. Now it's not a keyboard. Now there is a chance that there's going to be a price or a consequence that you're not ready to pay. Now, they happen to be 100% wrong, right? because what happens as soon as anything like that happens is I'm writing checks, right? I'm writing checks.

That's what's happening. So that's not going to happen until I get my kids out of college. But they change and then they start asking questions. And it made me realize, Michael, one, we got a lot of pussies in society. Two, man, Mike Tyson, I hate saying this, but Mike Tyson was right. Being on digital social media has made us forget that sometimes you get punched in the face for what comes out of your mouth. And that's why they're so ugly. There's no accountability. Right. Yeah. And I hear it all the time. But I don't know what to do about it except talk to

people more indirect engagement, which serious is allowing me to do. I do it on, you know, I'm the only cable TV show. I take calls all the time at night, which like the News Nation guys were like, what is this, 1960? What is it, the telethon? I was like, I'm telling you, I'm telling you it'll work. It'll work because they're going to say things to me. People aren't used to hearing people be allowed to say because News Nation plays the cable even more than CNN did. CNN, well, like we remember the big breakout word was Dana Bash saying bullshit. And then we were all allowed to say bullshit. And then we were allowed to say shithole countries.

You know, News Nation realizes it's not FCC. It's got its own decency standards. But you can curse it there. So people found that refreshing. They found it authentic, which is said on one level. But I don't know what to do about what gets you paid and gets you clicks and gets you put in people's feeds. I don't understand how you're supposed to overcome any of that. Look, we're going to have five continuous hours of independent thinking.

We won't always agree. You'll be civil. I'll be civil. People will have a place where they can go. Hear all perspectives and not have to play the game of suiting up in a predictable partisan jersey. So I'm thrilled. Let's go do this. Well, I'm happy to do it and I'm always a call away to do it, especially when you don't like what's come out of my face, which could either be that I misspoke, how it was clipped, or I got it wrong. It could be any of those. But I am open

to all of them and really appreciative of it. And it makes me, well, you know, I want the audience to understand the benefit of the insight you provide in terms of how you see the state of play. Do you believe that the Trump administration is having a successful go to this point and how do you define successful? Thank you for complimenting my poll questions. It takes me a long time to come up with them and frame them. So this is being formatted in my in my nagon as I'm speaking. to Chris Cuomo. But I have a poll question in my head along the lines of, if peace is kept in Gaza, if the Russian war with Ukraine ends, if Venezuela is reformed, if what else do I want to put in the mix,

something about Cuba, probably not, Iran, if there's regime, if all of these things happen, would you say Donald Trump has had a successful presidency? I don't know how you don't say. that he will have had it. Now, I don't know that that all happens. There's a lot there that can go wrong, but I think so many times it's a referendum on him without regard for what the issue might be. Everybody just decides, oh, Trump's for it. I'm against it. I'm for it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And that's frustrating to be because, Chris, oftentimes I agree with where he's trying to go. The methodology is never what it should be. You know, so much gets broken along the way, but sealing the border. It was necessary, you know?

100%. That's a layup. It's what he's doing with ICE right now that I argue was not what was promised and is not necessary. I mean, I find it interesting what metrics you pick. I don't believe the midterms should be about all of the things that you mentioned. I don't think it should be. I'm not arguing that they will be. I think it should be just gas and groceries. gas and groceries. And if I have anything to say about it and if Democrats listen to me at all, healthcare, healthcare costs,

if he doesn't bring in those health care execs and yell at them or whatever, he doesn't have to yell at them. That would be Pueirao also. But when he promised that to our earlier conversation, I say, I got to tell you, that's a good idea. You know, Trump's exactly the kind of guy who could bring in this group to come.

They're going to come. and he could have them there and he could say, you know, everybody hates you guys. You know, the guy shot one of you. And we're going to have to fix this. And we're going to do it with you without you. So I hope you got some ideas here. And I hope you go meet. And I'm going to have Jeffries.

