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Chris Cuomo
Support comes from Ethos life insurance. Look, if you want to be in the family game, if you want to have responsibility, you've got to take care of those responsibilities. And I know when I say life insurance, a lot of you are going to say, oh, it's a scam. It's expensive, it's too complicated. I get it. That's why you need ethos.com. i wish I had done it sooner. You know, if you're young and healthy, you can get like $2 million in term life insurance for like 2 bucks a day. Go to ethos.come t h o s.com they know how to do. They've been doing it a long time. They have thousands of reviews, overwhelmingly possible. Okay? They have thousands of reviews, overwhelmingly positive. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast, easy. You can do it 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds. Again, if you're young and healthy, you don't need a doctor's appointment. You don't need any of that stuff, the blood tests, same day coverage. Now, what if you're not? What if you can't get 3 million or thereabouts in coverage, same day? You know, 30 bucks a month. Okay. They work with a lot of partners that can help you get what you need, that works with who you are, how you are, and what your budget is. Again, Ethos has 4.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. Over 3,000 reviews. All right, Help protect your family with life insurance through Ethos. Get your instant free', @ethos.com Cuomo E T H O S.com Cuomo application times rates. They're going to vary, but give them a try.
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Are you concerned, Mr. President, about the
Chris Cuomo
latest inflation number which came out this morning? Could that be it?
Interviewer or Guest
No, I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over, you know, I can say it now. Something you didn't know. Do you know we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran. Until right now. Remember when I did this? I said, look, the one bad thing will be we hit the best economy we've ever hit. I said, the one thing we have to do now, we had just hit the highest stock market in history. Highest 401ks in history. Everything was going well. And I said, I hate to do this to you guys, but Iran's going to have a nuclear weapon very soon. We have to go in attack so we hit him with the B2 bombers.
Chris Cuomo
Look, look, I don't even know where to start. Let's just skip to the big point, okay? Inflation is everything. He doesn't love inflation. It's not short term. It goes up like a rocket, comes down like a feather. That's what every economist will tell you, okay? He did this. He didn't have to do it this way. It wasn't the best economy. The stock market is not the main metric, okay? The CPI is the headline cpi, the headline Consumer Price Index. And it is more than double what the Fed estimate was on his watch because of his choices. And it's going to be his ass in the midterms. This is what the midterms will be about, okay? And just in this one clip, okay? They're not about to get a nuclear weapon. They were about to be close to having the capacity to enrich uranium to a weapons grade percentage. It's very different. The IAEA said that, okay? Never said they were weeks away from a weapon. The US Intelligence said that. Never said they were weeks away from a weapon. He chose to do this. Now, you can argue that it was worth doing or not worth doing, but it had a cost. And okay, so he's taking out oil, stealing oil, bringing oil. I don't even know what he's talking about. But even still, the markets are going to take time to recover, all right? And they will not be back by the midterms. And he did this. And the stock market doesn't mean shit to you. Less than half this country has exposure to the stock market, even through 401s. It's gas and groceries. Your ability to save, your purchasing power, what things cost versus what you make, that's everything. And it's all about inflation. And it is a bad story that he made. Bad. He does not love inflation. Well, look, will it start going down when the war's over? Yeah, but that's not him making something good happen. That's him making something bad happen. That's being undone by time and consequence if we can get out of it anytime soon. I'm telling you, if you want to think about how things are going to change in the midterms, if that matters to you, as opposed to just this binary battle to the bottom of which side is worse and how much Trump can be owned. No, I love inflation. I love inflation. I love it. I love the inflation number. They love it. You know why? You know, I. Because, you know, oil's at $85 a barrel. I said to my guys, it's the best economy. You know, I hate to do this to you. To you, to them. What do they care? It's to us that he did it. And it wasn't the best economy, but it was recovering. See, look, you can't have it both ways. It can't be that you came in. You've only been there a year or so, and it was the best economy ever. But Biden had nothing to do with it except to have fucked it up. It doesn't make sense. But inflation makes sense. It makes sense to everybody. You can't jazz me about it. You can't bullshit me. You can't tell me something else matters more. No, it's everything. It affects what I have to pay. My tuitions, my interest, my credit card, everything. My car payment, everything. I can't get a mortgage. I can't refinance. I can't get credit lines for my business. Everything is inflation based. Indexed to inflation. You'll hear all the time. The headline CPI is everything. And it's going to determine the midterms. