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Chris Cuomo
This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online, and more personal info in places that could expose you to identity theft. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, their US based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com podcast terms apply. Don't fall for it. These analyses from the Democrats and from the Trumpers about what President Biden just did with this pardon, they're all playing to their advantage, but not to yours. And there's stuff you have to know because President Biden just gave us a path going forward that you may or may not like. Chris. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. And he pardons his son Hunter. I believe he will also pardon his brother if he's gonna be consistent. Why are people upset? The Democrats are upset. I would suggest for the wrong reason. No one's above the law that. Listen, pardons have always existed, okay? There was a whole debate with Madison and George Mason about whether or not we should even have them. You can go Google that in your own time. I don't think it's really instructive of where we are now, but obviously there's always been concern that this feels like a king's power, you know, the ability to decide who is and is not subject to the laws of the land. It's kind of scary. I don't know why they gave it to him, but I get the arguments, and so can you if you Google them. Any way you look at it, we are where we are. Presidents have the ability to pardon. Happens all the time. There's controversy about it all the time now. Not usually like this one. Why? Because it doesn't usually involve family. Okay, well, Clinton pardoned his brother. Roger Clinton, half brother. All right, so what makes this different? Well, we haven't seen one like it since Nixon. Ford pardoned Nixon for a period of his presidency. Why? To stop people from just keeping a. Dig in on it and dig in on it. You know, we. We get what it was. He's been held responsible. He's out. Let's move forward. And I think Ford made the right call. Very often, the people who are saying, no, we need accountability, really want vengeance and advantage, okay? They don't really want the truth. They don't really want the consequence because they were often themselves involved in things that were certainly suspect. Now that's absolutely true with the Trump folk. And Biden wants to protect his son from what he believes is coming from them, probably through Congress, maybe through the doj, but it's also going to involve his brother. So how does he not pardon his brother? I believe that's why he just pardoned Hunter. Now people are saying, why didn't he wait? Because he's got the brother and he didn't want to do both as once. Because then it looks like a real cover up for him. Now it maybe is. Why? Because like that Nixon pardon, it's for a period of 10 years that brackets when Hunter got into the Burisma board and all that business. So this was a cover your ass. The noble part is he's protecting his son. The IG noble part, ignoble, is that he's protecting himself. And neither of those things really matter to me because there's no way you're a Trumper and you're bothered by that because Trump does the same things. That's just the truth. He pardoned people that shouldn't have been pardoned. If you care about law and order and you can say no, they should have never been, hey, you say you won't answer a subpoena and there is no privilege and the laws have been exercised and adjudicated and found that way, and you do it anyway. You are doing what you were charged with doing and you should be punished. That's the system. But he pardoned them anyway. Why? Because it works for him. Just like what Biden just did. But Biden just did something else and it's a real problem. Biden said he's pardoning his son. Not because of what I just said, which he could have, or he could have said nothing, but he said what? This is prosecutorial overreach. They made cases they don't usually make and they did it because it's my son. So your DOJ on your watch did these things. And with that single stroke of trying to create some kind of bullshit high ground for what he was doing, he completely validated Trump's whole BS theory about the deep state. Just like that. How are the Democrats supposed to push back against Trump and whatever he has his band of merry men and women do to supposedly clean up law fare when you just admitted it's real. Now, who knew that Biden was going to say this and was okay with it? Did he really keep it that close that nobody knew? No other Democrat got eyes of this and said, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's this prosecutorial overreach? Thing. If that's true. Wow, is that party in trouble. Boy, did Biden fuck you sideways. But even more scary is if it's not true, and they did know he was going to say this, it was not necessary. Now, was it true? My take? Yeah, it is true. Just like those New York cases against Trump. No, not all the cases. Not the Eugene Carroll case that had a jury that went through and they made their finding. Not the Georgia case. I think it's legit, by the way. Not the documents case. You know, everyone's saying, oh, no, that was thrown out. Yeah, by a crooked judge. As far as I'm concerned, Judge Cannon, Trump set that whole thing up. They begged him to give the documents back. They begged for it to be a nice way. He wanted the confrontation. It worked