With the revelation that federal investigators were looking into New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo’s corruption with state nursing home deaths, and state Democrats setting the stage for a possible impeachment, CNN Prime Time host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo and CNN Tonight host Don Lemon were desperate to make Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s bad optics into a major scandal.
During their Thursday handoff, Lemon looked to corrupt governor's brother and had himself a good schoolgirl giggle while suggesting the Senator should have left Earth with the Mars Perseverance rover, which landed earlier that day:
DON LEMON: You know who should have taken that trip to Mars? [Laughter]
CHRIS CUOMO: Your boy Cruz?
LEMON: It would have been a better trip for him – [laughter] – for him to take. It took just as long for him to hop back on that plane and get back here. I mean, Chris, come on.
Seeing as CNN had recently, and conveniently, banned Fredo from covering his governor brother and his scandal, it allowed him to bash one of his favorite Republicans to stoke hate against.
Of course, Fredo threw a hissy fit because Cruz made an appearance on FNC's Hannity and griped believe his reasoning for going to Cancun, Mexico: “Why not? In our current climate, you know his -- you know the right's going to believe him. You know he's going to go on. He's going to say, ‘I was going to work from home. And how dare they? They don't care about anything. They’re the worst. And the media's the worst.’ And he’s going to get a pass.”
The hypocrisy was palpable when the two of them went back and forth about how much Cruz was allegedly lying (Click “expand”):
CUOMO: Even if he was telling the truth.
LEMON: He’s not telling the truth.
CUOMO: But even if he were. And look – See, this is the problem with where we are; is that you know he's not telling the truth. He knows you know.
LEMON: He knows he knows.
CUOMO: Of course, he knows he’s not telling the truth. But he knows you know. And as long as he does it with a straight face and keeps telling the same story.
It was hypocritical because neither of them ever fact-checked Andrew’s Monday press conference where he lied about where nursing home infections came from, informing state lawmakers about why he was withholding data, and claimed his aide admitting to the cover-up was a conspiracy theory.
Shortly thereafter, Chris started telling lies of his own. According to him, he was “yelled at” by his production team because he didn’t want to spend too much time talking about Cruz during his show. “Why? Because Texas is in so much trouble,” he proclaimed as if he was being a good guy.
We know that’s a lie because Fredo has a personal animus against the Senator. Last fall, Cruz demolished Chris in a 20-minute brawl, even bringing up his brother’s nursing home scandal. Chris also lashed out at Cruz with one of his no-so clever nicknames: COVIDiot. And during his show, he repeatedly brought up Cruz and did a segment about what was going on.
And in the ultimate show of hypocrisy, he got all preachy about how “there’s such myopia” between the left and the right. “If the person's on your team, you have one feeling. If they're on the other team, it's -- you know, it's Thunderdome.”
Fredo’s “COVID brain” must be acting up again.
This deflection away from a real scandal was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from ADT Security Services and Allegra. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN Tonight
February 18, 2021
10:00:44 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: You know who should have taken that trip to Mars? [Laughter]
CHRIS CUOMO: Your boy Cruz?
LEMON: It would have been a better trip for him – [laughter] – for him to take. It took just as long for him to hop back on that plane and get back here. I mean, Chris, come on.
CUOMO: Hey, you want to hear a totally different take?
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: Why not? In our current climate, you know his -- you know the right's going to believe him. You know he's going to go on. He's going to say, “I was going to work from home. And how dare they? They don't care about anything. They’re the worst. And the media's the worst.” And he’s going to get a pass.
LEMON: Yeah. I should show you my text messages from last night because this started breaking and we were trying to get it confirmed during the 11 o’clock show last night. And I said, he's going to say, “I escorted my family there and make sure they were safe, and then I came back.” Then, boom, that's what happened. But it didn’t pan out.
CUOMO: Even if he was telling the truth.
LEMON: He’s not telling the truth.
CUOMO: But even if he were. And look – See, this is the problem with where we are; is that you know he's not telling the truth. He knows you know.
LEMON: He knows he knows.
CUOMO: Of course, he knows he’s not telling the truth. But he knows you know. And as long as he does it with a straight face and keeps telling the same story.
(…)
CUOMO: But I do have to say though. I got yelled at by the team tonight because I was like, “I don't really want to give this that much time.” Why? Because Texas is in so much trouble. They're in a world of fire and ice there now. We showed San Antonio, this apartment complex coming down because they don't have water to fight it. And this guy is just—
LEMON: It’s hypocrisy.
CUOMO: an example. But it's an example of the obvious. Here's what my problem is. I'm telling you, Don, look on social media. If you're on the right, what's the big deal, and then a comma, and then they come right at you. And on the left, they want Cruz out. There's such myopia. If the person's on your team, you have one feeling. If they're on the other team, it's -- you know, it's Thunderdome.
(…)