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. I am Chris Cuomo. Thank you very much for being with me. The midterms are going to come down to one thing. That's it. For all the perfidy, all the drama, all the scandals, all the chaos, the elections, the war, the terror, everything comes down to one thing. This is a rare situation where we know right now what's going to determine the midterms. One thing. Not just economy. Not be. No, not Wall Street, 401k, no one. Inflation. And when I say inflation, they're like six different kinds. Like with unemployment numbers. Unemployment, underemployment, you know, opportunity rate, involvement rate, you know, all these. No one. One thing will determine the midterms, okay? This is what kills Trump inflation, Consumer price index, period, full stop. Look at this graph. You see this? This is the death knell, okay? This is it. This is the kill shot. This is whatever metaphor you want. Over 4%. Inflation, as a buzzword, is hard, but you gotta understand why. Why over 4%? That's not that big a number. If I'm thinking about mortgage rates, that'd be great. The context can kill you here in explaining it and create an opportunity to wiggle out it. But you see this once. Anything that's happening with your pay is eclipsed by what you have to pay. It's over. Because so many families are so close to the margins that as soon as the prices start taking away your purchasing power because pay has not kept up with Them, they'll say, pay is up. Pay is up. There's so many open jobs. Pay is up, but it's not up enough to offset what you're seeing right now. And that is everything. Why the Consumer Price Index? So I prepared all these things for you. The CPI is the most direct indicator of the realities of the broadest cut of expenditures by the most different kinds of people. Individual and family, okay? Food and groceries, gas and transportation, housing and rent, medical care, clothing, utilities, recreation. You know what I mean? It's a basket, all right? That's why the US Bureau of Labor Statistics now, remember? But this, the idea that. Well, and they can't even measure it right now. And they keep getting it wrong. And he cut the funding and the staffing so they can't even measure the data right. And it's taking longer. All true. Doesn't matter. Inflation. Inflation is everything. Stay focused. Oh, no. We've got to own him everywhere. He jinxed the Knicks. Inflation. You want to win elections? You want to win the midterms anywhere with anyone. Inflation. Okay? Inflation is everything. This is why they don't want to talk about it. This is why he distracts from it. This is why they lie about it. It scares them. You want to scare trump? Inflation. Okay? $100 a year ago, $104.20 today. Okay? Now I'll tell you what. This is how it's traditionally done. They do it based off 100. That is not the way to demonstrate this for the American voters, okay? Saying it's higher than ever. Saying that your ability to save is less than ever. The savings rate is so low right now, and we've been traditionally low anyway. But credit card default rates, all the things that go along with this are all related to this borrowing more on the credit side. So expensive that money. Inflation. You see what I'm saying? Gas inflation, gross inflation, purchasing power. Inflation. Worried about being able to send your kid to inflation. A borrowing on your house. Inflation. Interest rates tied to what? Inflation. You see what I'm saying? Inflation is everything.
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Chris Cuomo
Upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to 15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available Taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com. now, it's also really important that you stick with the cpi. Why? Because it's the highest one. It's worse for Trump. I mean, yeah, you can look at it that way if you're just looking at it in terms of who sucks worse. But I'm just saying, as the best baseline, when anyone counters this number with a different number. Oh, yeah, but the wholesale market shows that there's some green shoots. Whatever. Whatever bullshit word salad they throw at you. Headline CPA, CPI. Okay? Headline. Headline CPI. That's what we're talking about. That's the one that's up 4. 2.2%. Okay? That's the highest we've seen in a long time. It's high. Okay? And here's. And again, it matters because it affects everything. The cost of living, adjustments, of course, it's the cost of government and services is gonna go up. The chance they're gonna cut services goes up. Social Security is gonna have to increase the COLA adjustment, which means that what they're gonna wanna cut these services, Medicare, Medicaid, they're gonn. Why? Because of a problem he created. That's why. That's why it's everything. You see what I'm saying? Headline cpi, not core cpi. They'll counter with the core. Why It's a lower number. Why excludes food and energy? Why? Because it doesn't look at short term swings month to month, okay? It's often used by economists to identify longer term inflation trends. No, no, no, no, no, no. Keep it, keep it tight here. Headline cpi. All right, Say it with me. Headline cpi. That's what's going to determine the midterms. All right? So look again. Purchasing power as related to this. That's that graph that I'm showing you. Why? Because if you get a pay raise of 3%, okay, which, you know, standard, okay, that's considered a pay raise, a legit pay raise. But CPI rises at 4.2. You're what, you're 1.2% underwater, you understand? So your purchasing power effectively declined 1.2%. That's the simple math. That's what it is. That's the answer. That's why this is everything, okay? So that's what you need to remember. So now, all right? Everyday necessities will cost more. It will affect the most people in the most ways, all right? It is the biggest read on the economy. More than unemployment, more than wage increase or decrease, anything like that. Savings rate, all of it is inflation based. Everything so when the headline CPI goes everyday necessities cost more, it hits hardest when the biggest household expenses are accounted for. Gas, electricity, food, transportation and housing. Okay? That's everything. Purchasing power falls. So even if the money goes up. Right. Even if you try to counter. Oh, but pay is up because there's so many good jobs out there and we need people. Yeah, but the effect of the pay raise is erased by the inflation. And remember, Trump isn't the reason that wages will go up. That's about scarcity. That's about market dynamics. He is why inflation is going up. And his argument of, yeah, but it's just temporary. Just temporary because I'm fighting against this existential nuclear threat in Iran. No, he isn't. No, he isn't. He's not getting rid of the regime. He's making a deal with a group of people who hate us that are going to break the deal. And they're probably going to get paid off in ways that will still affect the market. Right. Because they're going to still have some throttling of 15 to 25% of the oil and gas and other commodities flows through the strait, which they didn't have before. Right. And there is no existential nuclear threat. They want a bomb. They still want a bomb. He didn't. We weren't weeks away. How do we know? The IAEA didn't say they were weeks away from a weapon. They were weeks away from