for him. It worked on some of you to make him look like a victim. They raided me. They didn't raid shit. They did this as nice as they possibly could when he was obviously and intentionally messing with them because he wanted the conflict. Now, that's not the case with all the cases. Those New York cases were not cases that you see as high policy, high value cases that they make all the time for the same reasons they made with Trump. The guy campaigned on going after Trump, all right? I mean, so did the AG of New York, basically. And then they did exactly that. So how much do you have to connect the dots? Those cases were weak. Well, he was keeping two sets of books. Look, business has a lot of stuff to it that smells a little bad, but it doesn't get prosecuted. Not like this. Not the way they did it. Same thing with the payment thing. Really? You're going to hold him criminally responsible for paying people to be quiet about his personal life? Really? And that's not law fare. But what happened with your son, which looks just like that at best. He didn't fill out the gun form. Right. They make that case when you then get the gun and do something with it and it compounds the wrong. This is not. Oh, well, we have such a gun problem in America. Really? Republicans are going to say that this was the right case to make because he didn't fill out the form. Right. Because now they're concerned about who gets guns in America. Come on. And the tax case, again, I felt the same way about Michael Cohen. Nobody lost money, he paid it back. There will be penalties. That happens all the time with tax cases. They keep it civil, literally and figuratively. This one goes criminal wife. I think it was because it was him. That's lawfare. That's a political overlay to a prosecution. And justice is supposed to be blind. And I don't think it is. I think it has like 2016 vision in some of these cases. But by Biden saying that that's what this was, which is absurd on its face, because what you're trying to protect him from involves you, too, and your brother, and it's on your watch. Now, what I thought was weird is that he said he wouldn't pardon his son in the first place so many times. No one's above the law. No one's above the law. No one's above. So why would he say that? Well, he thought he was going to win, so he didn't have to worry about it being, you know, personal in terms of being vindictive against his son. And two, I think he thought his son was going to beat the case. He was wrong about both, so he changed his opinion. Why? Since when is Joe Biden this paragon of integrity? The man's been in this business a long time. That tells you something right there. But he's had plenty of problems when it comes to speaking the truthy. So this always said his word is his bond. Republicans are now into integrity and telling the truth. Really? And they back Trump? Come on, it's just bullshit. They're just playing to advantage. They should just receive the gift. The gift is that he just validated the motive that you need to do the darkest deed that people suspect you may want to do, which is to go after the investigators. And I hope they don't. Why? Ah, that is the main reason I wanted to talk to you today. 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Definitely thickens it up. I like it. Every month after, you're going to get an amazing free gift with your order, so go to Everyday Dose d o s e.com Chris, you get 25% off, plus five free gifts with your first order. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from. Get Maine Lobster. Oh, the holidays. It's all about making them special, right? Well, what's more special when it comes to looking down at that plate than getting Maine lobster? I'll paint you a picture. It's Christmas Eve and all through the house. No, none of that. Certainly not a. You find a mouse in my house, you know where you're gonna find it? On a glue trap. But I'll tell you, here's what you will find A table filled with people talking about why they love each other, talking about what's good, laughing about what's not, and enjoying food. Especially to an Italian American family. Man, we love it. And I gotta tell you, you crack open a fresh, sweet lobster, especially like us, we're all water people. What's better than getting a taste that takes you straight to the coast of Maine? Get main. Lobster has everything you need. Lobster rolls, lobster tails, whole lobster feast. I feel like Bubba Gump. Plus, as a listener of the Chris Cuomo project, you get 15% off all orders. Store wide with the promo code Cuomo. That's right. 15% off the freshest lobster you'll find anywhere. So this season, create new memories. Make it extra special by adding a touch of Maine to your holiday table. Visit getmainlobster.com use the promo code Cuomo and you'll get 15% off all orders today. