It’s unfortunate that CNN Prime Time host Chris Cuomo had contracted the coronavirus and had to be quarantined in his basement. But it was only a matter of time before he and the network exploited it to bash President Trump. They made their move on Wednesday when they used Cuomo’s diagnosis to dredge up the long-debunked claim that the President had called the virus a “hoax.” He even went to a disgustingly dark place and suggested that we might not survive with Trump leading the country.
At the end of the program, Cuomo decided to talk about the struggles he had with the symptoms overnight (extreme shivering and hallucinations). It was then that he exploited his condition.
“I wish had gotten this virus a month ago,” he proclaimed. “And I'll tell you why. I wish I would have had it then so I could have told you then this is no joke. We are sleeping on something, and it is a mistake. And I would have had a different platform to jump on the President playing it as a hoax and playing politics with this.” In reality, the only people playing politics with the virus were on the left.
As honest fact-checkers could attest to, the only thing President Trump referred to as a “hoax” in regards to the virus was the Democratic and liberal media narrative that he wasn’t taking it seriously.
Explaining why he keeps lying about what the President said, Cuomo falsely suggested the President wasted time. “One of the reasons we keep going back to that time is because it's so painful that we blew our best chance. That's why we keep going back to it. Especially when the President's inability to own it makes a journalist, makes a conscientious person suspect that he'd do the same thing again,” he said.
Cuomo then went beyond even hyperbole and told his audience that he didn’t know if we could survive the crisis with Trump at the helm. “And we can't tolerate it a second time. Literally, I don't know that we survive.”
The lies about Trump calling the virus a hoax was brought up again, a few minutes later, during the handoff to CNN Tonight host Don Lemon, who reiterated Cuomo’s self-righteous claim that he wishes he could have gotten the virus sooner:
And as you said, you, you know, you got it. But you wished that if you were going to get it that you would have gotten it sooner so that you would have known what people were going through and you could have called the President out in real-time and said, “Hey, mister, this is no hoax, this is no Democratic hoax, no matter how you try to describe it, whether you're saying it's a Democratic hoax -- the Democrats trying to take you down or the media's trying to take you down.”
“That's not what's happening here. This is absolutely 100 percent real,” Lemon chided.
Even with his suggestion that they wanted Trump and the administration to do well against the virus, Lemon insisted that they needed to say he wasted valuable time. “We hope this President does well. We hope the administration does well. We hope the leaders do well. That's why it's important we hold them to account. We cannot forget the time that we lost. The time that we lost was so critical and so important.”
This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
April 1, 2020
9:55:40 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: So, here's what I've learned. I wish had gotten this virus a month ago. And I'll tell you why. I wish I would have had it then so I could have told you then this is no joke. We are sleeping on something, and it is a mistake. And I would have had a different platform to jump on the President playing it as a hoax and playing politics with this.
Because that time – One of the reasons we keep going back to that time is because it's so painful that we blew our best chance. That's why we keep going back to it. Especially when the President's inability to own it makes a journalist, makes a conscientious person suspect that he'd do the same thing again. You see what I'm saying? And we can't tolerate it a second time. Literally I don't know that we survive.
And if I had gotten it sooner, I would have been able to explain, I think more directly, the vulnerability we face. Because what do we know now a month later? Families are being isolated, separated, devastated. I mean, to hear, you know, young Vargas just lost his husband. He died in his arms.
And, look, we're not doing enough, and you know it. And it is tough for all of us and it's tough for our leaders. There is a helplessness. Even among those who are in control, and it is instructive to see that even when I see it in my own brother.
(…)
CNN Tonight
10:02:39 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: It's crazy. And your point about -- been making the same point. We cannot forget. Listen, we have to move on. We hope this President does well. We hope the administration does well. We hope the leaders do well. That's why it's important we hold them to account. We cannot forget the time that we lost. The time that we lost was so critical and so important.
And as you said, you, you know, you got it. But you wished that if you were going to get it that you would have gotten it sooner so that you would have known what people were going through and you could have called the President out in real-time and said, “Hey, mister, this is no hoax, this is no Democratic hoax, no matter how you try to describe it, whether you're saying it's a Democratic hoax -- the Democrats trying to take you down or the media's trying to take you down.” That's not what's happening here. This is absolutely 100 percent real.
(…)
