During another rowdy transition between CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time and CNN Tonight on Wednesday, host Chris Cuomo once again embraced violence as a political tool. Of course, his eagerness to hand out “three knuckles” to racists and homophobes, who said “ugly” things to fellow CNN host and friend Don Lemon, came after he disgustingly conflated Christianity and Karen Pence with the controversial comments of Iowa Congressman Steve King (R).
After playing a clip of Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders blasting King’s comments as “abhorrent” and chastising the Democrats for not weeding out bad apples as Republicans do, Cuomo lashed out. “It wasn't an answer, and that's not acceptable,” he declared. “And there's no whataboutism on my watch, not here. When a president will not take the opportunity to condemn a message of white supremacy, choosing to do nothing here sends a message.”
But Cuomo himself was sending a message that night by not touching on the growing tide of anti-Semitism among liberals, most notably Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and the Women’s March. That’s not to mention the anti-Catholic bent of some Democrats.
Completely ignoring how congressional Republicans were moving to ostracize King, with such measures as pulling his committee assignments, Cuomo acted like nothing was happening and chastised Republicans:
The next time my brothers and sisters on the right say it's wrong to have people call them out about issues surrounding bigotry and intolerance, remember this moment. Remember what the President who heads your party refused to do. I won't forget. None of us can. This matters too much.
Suggesting it was in the same vein as King, Cuomo pointed to Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, who just began teaching art at a Christian school that upheld Christian values. “Factor this in,” Cuomo instructed viewers. “She's teaching art at a place where the application requires would-be employees to initial next to a list of beliefs, including certain moral misconduct, includes homosexual or transgender identity as being disqualifying or any other violation of the unique roles of male and female.”
After claiming it was a cheap shot to point out how he was obviously equating Christianity with bigotry, he did just that:
The point is that the value of exclusion is embraced here, and our Vice President's wife, in the place where she is, it does the same thing, and it adds to the anxiety for people around why this White House, why this President doesn't speak out against a member of his party that embraces a message that isolates the same kinds of people that are being singled out where the Vice President's wife works.
As Cuomo was talking with Lemon during the transition between shows, the wannabe wise guy suggested he’d knock out anyone who said anything bigoted to his friend. “God forbid, you and I are out, which happens on a regular basis, somebody comes up and says something ugly to you. It happens. Who knows what happens to me for doing that,” he proclaimed as he punched his fist into his hand.
In response to Lemon offering a peaceful solution, Cuomo asserted: “Yeah, I hug them. I hug them with three knuckles that make their eyes roll into their head and they wake up seven minutes later with a headache later.”
Cuomo’s latest promotion of violence was framed as “the right thing to do.” “The point is you stand up against the ugly people and you do what has to be done in the moment because none of us tolerate that kind of B.S.,” he angrily spat. “And obviously, I’m reaching into what you can easily argue (and my theorist would, most on my family agree) that's I should keep my hands off people when they enrage me,” he admitted.
And as they were finally wrapping up their transition, the duo went back to their discussion from Tuesday night smearing Trump supporters as racists. They boasted about how they were superior to "average" people because they "live diversity." Cuomo then grilled Lemon on whether or not he would bail him out jail for assaulting the racists and homophobes on his behalf.
This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
January 16, 2019
9:56:04 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: So now Steve King's hometown paper, The Des Moines Register, is calling on him to resign from Congress. But when the White House was asked about the President's position, we got this.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: Steve King’s comments were abhorrent, and the Republican leadership, unlike Democrats, have actually taken action when their members have said outrageous and inappropriate things. I hope that Democrat leadership will follow the very strong and rightful leadership that the Republicans have done over this.
CUOMO: All right. So forget about the camera work. It wasn't an answer, and that's not acceptable. And there's no whataboutism on my watch, not here. When a president will not take the opportunity to condemn a message of white supremacy, choosing to do nothing here sends a message. As the epic rock band Rush taught us, “even if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” And this choice echoes to all who comprise America's matrix of minorities, who fear being treated as less than, blacks, Latinos, ethnics, LGBT too. None is welcome in that message of hate.
Still worse, the President's quiet forces the suggestion that he supports what he fails to oppose. Factor this in. Karen Pence is the wife of the vice president. She's teaching art at a place where the application requires would-be employees to initial next to a list of beliefs, including certain moral misconduct, includes homosexual or transgender identity as being disqualifying or any other violation of the unique roles of male and female.
Now, don't cheapen my argument by saying, Cuomo's equating Christianity and white power. Please, that's just a slip of an obvious point. I am a flawed, failing, repentant Christian, okay? If I had any bias, it would be in favor of faith. The point is that the value of exclusion is embraced here, and our Vice President's wife, in the place where she is, it does the same thing, and it adds to the anxiety for people around why this White House, why this President doesn't speak out against a member of his party that embraces a message that isolates the same kinds of people that are being singled out where the Vice President's wife works.
Remember, this all comes after the President said good people March with the KKK and all the other crap that makes the hateful grateful for this President.
(…)
New argument. Maybe the time has passed, and maybe the passing of time has given us our answer. The next time my brothers and sisters on the right say it's wrong to have people call them out about issues surrounding bigotry and intolerance, remember this moment. Remember what the President who heads your party refused to do. I won't forget. None of us can. This matters too much. Thank you for watching.
(…)
DON LEMON: Still no response, right? You said that this was a moment for the President, a moment for his supporters to -- and, what?
CUOMO: She ducked it.
(…)
LEMON: People say stupid things all the time.
CUOMO: Mm-hmm.
LEMON: That is different than a pattern and a practice of racist behavior or condoning it, people saying it, doing it, putting it policies…
CUOMO: There are moments when people do the right thing. God forbid, you and I are out, which happens on a regular basis, somebody comes up and says something ugly to you. [Punches fist into hand] It happens. Who knows what happens to me for doing that.
LEMON: You embrace them. You hug them.
CUOMO: Yeah, I hug them. I hug them with three knuckles that make their eyes roll into their head and they wake up seven minutes later with a headache later. The point is you stand up against the ugly people and you do what has to be done in the moment because none of us tolerate that kind of B.S. That's what you do for the people you care about. The President's job is to care about all of us, and he's got to stand up against it. And you can't let him get away with saying nothing. Either you're for King, or you're against him.
(…)
CUOMO: Regardless your take on the social reality, whether people step up as the good samaritan or whether you believe in the Kitty Genovese model where people stay away even when horrible things are happening because of self-preservation, it doesn't matter to me. It's about what is the right thing to do in a situation. And obviously, I’m reaching into what you can easily argue (and my theorist would, most on my family agree) that's I should keep my hands off people when they enrage me. But that’s what I do in protection of those who I love.
LEMON: You need to start using something Gillette razors, by the way.
CUOMO: That's exactly right. I have to use a whole bag of them as have been suggested to me, which is weird when I have absolutely no beard. The point is you've got to do the right thing in the moment, and this is easy. The President doesn't have to get in a fistfight with anybody.
(…)