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from Cozy Earth. Look, I use the bedding, okay? I even have a set of the jammies. I'm not a big jammies guy like Greg Ott is. He has all these different jammies with footies and all these things. Not my thing, but they are really cozy and I wear them around the house. And the sheets are just no joke. You want your Cozy Earth pajamas by Christmas, you better order by December 13th. And by the way, you'll get free shipping. Oh, no, I missed it. You can still get expedited shifting until December 20th. That way you get in there in time. Don't wait. Go to cozy earth.com Chris. Use my exclusive code. Chris. You can get up to 40% off. That's crazy. Give the gift of luxury this season. Okay, it's the holidays. Do it right. Cozy earth.com Chris if you get a post purchase survey, please tell Cozy Earth that you heard about them from the Chris Cuomo Project podcast. It'll help us keep doing business. Why did the Democrats lose? Why is Trump Teflon? Why do people not trust any institution? Why are we so divided? Why do we see consume consumed with the negative? Now, is there one answer to all of this? No. Jordan Peterson's right. Beware single factor explanations to complex situations. But, but, but, but. What does it all have in common? We have given up in our public life. And what matters most in our personal life? What matters most in your personal life? Well, if you're like me, whether it comes to family, kids, your personal self, it's all about getting better, right? It's all about being better. How do I get to be a better person? How do I get to be less of a dick? How do I get to be better to my kids? How do I get to be better than my partner? How do I get to be better at work? How do I get to be better to my friends? How I get to be better than myself? Right? The self help industry is huge. All of us are working on ourselves all the time. Not in our public life. Nobody wants to be better. They just want advantage. And that advantage is most often claimed on the basis of someone or something being worse, not better. Now you can say, well, that's tomato, tomato. Because if it's worse than I'm bet. No, no. Why? Well, let's say you take frozen poop and fresh poop, they're both poop. One probably smells worse than the other. Does that make the one that doesn't smell as bad better? No. Why? Because it's not in the realm of good, it's in the realm of bad. And that's where we are in our public life. No one's trying to be better. Certainly not Trump. I've never seen anybody win with a campaign that was as relentlessly negative. I mean, even MAGA is inherently reductive as a premise. It means that we are not great. It's the only person I've ever seen get elected to be president in this country who openly says America's not a great place. Never seen anything like it. The only people I've ever seen campaign like that in the past were like, people who were militant lefty radicals who were like, you know, saying America sucks for whatever reason and we gotta. And they never had any chance. Why? Because people want people who love their country People want people who say good things about their country. But now nobody wants to be better. And that is the root cause of why the Democrats lost. Because what they did was they made a tactical error of thinking that Trump. Trump is disliked by so many that that's enough to beat the movement that was behind him. And that was a mistake. And that's why Democrats stayed home. They stayed home because they were not motivated by what Democrats need the most to believe. Reason to believe in something better. How do I know this? I study it. My father literally wrote the book on it called Reason to Believe. And it is all about how the Democratic Party works when it's at its best. And look, we know this is hard. We know that's why it's so easy to default to the negative and to division. That's why the Greeks gave us the word demagogue. But no positive opposite, because that is a minted, time tested way to galvanize support, be a demagogue, to work off prejudice and anger. But what we need to do if we want to get to a better place, and boy, do I. And I don't care who it is. I don't think it's going to be Trump. I do believe that overall he would want to be loved. I don't think he is set out or even built to be someone who's feared. He's sought popularity his whole life, but I think that he feels that he's been rejected by all. So he needs to just play to some, and that's why he's playing as the burn it down guy. But it's not about him. It's about the majority. It's about the rest of us. It's about people who decide to. You know, it's like when you've had a really bad breakup, somebody's really hurt you, and you decide to love again, you decide to put yourself back out there. That's where we are. And we have to believe in better again. Now, look, I know a lot of Trump voters will say, well, that's why I voted for him. I wanted to get it better. I don't think so. I don't think he's really promising things that are better. He's just picking targets that you like to attack. Transgender. What you see is some kind of perverse sense of value shifts. He's going to attack what you're afraid of. It's different than better. Well, you can say, well, the net effect will be that life will be better. My life will be better because I will be free of these Threats, maybe, but it's still an inherently negative proposition. And so it's playing off your fear, not of your hope. He didn't win this by saying, I can find a way for your kid to do better than you, that I know a way for us to have it so that we're not all getting crushed by a house and a health insurance payment. I know how to do it right. Nobody really focuses on that. Why? Because the other stuff is easier. But what Biden surrendered with this one gesture. And by the way, again, could I be wrong? Sure, it happens with stunning frequency. But I don't understand pardoning his son and not pardoning his brother, unless he just wants to watch his brother get his ass kicked. And then maybe him too, by the way, because nobody's