CNN's Prime Time host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo reminded viewers Thursday of the Cuomo family's lack of principles and penchant for double standards as he lectured Republican Congressman Jim Jordan (OH) and Senators Ted Cruz (TX) and Rand Paul and right-of-center Americans for purposefully refusing to “listen to science” while “playing politics” as people die from the coronavirus.
With Cruz and Paul in particular, Cuomo denounced them for refusing to wear masks while walking the halls of Congress (and even though Cruz has been vaccinated) despite the fact that Fredo has been a repeat offender of going maskless in public and ventured out while battling the coronavirus.
We'd also be remiss if we didn't reup the fact that he staged his emergence from quarantine and reportedly received priority COVID testing from Q-tip-joking, scandal-ridden brother and Governor Andrew Cuomo (D).
Cuomo launched his attack against Paul and his archnemesis from Texas by blasting the right as the reason why the pandemic will continue as “[s]cience tells us cases are rising” with stronger variants while “you have too many people on the right who don't want to get the vaccine.”
Citing a herd immunity goal of between 50-70 percent of Americans being vaccinated, Cuomo lamented that the pandemic will be prolonged if there's a lack of respect for “mitigation” measures such as mask-wearing among vaccinated people.
It was here that he dragged the two senators into the equation (click “expand”):
So, that’s why it is baffling when you have people like Senator Ted Cruz joining Rand Paul in ditching his mask as they walk the halls of Congress. Cruz explains: “At this point, I've been vaccinated. Everybody working in the senate has been vaccinated.” No, not your staff. Not a lot of people in the media. They haven't gotten it and the current CDC guidelines states very clearly that if you're vaccinated, you got to still keep taking precautions like wearing a mask.
You can still get sick, you won't be as sick but you could give it to somebody else. So, he's not just wrong but he's doing it for the wrong reason and he knows experts are still learning how vaccines affect COVID spread. We know this. We know it's not 100 percent. The latest CDC data makes it all very clear, all right? 5,800 people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID have gotten infected anyway.
Not surprisingly, Cuomo's meltdown wasn't exactly accurate. Back in January, members of Congress became eligible for the vaccine as well as members of the staff. And a month ago, it was reported that thousands of additional doses had been secured for staff. As for the claims about journalists, Washington D.C. opened up vaccine access to journalists who had to work in-person.
Fredo went to break with a closing that was a masterful, race-winning ride atop his high horse about the virtues of being above “politics” and following “science” while “people are dying”:
Look, it's nothing, it's a little fraction of tens of millions who were already vaccinated but the only way to keep the number down is to listen to science. They all know it. They're just playing politics, and people are dying. We now have a President, though, who believes in science.
Though adversarial guests who refuse to “take the bait” aren't exactly popular on CNN, someone should ask Fredo if his brother “listen[ed] to the science” when he sent thousands of New York seniors to their deaths.
Earlier in the show, Cuomo teased the segment by warning of Jordan's “complete COVID-iocy” that served as “a beautiful demonstration of when ignorance turns into arrogance when it goes against the facts and science.” Unsurprisingly, Cuomo had previously ascribed the label to Cruz.
Cuomo began said screed with a declaration of “[s]olidarity behind science” because “that’s what it takes to bring COVID numbers down and...end this pandemic,” but quickly pivoted to mocking Jordan as almost a heckler daring to ask Dr. Anthony Fauci during a House hearing about when Americans will able to “get their liberties and freedoms back” (click “expand”):
Solidarity behind science. We know that that’s what it takes to bring COVID numbers down and we know that is what is needed to end this pandemic. All of us know it. So what was all this “when do we get our liberty back” on Capitol Hill today by Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, it's people who believe what he believes who don't want to get the vaccine. Why isn’t he talking to them about giving the rest of us our liberty back? Instead, he decided to blame Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert over, “when, tell me when. When do we get it back?
(....)
“I get it, I get it. It's a big deal.” No, it's not, not to you. You want to make it about division. And that's why he took several minutes of time that he could have been saying to people, “hey, listen to Fauci, get the vaccine, let's get through this.”
If we all listened to Fauci, we'd get vaccinated (which is the right thing to do), but then return to our homes and dare not to do things like venturing out to eat indoors at a restaurant.
Support for Cuomo’s hour of hypocrisy and liberal pompousness was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Advil, Fidelity, and Liberty Mutual. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CNN transcript from April 15, click “expand.”
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
April 15, 2021
9:41 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]CHRIS CUOMO: All right. Now, I want to talk to another big problem that we're all facing. Okay. We have a moment of complete COVID-iocy ahead, being an idiot about COVID, and it happened on the Hill and it was a beautiful demonstration of when ignorance turns into arrogance when it goes against the facts and science. Next.
(....)
9:45 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: Solidarity behind science. We know that that’s what it takes to bring COVID numbers down and we know that is what is needed to end this pandemic. All of us know it. So what was all this “when do we get our liberty back” on Capitol Hill today by Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, it's people who believe what he believes who don't want to get the vaccine. Why isn’t he talking to them about giving the rest of us our liberty back? Instead, he decided to blame Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert over, “when, tell me when. When do we get it back? Listen.
CONGRESSMAN JIM JORDAN (R-OH): What measure, what standard, what objective outcome do we have to reach before — before Americans get their liberty and freedoms back?
DR. TONY FAUCI: You know, you're indicating liberty and freedom. I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying. [SCREEN WIPE] You're making this a personal thing and it isn't.
JORDAN: It's not a personal thing.
FAUCI: No, you are. That is exactly what you're doing. [SCREEN WIPE] We're not talking about liberties. We're talking about a pandemic that has killed 560,000 Americans.
JORDAN: And I get that.
FAUCI: That's what we're talking about.
CUOMO: “I get it, I get it. It's a big deal.” No, it's not, not to you. You want to make it about division. And that's why he took several minutes of time that he could have been saying to people, hey, listen to Fauci, get the vaccine, let's get through this. But it was Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters who had the last word. Listen to what she said.
CONGRESSWOMAN MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): You need to respect the chair and shut your mouth.
CUOMO: There's nothing wrong with wanting to know when this could all end. But it's hard to see how attacking Fauci helps. You know when it ends. It ends when we get our crap together — right — and you get the vaccines and you get to a certain point, and you have too many people on the right who don't want to get the vaccine. Science tells us cases are rising because the variant is bad and you have 23 percent of Americans fully vaccinated. Now, a lot of that 23 percent are the older and vulnerable, and that's going to help us but if we don't get 50, 60, 70 percent, and we’re not doing the mitigation, it's going to take more time. Everybody knows that, okay? SO, that’s why it is baffling when you have people like Senator Ted Cruz joining Rand Paul in ditching his mask as they walk the halls of Congress. Cruz explains: “At this point, I've been vaccinated. Everybody working in the senate has been vaccinated.” No, not your staff. Not a lot of people in the media. They haven't gotten it and the current CDC guidelines states very clearly that if you're vaccinated, you got to still keep taking precautions like wearing a mask. You can still get sick, you won't be as sick but you could give it to somebody else. So, he's not just wrong but he's doing it for the wrong reason and he knows experts are still learning how vaccines affect COVID spread. We know this. We know it's not 100 percent. The latest CDC data makes it all very clear, all right? 5,800 people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID have gotten infected anyway. Look, it's nothing, it's a little fraction of tens of millions who were already vaccinated but the only way to keep the number down is to listen to science. They all know it. They're just playing politics, and people are dying. We now have a President, though, who believes in science.
