During their infamous handoff, CNN Tonight host Don Lemon claimed during Tuesday's installment that "no one ever talks about CPAC." And suggested it was just a "creation" and "obsession" of the media. But Prime Time host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo took things to a dark place after tagging in, claiming CPAC attendees were a "coven" thinking up "wicked" and "magical" "ways to kill their opponents.” Cuomo even advocated for domestic spying operations.
After the duo got done bashing Texas and Republican Governor Greg Abbott for reopening the Lone Star State, Cuomo took to comparing the situation to CPAC in a negative way. “We just saw it this weekend at that coven of all of these kind of wicked ideas of what is happening in society,” he said.
Lemon was inspired by his friend and went off about how no one he knew and supposedly no one important talked about CPAC:
I have been here for what, 14, 15 years, so a long time at CNN. And not once, and I have been covering international news for over a decade, here at CNN, going on two decades. Who knows.
I’ve never heard on the street, anybody in my personal life, Democrat or Republican saying, “oh, my gosh, I’ve to -- the CPAC. I can't wait to hear the speeches at CPAC. CPAC--” No one ever talks about CPAC, but every single media station covers CPAC, and it is the extreme of the extreme.
Most of the sensible Republicans that I know don't go to CPAC conference, they don't even pay attention to the CPAC conference. I think it’s simply a creation and an obsession with the media about the CPAC conference.
“No one gives a crap,” he exclaimed, effectively betraying how ideologically limited his elitist social circles were.
“I wish you were right. It's the pregame show on that show on that side. You don't have a left equivalent. I don't mean disrespect to the different grassroots organizations and issues,” Cuomo lamented in response.
Cuomo built off of himself and claimed, without evidence, that CPAC was a gathering of people plotting to kill Democrats. “It was a coven, they were around talking about Qanon conspiracies and all these lies and magical thinking of ways to kill their opponents,” he sneered.
“My point proven,” Lemon bloviated. He eventually reminisced about his 2018 suggestion that the “biggest terror threat is white men” who were “radicalized to the right.” Of course, he decided to toot his own horn: “And man, I got it.”
Recalling the interview he had just conducted with serial liar Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) during his show, Cuomo argued for the federal government to start spying on Americans, but specifically people on the right:
I get, you know, I had Adam Schiff on tonight, and he a bill on out in 2019 had that his party didn't like either. I get people wanting to go slow about what type of intel operations. The CIA is not supposed to operate here. What you do with Americans. I get it. But when you know they are trying to kill us in organized fashion. The balance has to shift. And now it’s just politics, Don.
“I have never seen us in a more precarious place,” Cuomo declared.
This is CNN.
This disgusting and untrue attack on CPAC attendees was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from General Motors and Liberty Mutual. Their contact information is linked so you can let them know about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN Tonight
March 2, 2021
10:00:32 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: Why lift the restrictions right now? Chris. When we’re finally making some headway. The vaccine is finally starting to get into enough arms that things are starting to turn around, but it's way too early. Why do it now? The only reason I can see is because of what happened in Texas, that someone dropped the ball and they are trying to change the conversation. That’s it, a distraction. That’s how I feel.
CHRIS CUOMO: Well, it's good, you asked the question, you answered it, we are done?
LEMON: I mean for you!
CUOMO: He needed a win. He needed a win. And this is part of this prevailing macho sentimentality, that strong and wrong is the way to go. You know? We are going 100 percent baby, right into the rocks.
(…)
10:02:35 p.m. Eastern
CUOMO: They’re trying to play. We just saw it this weekend at that coven of all of these kind of wicked ideas of what is happening in society.
LEMON: Can I say something, Chris, let me say something about that.
CUOMO: Yes, please.
LEMON: I have been here for what, 14, 15 years, so a long time at CNN. And not once, and I have been covering international news for over a decade, here at CNN, going on two decades. Who knows.
I’ve never heard on the street, anybody in my personal life, Democrat or Republican saying, “oh, my gosh, I’ve to -- the CPAC. I can't wait to hear the speeches at CPAC. CPAC--” No one ever talks about CPAC, but every single media station covers CPAC, and it is the extreme of the extreme.
Most of the sensible Republicans that I know don't go to CPAC conference, they don't even pay attention to the CPAC conference. I think it’s simply a creation and an obsession with the media about the CPAC conference. No one gives a crap.
CUOMO: I wish you were right. It's the pregame show on that show on that side. You don't have a left equivalent. I don't mean disrespect to the different grassroots organizations and issues –
LEMON: You called it a coven, that's what it reminded me of that. But go on, sorry.
CUOMO: It was a coven, they were around talking about Qanon conspiracies and all these lies and magical thinking of ways to kill their opponents.
LEMON: My point proven.
(…)
10:05:02 p.m. Eastern
LEMON: You remember when I called it for what it was a few years ago. And everyone came after me when I talked about domestic terrorism and the right-wing and white terrorists. And man, I got it.
CUOMO: I get, you know, I had Adam Schiff on tonight, and he a bill on out in 2019 had that his party didn't like either. I get people wanting to go slow about what type of intel operations. The CIA is not supposed to operate here. What you do with Americans. I get it. But when you know they are trying to kill us in organized fashion. The balance has to shift. And now it’s just politics, Don. I have never seen us in a more precarious place.
(…)