pardoning him. And the reason I said he should pardon Trump is not because I've been red pilled or I'm a closet Trumper. You people are nuts. But because if you believe what you said, which is that there was prosecutorial overreach with your son, then pardon Trump, say it all has to stop. And I don't believe that he is blameless or not guilty of certain things, but I do believe that it has helped rip our country apart. And I believe we need to focus on what matters more. And that's not about saying that someone is above the law. It's about saying that something matters more than the political advantage that comes about through these prosecutions, that there are things that matter more in our society and problems that need our attention and our effort that are bigger than what phone call he made in Georgia or what he did with the documents or what he did with women that he's paying or what he did with his books. We have bigger problems. And I'm not saying he's immunity. I'm not saying he's above the law. Prosecutors make decisions about the interest of justice and whether to pursue cases all the time, as do judges. Biden can do the same with his pardon power and say, we've got to get past this. Now, I believe, and people will disagree with this, that this would actually trigger Trump to not want the vengeance path because he only cares about himself. And if he's getting what he wants for himself, then he doesn't give a shit about who around him wants. Whatever, whatever. He would then maybe seek advantage for himself somewhere else. Immigration, something economic, something he could do abroad, something where he could be seen as great. He's got to know that he's not going to get there just by investigating his enemies. That's not greatness. That doesn't put you on Mount Rushmore. The guys who are on Mount Rushmore aren't there because who they went after, it's what they built, not what they tore down. Think about it. Washington and Lincoln, what are they known for, right? Franklin and Hamilton, what are they known for? Who of those guys are known for what they destroyed or who they prosecuted or who they chased after? Or who. So if you want to be one of those guys, if that's your ambition, you better do something great. And that requires consensus and building something. And also would be an echo that Biden was telling the truth about what he believes to be a problem with his son, that it was politicized prosecutions, which I think is a huge problem and I think his party is guilty of it. Not across the board. You know, not everything's gotta be a tweet of something that is super tight and totally one way, right? Two things can be true at the same time. Context matters, subtlety matters, even in this stupid brain rotation world that we live in. He should not have explained the pardon that way. I don't think he believes that there is prosecutorial overreach. I think he wants to believe that about his son, that they made cases they shouldn't have made. But I don't know how you believe that and don't believe it about some of the stuff with Trump when it looks and smells the same. And also if you really felt that, then you just pardon him for what he was convicted of or you wait and you commute the sentence. Now I don't think he could do that because he'd be out of office. So you would just pardon him for what he was convicted of? That's not what he did. He bracketed it with a 10 year period to insulate him from anything they may look at during that time. Why? Same thing with Nixon. He didn't want them to dig anymore on the Sun. Why? So he must know they're going to find something, right? I don't think that that's necessarily true. Now you'll roll your eyes if you're a Trumper. And again, you know, I'll give it right back. Fuck me. Fuck you. Right? Like you know, you don't want to buy into anything but what you believe already. Fine, fuck me. Fuck you. That's how we got here. That's how we decided to just abandon anything better than what we already know. Confirmation bias. Stick to your silos. Everything's a boogeyman. Everything's bad. Everybody's out to get you. Everything's exaggerated. Trump can't just be a jerk. It's got to be that he's an autocrat. It can't just be that he's going to talk shit and try to investigate, dig up dirt on the people who went after him. It's got to be that the Constitution is going to be destroyed. Destroyed. You know, Harris, I see these assholes on social media saying, oh, this is what Kamala Harris is going to do. What's happening in South Korea now? Oh, why don't you just say, she wants to eat babies heads. Oh, I'm sorry, you already did say that. That was Pizzagate, right? Think about how fucked up it is that I know that you know what Pizzagate is. Who will be better? Who will become interested in better. You focus on it everywhere else in your life, but not in our public life. It's all about which one is worse. And again, we feed into it on every level. How is the media vetting Trump's choices? Dirt Heg Seth. Drank Heg Seth. Sex Heg Seth, this. Oh, but he was removed from this. And then you're not really digging into the particulars of why they were removed. You're not really getting behind what his mom's email was about and judging and trying to keep her son on a path that she wants for him in light of things that he was doing with his marriage or whatever that she didn't like. No, but we don't care about any of that. It's just a great gotcha. Now, I'm not saying Hegseth is the right choice or a good choice. I don't really care about the judgment that much if it's not something that's really material to his ability to do the job. It's just relentless negativity and trying to tear people down. And that's why our best men and women don't want to be within a mile of Washington, D.C. because they're going to have a team of people like me trying to find any kind of shit on them from whatever ever. