During an interview with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I) on Thursday’s Cuomo Prime Time, CNN host Chris Cuomo’s rage boiled over as attacked his guest for not doing more to stop President Trump and the GOP agenda. “He's cleaning your clock on the policy matters,” he yelled, clearly agitated with the string of victories and good news for Trump and GOP.
The interview began with both Cuomo and Sanders knocking Trump for saying in a private meeting that some immigrants come from “sh*thole counties.” But that gave way to Cuomo railing against his guest and the Democrats for losing so much.
“For all the ugly words that comes out of him, and the beating he gets from the media, and with due criticism, he is cleaning the Democrats and yours by extension. He's cleaning your clock on the policy matters,” Cuomo angrily declared. “He got the mandate withdrawn, he got the tax cut, you had high ground coming out of that, because he did it along straight partisan lines, dividing this country by party and socioeconomics.”
And the prospect of Trump scoring a win on immigration, including the border wall, didn’t seem to sit well with Cuomo either:
But now you're about to give him back that high ground. You're going to do a deal on DACA. He's going to get that wall. That's my guess, and he's going to be able to say, “I got the wall, and I'm the great unifier, look at all these Democrats here, with my bill of love,” and you will then be 0 for 2 on the two biggest moves that he's done since he's been in office!
“All right, all right, all right. Chris, let's take one, and then we'll go to two. It is only media absurdities that look at a bill like -- looks at something like the tax bill and say, ‘Oh, it's a victory for Trump,’” Sanders blurted out in his defense, clearly taken aback.
“This is about messaging, he got out in front of this message,” Cuomo continued to bemoan. “He's won the narrative of a big tax cut that's going to help everybody, companies are giving bonuses, the Democrats did nothing to help the middle class the way you guys promised you would.”
A short time later, the brooding Cuomo began to berate Sanders for allowing the GOP to repeal ObamaCare’s insurance mandate via the tax bill:
CUOMO: And he got the mandate in the tax bill! Which took a huge bite out of the ACA! It's going to destabilize markets, it’s going to pop premiums and he's going to be able to blame that on you guys.
SANDERS: Chris. Chris. You don't have to argue with me about how bad the bill is. I helped lead the fight against it.
CUOMO: You didn’t stop it.
And apparently, “compromise” was a dirty word for the fuming Cuomo, because he didn’t like the idea of Democrats working with Trump on immigration. “DACA, you’ve got everybody on your side with the Dreamers … So why do you have to give him the wall to do it,” he demanded to know. “That that's going to be the compromise! You’ll call it security. But he's going to be able to call it the wall and he gets unity and he gets the wall!”
Relevant portions of the transcript below:
CNN
Cuomo Prime Time
January 11, 2018
9:09:27 PM Eastern(…)
CHRIS CUOMO: For all the ugly words that comes out of him, and the beating he gets from the media, and with due criticism, he is cleaning the Democrats and yours by extension. He's cleaning your clock on the policy matters. He got the mandate withdrawn, he got the tax cut, you had high ground coming out of that, because he did it along straight partisan lines, dividing this country by party and socioeconomics. But now you're about to give him back that high ground. You're going to do a deal on DACA. He's going to get that wall. That's my guess, and he's going to be able to say, “I got the wall, and I'm the great unifier, look at all these Democrats here, with my bill of love,” and you will then be 0 for 2 on the two biggest moves that he's done since he's been in office!
BERNIE SANDERS: All right, all right, all right. Chris, let's take one, and then we'll go to two. It is only media absurdities that look at a bill like -- looks at something like the tax bill and say, “Oh, it's a victory for Trump.”
(…)
CUOMO: Look, you say a ten-year window, the cycle is ten minutes now. This is about messaging, he got out in front of this message, the media corrects the facts, I do it all day. I've lost hairline going it, Senator. It doesn’t matter, he's won the narrative of a big tax cut that's going to help everybody, companies are giving bonuses, the Democrats did nothing to help the middle class the way you guys promised you would. I know you don't have the numbers, but the reality is, you have to find ways to use leverage. You lost on that bill.
(…)
CUOMO: And he got the mandate in the tax bill! Which took a huge bite out of the ACA! It's going to destabilize markets, it’s going to pop premiums and he's going to be able to blame that on you guys.
SANDERS: Chris. Chris. You don't have to argue with me about how bad the bill is. I helped lead the fight against it.
CUOMO: You didn’t stop it.
SANDERS: Of course we didn't stop it, we had 48 votes, they had 52 votes. You know, that is the arithmetic, they control the House, the White House.
(…)
9:15:51 PM Eastern
CUOMO: Use the leverage. Use the leverage where you have it and then you guys have the fight and whoever wins, wins. All we want is a fair fight and see which ideas come out on top. That is what should influence the election. DACA, you’ve got everybody on your side with the Dreamers. The polling is out for Quinnipiac. They're robust even among the GOP. So why do you have to give him the wall to do it?
SANDERS: Why are you suggesting that I want to give him the wall? I don’t want to give him--
CUOMO: Because that's the word I'm getting, is that that's going to be the compromise! You’ll call it security. But he's going to be able to call it the wall and he gets unity and he gets the wall!
(…)