And I'm going to have Schumer unless the Democrats are smart enough to drop, kick his ass to retirement. And I'm going to have Johnson. And I'm going to have Thune. And they're going to be sitting in the room. I'm going to say, talk to them. I'm here to negotiate this any way you want, but it better change because I'm coming. If he does that, he's got a chance, but otherwise, I don't know. I don't mean to suggest that people are going to vote on Venezuela and not on the price of groceries.

I'm just saying in looking at the issues, as you and I are sitting here, what's hot button right now in a foreign policy realm? There's a lot of stuff going on, and it could break in his direction. It could. Even if it does, I think that people won't give him credit for it. Uh, that's true, but, uh, the midterms, as you said, uh, you mentioned earlier, um, how many districts are actually up for grabs. Uh, and in those, uh, seats that are up for grabs, how has the district been manipulated in terms of its demographics? Uh, and then within that, what's the state of play within the primary? You know, once you check all those boxes about what came out of the primary and in those things,

you distill it down to very few things that are going to move the needle. And I think one of the universals will still be that the wallet wins. The wallet wins. I agree. And cost structure is there is no deviation from it, anywhere I go. Anyone I talk to, on the north shore of Oahu, I had this lady come up to me when I was watching my son praying that he wasn't going to get driven into the reef because I didn't know how I was going to go get him if he did.

And I'm sitting there on the beach, you know, just another fat guy on the beach. And this lady comes up and she's like, you know, I don't know what he's talking about, about gas prices being down, not in Honolulu, not in Waikiki, not here, not for us. They said, well, you know, you're literally a set of islands, you know, off the coast. Things are going to be more expensive. They're more expensive where I live because I'm a lot. out on the eastern end of Long Island. It's more expensive. This is a national average. And she's like, I'm just telling you, we're not feeling it. And I hear that everywhere, Michael. Yeah, I think

healthcare is the most potent among them. Too often the media has cast this as a conversation about the ACA benefit extension when, in fact, my health care went up. I'm an independent contractor. I buy my own health care. I'm not covered through CNN. I'm not covered through serious XM. I'm not covered through the Chris Cuomo project. So I'm an independent contractor writing my own check. My health insurance went up 20.6% this year. Yeah, yeah. In one year, 20.20.6%. So everybody, I think, is feeling this at some level. And even if Trump brings together those healthcare executives, which would be wise, where's the replacement plan? They focused all their energies on dismantling the Affordable Care Act without any replacement. By the way, Chris, I'm the one guy you will meet

who defends in the abstract the whole intention of the ACA. Everybody's getting in the pool. Everyone will have health insurance. Therefore, we can pay for the people with preexisting conditions. It makes sense. It's free market. It's no different than you having to have insurance if you're going to drive your car.

And the idea that people were hoisting Gadsden flags, don't tread on me for the right not to have health insurance is crazy. Chris Cuomo Project is brought to you by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. Let's get something straight. This country works because we have rules. One of the most important rules is that the government doesn't get to tell you what to believe. Okay? That is not anti-religion.

It is pro-freedom. The First Amendment draws a clear, line between church and state. Why? Because we are a secular society. We want people to be free to believe or not believe as they so choose. Okay? There is no indoctrination. So anyone's faith does not get prioritized. It doesn't matter how many of us feel or think a certain way. That's what elections are about, not the Constitution. All right? We will not let be weaponized in politics. That's what the foundation is all about. Right now, that line is under pressure from Christian nationalist movements that want their beliefs written into law. Yes, I was raised in the

Christian and Catholic tradition. Yes, it matters to me. Yes, I choose to have faith as flawed an individual as I am. That does not mean I want to put my faith on you, and I certainly don't want you to put your faith on me. The Freedom from Religion Foundation exists to enforce that boundary in schools, courts, government, so everyone's rights are protected, not just the loudest or most powerful group, all right? This isn't left versus right. It's rules versus chaos. So, please visit fFRF.org.com slash new year, okay? Or text my first name, Chris, to 511, 511. Support the work of protecting our shared freedom. Text Chris to 511, 511. If you believe in fairness, accountability, and a constitution that applies to all of us equally, check it out.