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from AG1. Listen, I use it because it works. One and done. Take a scoop. I put it in some warm water. You can put it in whatever you want. I drink it and that's it. Not multiple bottles, not which do I take when, at what time of day. They put the research in, they put in the R and D. They have the technology, they have the science. That's why I trust AG1. That's why I've been a partner with them from jump and that's why I'd love to do more. They sent me a hat. That's a good start this new year. Try AG1 for yourself. It's the perfect time to start a new health. Have it. And that's why I've been partnering with AG1 for so long. AG1 is offering new subscribers a free $76 gift when you sign up. 76 bucks? What are you going to get? Welcome kit, bottle of D3K2 and five free travel packs in that box. So make sure to check out drinkag1.com CCP Chris Cuomo Project to get this offer. That's drinkag1.com CCP to store your new year on a healthier note. This episode is brought to you by Etsy. Oh, hear that? Okay, thank you. Etsy knows these aren't the sounds of holiday gifting. Well, not the ones you're hoping for. You want squeals of delight, happy tears? How did you. And spontaneously written songs of joy. I am so happy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Um, okay, the song needs a bit of work, but anyway, to get those reactions, make sure everyone on your list feels heard with handmade, handpicked and designed gifts from small shops on Etsy. Gifts like personalized jewelry, custom artwork, cozy style items, vintage pieces, and home decor to celebrate all of your favorite people and their specific kind of special. For original gifts that say I get you, Etsy has it. You know, one of Trump's guys made a suggestion to me that on one level is frightening, but on another level is enlightening. I don't agree, but it's interesting. So I'll lay it out to you. There is an idea floating around about this, investigating the investigators that extends to the media. And when people go after Trump or have gone after Trump, they want to go after those people and investigate their personal lives with the same rigor that the reporters do. Now, is that fair? My default is no. And don't say, oh, yeah, it's because you're a reporter and you look, I've had it done to me. What I'm saying is these are not elected positions. Reporters did not ask for a position of, you know, of your power of agency over your power. Now, this is, it's not a 100% zero argument, right? Because it's kind of a. It is a position of trust. You are asking for it. You're. You are asking for people's belief and for their attention. So you are asking for something. It's not like you're a bus driver, you know, you're, you're not, you know, just running a business. But think about that. Putting together some kind of government agency or whatever, or political apparatus. I don't know what it would be where you write a piece that attacks Hegseth. I want to know about your private life. What would that do? Well, outwardly you'd say, well, it's going to have a chilling effect. People aren't going to want to report on people and tell things that they think. You know, what's really interesting about it is that on one level, I totally agree. Right? Yeah, it's going to be a problem for a free press. But on another level, boy, it would really make people think about what they decide to pursue about people, wouldn't it? If you knew that people were going to come for you the way you were coming for them, would it make you more selective in the kinds of criticism, the kinds of things you reported on, the kinds of things you discussed, the kinds of things you made important? Would you start focusing less on how you destroy people and more on how things get made better? Maybe. I don't know if it's worth the price of chilling the way it would, but would it be chilling for the right reasons or the right way? Now, the reason I bring it up is one, I was kind of surprised when the guy told me about it. But also, I don't think it's going to happen. But I don't even know how it would happen. But I thought it was interesting. And I thought it was interesting because I don't see the logic of it being followed through with what they want to do by going after the investigators, because they just want to punish people for why they came after them. And I don't think it's going to lead anywhere. I don't know what kind of case you would make. Even if somebody knew that the dossier was unprocessed, unvetted information, open source information even. And where's the malice? It's kind of like Trump. If Trump believed that he won the election, even though everything indicates that he didn't, can you really punish him for how he felt and what he did in furtherance with that? I don't know. I don't think so. So what's it really about? It's about vengeance. It's not about being better. And I really believe that we have to tap back into what we focus on everywhere else in our lives. I mean, we've joked about this before