CNN’s Chris “Fredo” Cuomo wrapped up Thursday’s PrimeTime with a tirade blaming President Trump for scammers selling and hurting people with a false coronavirus cure federal investigators called “toxic bleach.” But a Huffington Post article from back in April warned readers not to listen to Cuomo’s wife, Cristina Cuomo, who was telling people to bathe in bleach to cure one’s self of the virus, something Fredo defended during his rant.
As part of his “Ameri-can’t” segment at the end of the show, Cuomo dredged up how Trump once asked this coronavirus task force if they could look at using disinfectants to eliminate the virus inside the body (something deadly to the person).
Providing no evidence that the scammers were inspired by the President, or that the people who fell for the scam were as well, Cuomo placed the blame solely on Trump:
And the problem is when a president speaks, even Trump, people listen. The proof? Tonight's Ameri-can'ts, okay? They have taken full advantage of that ridiculous and dangerous notion to cash in, and people were buying it and taking it with lethal results. The feds say a Florida father and three sons tried to -- tried to pass off what they call a ‘toxic bleach’ as a, quote, “miracle mineral solution for coronavirus.”
Too obtuse to realize he was destroying his argument, Fredo admitted “this isn't the family's first go-around either at the at-home pharmacy game. They've also claimed this miracle batch could cure cancer, Alzheimer's, autism, HIV/AIDS, and more.”
“This is the kind of pernicious evil scam that can flourish when those in power feed the ignorance over the facts of science,” he angrily argued as he switched gears to attacking Trump supporters with thinly veiled smears. “We tell you don't be a sucker, but that message is hard to sell when it's set up against the most powerful man in the world saying the opposite.”
Again, he provided no evidence to suggest the victims of the scam were listening to Trump or were supporters of his.
If there was somehow any question of whether or not Cuomo was blaming Trump, he spelled it out. “And then they spin it and he says he was just sarcastic and then you guys will say this in his defense: ‘Are you blame him for what these guys did?’ Here's the answer. Yes,” he shouted. “And I'll tell you why. Because it becomes saleable because of his suggestion.”
But peddling bleach-based medical quackery was the specially of Fredo’s wife.
According to HuffPost, Cristina's cures for COVID included “a ‘body charger’ borrowed from a friend that sends electrical frequencies through the body, a vitamin drip done by a doctor who makes house calls to the Hamptons and what appears to be billions of milligrams of vitamins.”
“Both days, I added 1/2 cup of Clorox to my bathwater to combat the radiation and metals in my system and oxygenate it,” Cristina was quoted as writing. It was something even Clorox’s website warned against doing.
Ignoring how he initially talked about Trump and injecting disinfectant, Fredo staunchly defended his wife’s nonscientific technique and insisted drinking it was the problem. “And I'm not talking about a cap full in a bathtub that's been a remedy for ages. This is about drinking this stuff, okay,” he shrieked.
If only his wife was using just a cap full; by her writing, she was using half a cup. And who knows how many people she influenced to do the same.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo PrimeTime
July 9, 2020
9:57:36 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: I just reminded you of when President Trump floated the idea of injecting disinfectants to knock out coronavirus. And, you know, everybody was like, “oh, he's just kidding, he's just being sarcastic.”
Listen, he wasn't being sarcastic until he got caught saying something stupid. And the problem is when a president speaks, even Trump, people listen. The proof? Tonight's Ameri-can'ts, okay? They have taken full advantage of that ridiculous and dangerous notion to cash in, and people were buying it and taking it with lethal results.
The feds say a Florida father and three sons tried to -- tried to pass off what they call a “toxic bleach” as a, quote, “miracle mineral solution for coronavirus.” They're now criminally charged, accused of selling the modern-day snake oil through their so-called “religious organization.” Prosecutors say the family sold tens of thousands, tens of thousands of bottles of that crap with no government approval of any kind. The FDA has gotten reports of life-threatening injuries and, yes, deaths from people taking this cocktail. All right?
And this isn't the family's first go-around either at the at-home pharmacy game. They've also claimed this miracle batch could cure cancer, Alzheimer's, autism, HIV/AIDS and more. This is the kind of pernicious evil scam that can flourish when those in power feed the ignorance over the facts of science.
When you make it about what you want people to believe instead of what they should know to be true, things get dangerous. We tell you don't be a sucker, but that message is hard to sell when it's set up against the most powerful man in the world saying the opposite.
And then they spin it and he says he was just sarcastic and then you guys will say this in his defense. “Are you blame him for what these guys did?” Here's the answer. Yes!
And I'll tell you why. Because it becomes saleable because of his suggestion. If the President doesn't tell you that this is something you can do, it's really less likely that you're going to think about drinking bleach. And I'm not talking about a cap full in a bathtub that's been a remedy for ages. This is about drinking this stuff, okay? If he doesn't say stupid things, if he doesn't ignore the truth, if he doesn't avoid the reality, we're in a different place.
Thank you for watching.