FFRF.U.S. slash new year or text Chris to 511-5-11. Message, data rates. Of course, they apply. Of course, it's maddening on one level, but, you know, the ACA, I say to people all the time, you call it Obamacare. That's fine. I don't know why they called it Affordable Care Act because it was really about accessible. It was really about extending coverage. But this came from heritage.

This was the Heritage Foundation. And the key to it was the individual mandate. And that's what Romney did in Massachusetts. And that's how it worked. And that's how the Republicans knew if they could vitiate that one aspect of it, get rid of the mandate. They knew that it would

start to collapse. And so that's what they did. And now they say, look, it doesn't work. And it's like, yeah, you just poured sand in the gas tank. And now you're bitching that the engine doesn't run well. So, look, I get it. But you know what, as Bill O'Reilly loves to say, that's politics, you know, which he only says when it serves him. But it doesn't matter on one level. And as much as they're never going to have something to replace the ACA. It's too big. And, you know, it's too big. idea. It's too much. It's not how Trump works. And what they'll do is they're going to see personal empowerment and private sector and competition as the right things here. And I disagree. I think that what's missing in the equation is something that is just as true in capitalism as it is in any

other system, but we don't like it because the powerful don't like it, which is the rules. The rules. Okay, taxation of it being less for business than it is for top-tier individual is a choice. That's not capitalism. It's a choice structure that we have. And you can absolutely say your tax rate is going to be X as long as the people who work for you in this group and here's how I define it make why. Or that the C-suits don't make more than why. And if you don't meet that burden, you do not get that. that tax rate. There's nothing unconstitutional about it. There's nothing wrong about it. It's a choice.

And the problem with that is, the people you want to do that to hire people in every district across the country and they give more money in lobbying than any other industry in the world. And the access to it is the most fundamental. Anybody who needs health insurance is ready to die. for anybody who's going to take it from them because it's pretty much a life or death situation anyway. And that's why they don't mess with it. They won't even mess with the credit card companies. Trump just did a very clever thing here,

totally intellectually dishonest. He knows he can't do it by himself and he knows Congress isn't going to do it. Two reasons. One, they're afraid of these guys. A lot of money. You know, a lot of money. $200 million a year they put into politics.

Second reason, a lot of people in your districts are going to get cut off from credit And because of the purchasing power problem, they have to borrow. So they're not going to do it. Trump was clever to dangle it out there like, oh, this is a nice idea. He can't do it and they won't do it. So he has two outs on it. He's going to get the credit for saying what's wrong, but not blame for not doing anything to make it right.

All right, brother, it all makes sense to me. Michael, I appreciate you very much. Thank you for spending time with me. Thank you for encouraging me to be part of the essence. XXM lineup. I look forward to being there, being on your show, you being online. Chris, we have, we have a history. I just want to say this quickly, if I may, because, you know, when you were doing mornings on CNN, I was a guest and it was fun. And I would come in studio, you, Allison, it was a good time. I thought that we had good content. We got along and we delivered the goods. You went to

prime time, and then I had the privilege of guest hosting your show. You know, that was a that was a big thrill for me, and I really appreciated the opportunity to hold down the fort. And we were, of course, in that same time period together at POTUS, but now the opportunity to be together, you doing mornings, me following you, I'm elated. I think it's, like, I just think it's going to be five straight great hours of content. You're doing two. I'm doing my three. And together, I think it's going to be pretty potent. I really do. So, I'm psyched. You're a good friend, and that's great. But this is also like a nice, we fit well together, I think. Listen, I think that's high praise to me, and I will take it. And I appreciate it. I look forward to the opportunity.

I'm going to work very hard to make it work. I got a whole plan about what I'm going to do that is different than the last time that I did it to make it really useful. Good. And I look forward to your take on it. So Michael, thank you very much. I'll talk to you and see you soon. By the way, Alan Parsons called. He wants the name of the show back. Let me tell you.