on the pod. If your kid came home and Said, I got a 70. And let's say your kid's not a dope, okay? And you're like, 70. Well, Johnny got a 66. Oh, well, never mind. Mac and cheese. It is no right. But that's what we're doing in our politics. Nobody is pressing for better. Now. Part of it is you've been disappointed, you're heartbroken. They just do bad shit all the time and they disappoint you all the time, and it's something you want to turn off. You want to be away from it. But I think what you ignore, you empower and that we have led ourselves to this place. I know that you want to be absented from responsibility. I know you want to blame other people. That's easy. But it doesn't really work anywhere else in your life, does it? You don't control a lot of what happens, but you control how you react to it. And we have not reacted to this shit well. And I'm not saying that because Trump won. I'm saying because why he won. All we know for sure is what he's against, not what he's for, how things are going to be made better. And I think there's a tremendous opportunity in that for us, for the Democrats, for the Republicans, who will be about better and not, as some twist of this is so fucked up, I'm going to fix it. How? What makes it better, not just you exposing why it's wrong and blaming somebody for it. What Biden did with this pardon is he let it be known that he believes that the problem is as Trump describes it, which is what his party had been saying all along wasn't true. And that's why they don't like the pardon. But it's also not their kid. It's also not their ass if it were. Oh, but we expect more from him than just to be a good dad. He's a president. He's a steward of all our things. He's a human being is what he is. And he's going to cover his ass and he's going to take care of his own. And that's obvious to all of you. That's how you operate in your own life. And I'm not saying that you would do something illegal for your own. I'm saying that you will do something within your rights because you can and it will protect your own. You really believe Trump's not going to pardon any of his own? Not his son? I don't know. The Democrats get back into power and start chasing his sons, you don't think that they pardon them. Of course he would. But you'd be okay with that if you're a Trump person. See, that's the problem. You're not about better, you're just about which is worse. And a relativism that is taking us nowhere but down. And that's what Biden did with this pardon. It's not about protecting his son. It's not about no one's above the law. It's not about that. It's that you looked at the situation and said this was dirty pool. And that means dirty pool exists. And that is exactly Trump's theory. And you open the door to it now, they're going to walk right through. And that's what your party's pissed off about. But they never had the high ground, because they're not about better. They're about why Trump is worse. And I'm telling you, I know I'm right about this. And that's why I'm so enthusiastic about the independent movement, about being free agents and critical thinkers. That's why I sell the gear that we use for charity. Why? Because that is the way to better. Independents are not tied to fealty of party. They're tied to progress. Being a critical thinker, not letting silos and podcasts or people tell you what to believe based on a little bit of information. All these people who want to discuss things like everything about the pandemic was wrong and fixed to hurt us and control us, and they're like comedians telling you this. They're not about better. We're not about better. I'm not about better. But I think that the best way to put it is nothing changes if nothing changes and this change is right there for the taking. Start focusing on who is saying what will make it better, who has ideas about better, who is talking about themselves in ways that are holding them to a different standard. That is better. That's the problem with what Biden just did. It reinforces that it's about which is worse, not about anything better. But Biden didn't just distinguish himself by being better in any way. He's just a version of what's wrong. And that is why people were not so quick to dismiss Trump as you on the left are, because they don't see you as so great. Oh, yeah, but we're better than him. No, you may not be as bad, but you're a reflection of how everything is getting worse. What do you think the good news is? There is better to be had. There is better to be seen. There is better to be achieved. There is better in terms of our conversation, in terms of our dialogue and how we carry ourselves and what we expect of people and how we judge them. It's right there. So let's get after it. I'm Chris Palmo. Thank you very much for subscribing and following. If you like the POD but you don't like the ads, subscribe to the substack. Five bucks a month. I use the money, help people get treatment for long Covid if they can't afford it. My long Covid doctor is there talking about longevity and what we're doing to try to treat me. That's why I'm all flushed up. It's histamine response for my long Covid. And that's why I do the philosophical walk and talks. It's because I want to help you get to a better place, even if I'm not able to help myself. I'll see you at News Nation, 8p and 11p every weekday night. Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to talk about what matters with you. Let's get after it.
