During Tuesday's edition of New Day, co-host Chris Cuomo blasted Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R-GA) for saying "one of the most ridiculous things we've heard in a long time from a public official." Cuomo apparently had a problem with a tweet sent out by Cagle where he suggested he would work against any tax legislation that would benefit Delta unless the airline reinstated its relationship with the National Rifle Association. Cuomo said that he had never heard of a lawmaker going after a company because he did not like the politics of the company despite the fact that his brother, the Governor of New York, had engaged in similar behavior just a few years earlier.
Governor Andrew Cuomo had previously banned non-essential state travel to two states because he did not like laws passed in those states. In 2015, Cuomo targeted Indiana after it passed a religious freedom law that he argued discriminated against the LGBT community. The following year, he signed an executive order banning all non-essential state travel to North Carolina because the state legislature passed HB2, also known as the “bathroom bill” that required people to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate as opposed to their “gender identity.”
Cuomo seemed to suggest that Cagle’s behavior was inappropriate, saying, “He doesn’t work for CPAC” and pointing out that “he’s the lieutenant governor of a state.” One could easily replace just a few of those words to make them applicable to Cuomo's brother. The statements would then read, “He doesn’t work for GLAAD. He’s the governor of a state.”
The CNN host also asked panelist David Gregory “have you ever heard of a state official doing something like this before, saying I don’t like how you’re dealing with the NRA or any special interest group so I’m going to punish you as a state official if I can?” Gregory responded by saying “No”, apparently forgetting about the actions of Governor Cuomo and Governor Jay Inslee (D-WA), who the panel had previously praised for ridiculing President Trump’s idea of arming teachers. Maybe Cuomo did not realize that the sole purpose of his brother’s executive actions was to blackmail those particular states into changing the laws that he did not like.
If liberal Governors like Cuomo and Inslee have the right to ban non-essential travel to states that have passed laws unfavorable to liberal interest groups, then surely Lt. Gov. Cagle should have the right to put pressure on Delta to reinstate its relationship with the NRA.
CNN New Day
02/27/18
06:09 AM
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Okay so listen, there was this meeting with the Governors yesterday that the President had at the White House. That was where he said some of these things. And there was an interesting moment when the Governor of Washington State confronted the President. So listen to this.
GOV. JAY INSLEE: I just think this is a circumstance where we need to listen that educators should educate and they should not be foisted upon this responsibility of packing heat in first grade classes. Now, I understand you have suggested this and we suggest things and sometimes then we listen to people about it. Maybe they don’t look so good a little later. So I just suggest we need a little less tweeting here and a little more listening and let’s just take that off the table and move forward.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: All right. Thank you very much. You know, we have a number of states right now that do that and I think with that in mind, I’ll call on Greg Abbott, great governor of Texas. Greg?
CAMEROTA: How about that moment, A.B.? Little less tweeting, a little more focus. Let’s not have teachers packing heat. I mean, he, you know, he spelled out, I think, what the other side’s position is to the President sometimes.
A.B. STODDARD: The thing is, about arming teachers, is although it’s done in some places, this is not going to be federalized. Republicans are not behind this. And it’s a way for the President to continue talking about something he feels strongly would be, would help prevent these shootings but it’s not an actual solution that’s going to pass. And so, it’s what we’re really looking at is whether or not he stays off of an age restriction, whether or not he defines what a comprehensive background check is, whether or not he’s willing to have guns taken away from people who are mentally unstable.
CAMEROTA: So this is a red herring. All of this talk about teachers you think is a red herring?
STODDARD: Because Republicans aren’t behind it. They’re not. They’re not going to get behind reopening and funding mental institutions and they’re not going to get behind arming teachers. There’s no appetite for that. And so he’s, it’s a, it’s a talking point for him.
CHRIS CUOMO: All right, David.
DAVID GREGORY: Yeah, also just the look of him. I mean, just put up that video again. Not exactly an open and affirming stance on his part to listen to the other side.
CUOMO: Body language.
GREGORY: The body language is like...
CAMEROTA: You have my attention.
CUOMO: You can talk as long as you want now.
CAMEROTA: I like it..
GREGORY: He’s just like, am I, am I able to lock up governors as well as Hillary Clinton? Am I, I’m not sure. Can somebody check on that while he’s still talking. But I think, look, I think A.B.’s right, but I do think that the reflexive response that somehow this is just outlandish on its face is not enough for Democrats. I think that there has to be a full look at how to harden the target. And there’s lots of things to do. I mean, for those of us who have, you know, who are parents of kids who are going through active shooter drills and schools are going through how they lock down the school at different times. The kind of security or actual police presence that they have as a deterrent as well as a first responder situation. High schools, I think schools have to take this seriously. And I think that the horrible reason is that we know people who are going to commit this kind of act, if they are of sound mind, and even if they aren’t, understand the kind of blaze of glory and the kind of media attention they’re going to get. And I think they seek out those targets because of it.
CUOMO: Now, the President did his best yesterday to disrupt any positive momentum by saying something foolish about how, even with no weapon, he’d run into the school. But I would argue he lost. Because this Lieutenant Governor of Georgia said one of the most ridiculous things we’ve heard in a long time from a public official. When he said he’s going to do everything he can to make sure that any legislation, tax legislation, that benefits Delta in the State of Georgia. Remember, he’s the lieutenant governor, not the governor. But he will kill any tax legislation that benefits Delta unless they change their position and fully reinstate its relationship with the NRA. Corporations can’t attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back. He doesn’t work for CPAC, A.B. Stoddard. He’s the lieutenant governor of a state and remember what the NRA does. They give a boost. They give special rates to certain people so they’re not punishing anybody from taking them away. They can do whatever they want. But I’ve never heard of a lawmaker doing anything like this. Because they don’t like the politics of a company, they go after that company.
STODDARD: Well, he’s going to be rewarded for that. I mean, there are people who are members of the NRA or supportive of the NRA and not yet members who find this boycott situation, this corporate response appalling. And they are, you know, all over social media promising to find other brands and other corporations to support and so...
CUOMO: They can do that.
STODDARD: There is definitely a crowd.
CUOMO: He’s the officer of a state.
CAMEROTA: It’s not as big as people think. The membership of the NRA is actually not as big as people think as we’ve learned from all of this.
CUOMO: You could have 5 million people.
CAMEROTA: It’s 5 million.
STODDARD: People who are going to say thank you for standing up to those corporations who are trying to bully us.
CUOMO: It’s fine but he’s not just standing up. He’s doing...I’ve never, maybe, you know Dave, we’ve got three better minds here than mine. Have you ever heard of a state official doing something like this before, saying I don’t like how you’re dealing with the NRA or any special interest group so I’m going to punish you as a state official if I can?
GREGORY: No. No. But I think, you know, I think if you’re, you know, playing to the base in a state like Georgia, perhaps you can get away with it. You know, there’s something else that I think should be said here and I think what bothers me about the NRA or conservatives invoking the NRA leadership position as fully representative of the NRA, the reality is we’ve had a debate now since 2001 about terrorism in this country and countering terrorism. And there has been an acceptance, left, right, and center that we have to give up certain rights, even some of our privacy, in the name of security. We do it at the airports all the time. And yet we hear from the leadership of the NRA, not necessarily its members who I think feel differently that you cannot give any quarter when it comes to gun safety. I think this is where the debate falls down. And I think there’s, there’s too much of a fringe of a leadership of the NRA that speaks for the entire membership.