It bothers me every time I hear it. I'm like, this is the most perfect song for a political show ever. Stuck in the middle with you. Steelers wheel, man. Well, let's talk. I don't know why you didn't buy it. But I would, if I had it a little bit more, success. If I could pick aside for a year and make that partisan money, I would then go behind your

back, license the song, and love telling you you can't use it anymore. You know that when you told me, when you told me you would love to have that song and I should own it, I did track down the surviving member of the band. And I had that conversation. I couldn't write the check. Cuomo could probably write the check. You better not tell me how much, because if I can, I will, Michael. I love you, but I love that song, too. Take care of yourself. See you, buddy. Michael Smirkawk, always reasonable, not just left and right. And look, I know that can be unsatisfying, especially in difficult times. But I have to tell you that hard times make strong people. And I will bank on guys like Mike who are strong enough to be independent and

refuse to fold. What do you think? Now, I thank you for subscribing and following because you are critical thinkers, right? That's why I'm selling this gear is that two reasons. One, to reinforce that you wear your independence, that you're a free agent, you're different. You're not one of these pack animals, okay? You're not a party first. You're not party anything. You're not led. You lead yourself through your own reasoned choice because you're a critical thinker. Free agent, And the good news is we're the fastest growing part of the electorate. That's good. Now, what's even better than that? Finding more ways to make a difference. So, today, if you are an early bird and getting this as soon as it comes out, you have a chance to check me out on serious radio. Today on Channel 124, that's their POTIS channel. No, not president. It's politics of the United States. United States. And I'm starting my morning show there today, seven to nine Eastern. And what's different about it? I take what social media is trying to tell us and the influencers and the

power players and the cognoscenti. And they have, this is what they say the list of most important things is. This is what's trending. Is the trend your friend? I start off with that and I analyze for you. Here's why these things are trending. Here's what the context is of them. Here's what matters and here's what doesn't. Here's what's true and here's what's not. So that you can then form your own conclusions and preferences. We'll have big guests. Sure, sure.

Why? Because it's important to talk to the players. But remember what this show is really about. You. Okay? Letting you voice your frustration, your disassociation, your disbelief, your discontent, you're dissing of I don't get it, I don't want to get it, I don't like it, I want more of it. I know it feels like you don't identify and relate with a lot of what's going on in the media,

especially social media. There's a reason for that. And this is the remedy. And I'm happy to do it. So I'll see you there. You call in. I'll get to your calls. Now, I'll get to your call sooner if you're a special person.

How do you be special? Also, today, if you go anywhere that you get my content, anywhere where you get my Chris Cuomo Project podcast, you'll see that I have now subscription tiers. Sometimes that's just to get content without ads, the easy way you know that. But I'm doing other things on YouTube where I'm going to have tiers of subscription. Sometimes it'll help you get a preference on the radio show. Sometimes it'll get you content from me that you're not going to see anywhere else. Sometimes it'll be me fielding questions in a closed session with just those people. Sometimes it will be me one-on-one if you want to pay for that because my time is valuable too, believe it or not.

But depending on the level of involvement and access that you want, check out the different subscription tiers. There's going to be plenty of content, just like always, but there are people who want to pay for a different experience, who want different access. And I'm okay with that. And as you know, you can always ask me questions through the Mnect app as well. But this is easier access, more direct access. Look there on YouTube, look on the other platforms where you get the podcast,

and you'll see what's available, what the pricing is, and what you get for it, all right? I appreciate you subscribing and following everywhere or anywhere. Okay? And I'll see you, of course, News Nation every weekday night,

8P and midnight. All right? News Nation, wherever you can get that on cable, you'll see it. If not, my clips are all over, social media, Instagram, TikTok. You can follow me in all of those places.

All right? This is a new iteration of my developing understanding of how I can help us get to a better place. And the key ingredient is you and your involvement and your interest. So thank you for that. And I'll be seeing you everywhere I can, every time I can. Let's get after it. Hey, Ontario. Come on down to BentMtmgum Kisina.

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