The Chris Cuomo Project: Episode Summary
Title: Chris Cuomo on the Political Fallout of Hunter Biden’s Pardon
Host: Chris Cuomo
Release Date: December 5, 2024
In this episode, Chris Cuomo delves into the controversial pardon granted by President Joe Biden to his son, Hunter Biden. Cuomo examines the implications of this decision, comparing it to historical presidential pardons and analyzing the ensuing political fallout.
Cuomo begins by addressing the immediate reaction to President Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden:
“He pardons his son Hunter. I believe he will also pardon his brother if he's gonna be consistent.” [00:02:15]
He emphasizes that presidential pardons are a long-standing power, referencing historical debates:
“Pardons have always existed... There was a whole debate with Madison and George Mason about whether or not we should even have them.” [00:03:45]
Cuomo draws parallels between Biden’s pardon and past presidential actions:
“We haven't seen one like it since Nixon. Ford pardoned Nixon for a period of his presidency.” [00:05:30]
He suggests that, like Ford’s pardon of Nixon, Biden’s move may serve to close ongoing investigations:
“This was a cover your ass. The noble part is he's protecting his son. The ignoble part is that he's protecting himself.” [00:07:10]
Discussing the reactions from both Democrats and Republicans, Cuomo notes the strategic maneuvers:
“The Democrats are upset. I would suggest for the wrong reason.” [00:04:20]
He argues that Biden’s pardon undermines efforts to hold officials accountable, aligning with Republican accusations of a “deep state”:
“With Biden saying that that's what you were trying to protect him from involves you, too, and your brother, and it's on your watch.” [00:10:50]
Cuomo critiques the Democratic Party’s approach, suggesting they failed to inspire voters with a positive vision:
“They made a tactical error of thinking that Trump is disliked by so many that that's enough to beat the movement that was behind him.” [00:23:15]
He contrasts this with the Republican focus on negativity, arguing that neither party is emphasizing improvement:
“No one's trying to be better. Certainly not Trump. I've never seen anybody win with a campaign that was as relentlessly negative.” [00:19:40]
The host explores the relationship between political figures and media investigations:
“These are not elected positions. Reporters did not ask for a position of, you know, of your power of agency over your power.” [00:31:00]
Cuomo questions the fairness of investigating journalists to retaliate against political adversaries:
“If you knew that people were going to come for you the way you were coming for them, would it make you more selective in the kinds of criticism, the kinds of things you reported on?” [00:34:25]
A significant portion of the discussion centers on the pervasive negativity in political discourse:
“In our public life, nobody is trying to be better. Certainly not Trump... It's all about which one is worse.” [00:40:10]
Cuomo emphasizes the lack of a positive, forward-thinking agenda in both major parties:
“We have given up in our public life. And what matters most in your personal life? What matters most in your personal life? Well, if you're like me, whether it comes to family, kids, your personal self, it's all about getting better, right?” [00:42:50]
Concluding his analysis, Cuomo advocates for a shift towards positive change and consensus-building:
“We need to focus on who is saying what will make it better, who has ideas about better, who is talking about themselves in ways that are holding them to a different standard.” [00:55:35]
He urges listeners to prioritize constructive dialogue and progressive actions over partisan conflicts:
“There is better to be had. There is better to be seen. There is better to be achieved.” [00:58:20]
Cuomo wraps up the episode by reiterating the necessity for positive leadership and critical thinking in overcoming political divisions:
“If you want to be one of those guys, if that's your ambition, you better do something great. And that requires consensus and building something.” [00:60:45]
He encourages listeners to engage with independent perspectives and support initiatives aimed at fostering improvement:
“The best way to put it is nothing changes if nothing changes and this change is right there for the taking.” [00:62:10]
This episode of The Chris Cuomo Project provides a critical analysis of President Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden, exploring its historical context, political ramifications, and the broader implications for American political culture. Cuomo calls for a shift away from negativity and partisan conflict towards positive, consensus-driven leadership to address the nation's pressing issues.