being able to enrich uranium at a percentage that might give them weapons grade uranium. Very different thing. Why does it matter? They still want it. Because it's about timing. You have a very strained economy and you did something that was going to make it a lot worse and is making it a lot worse. Oh, arthritis. I have arthritis in my shoulder that's affecting my rotator cuff. And then my son hurt my rotator cuff because he's too strong now. He pulled my arm behind me. I'm dealing with. I'm dealing with the pain. And who am I angry at? I'm angry at the pain, but I'm angry at who caused it. Just like will happen in the midterms. Okay? I already had arthritis. And then my son yanks my arm back. That's what Trump did with inflation. We already had all this price pressure on us, and then he did this stupid war and he did the tariffs before that and they're still tariffing. You see what I'm saying? That's what did it and that's why he owns it, and that's why it's everything in the midterms. Purchasing power is where. What you have to remember here, purchasing power is what a dollar can buy. So inflation goes up 4.2%. Each dollar buys less than it did a year ago. All right? Inflation has been growing faster than wages, period. And they'll say otherwise. They're using different metrics. They're playing funny money. Don't let it happen. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. If you're a critical thinker, you should be an independent. And if you want to be a free agent and a critical thinker, then don't let people bullshit you with different numbers. You know, economics is very tricky. It matters so much, but it's so easy to explain in different ways. That's why a president once famously said, give me an economist with one hand. Truman, give me a one handed economist. All my economists say on the one hand. On the other hand, he's right. He's right. Now you focus on the headline cpi. You focus on it because it makes everything that is an everyday expense higher, okay? And it reduces your purchasing power, which recent data indicates that inflation is growing faster than wages. So you have a decline in real earnings, okay? In practical terms, a lot of workers get paychecks that feel smaller despite nominal wage increases. Why? Because the money doesn't go as far. Look, there's a secondary issue here also with unemployment and with jobs. When we add jobs, are we talking about that number being all individual workers? Probably not. Because more people are working more than one job now. Because. And they're working more than one shift now. Why? To make the money that they used to make from one job. Why? Because we used to treat corporations with a preference because they took care of workers and added to the GDP so much. But now they don't pay their workers, they pay their investors. That's where they really show off productivity, right? In a secondary way on the C suite level. Because the C suite is seen as more important than the actual workers because they generate the interest from Wall street. Because Wall street is just gambling now. So it's not based on book value. It's based on price to equity ratio, which is A S, which is gambling. And that is about investors and them making bets and them betting on certain management because they can understand that as a metric. And so the C suite people get paid to juice these stocks and they are impressive to investors. So you pay them a lot. And then the investors care that you're paying the right people so much, but not the workers. That's where that money used to go, but they still get the same preference of paying less in taxes than individuals. Why, when their workers are barely getting by on so many levels? Why, when our biggest employers have a disproportionate number of their workers that need government assistance? Why am I giving a corporation a tax break for hiring and paying a lot of people if they're not paying them enough so that I still have to subsidize Walmart and Amazon? Why? Why would I give them a tax preference? Why don't we condition that tax preference on how much they pay their workers? Oh, that's socialism. That's wage fixing. No, it isn't. We're doing it now. Why is the corporate rate less than the individual rate at the high end? Why? Because they hire a lot of people. And? And we're making a policy choice. Oh, okay. That's what I'm doing. I'm making a policy choice. If you want to pay 30% in taxes, 35% wherever the rate is, instead of 45%, then you have to pay your workers enough so that they're not on government assistance. It's not like I'm creating some high bar here, okay? There's no way that Amazon should get a tax break and a disproportionate number of their workers or a real percentage of them are on Medicaid. There's no reason for Walmart to get a tax preference and a more friendly tax code treatment from the government when so many of their workers are on food stamps. You see what I'm saying? So that's why purchasing power matters. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from Noble. I gotta tell you, this is a good answer. Luggage to me, has always been inadequate. I never loved those drag bags, the rollers you always got. Your hands are full, you can't do it. You can't pack things the right way or you gotta have to know how to fold it like some laundry specialist. Noble takes care of all of that. That's N O B L. By the way, NOBL has gotten luggage right by doing it all in one special package for your laptop for in and out of tsa. It has a charger in it so you can just plug right your luggage. No more looking for those outlets. I know you're sitting here. Can I just put this underneath your feet for a second? I'm sorry. And you got to watch your phone the whole time because you think someone's going to take it. Not now. It's right there. Everything fits in it. It's got A lot of space. It's a lot bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It fits right in the overhead. They have a size for that. It really, really is luggage. Done right. Noble gives you real travel peace of mind because of that security, design, convenience, all in one. If you go to nobletravel.com and remember that's N O B L, no E T R A V E L N o b l travel.com okay? And you can get up to 46% off your entire order. 46% off. They're going to ask you, where'd you hear about me? Cuomo. Okay. And you can get up to 46% off. Why 46? I don't know, but it's a big number. All right, so please support the show. Tell them you heard about them from Cuomo. Check out nobletravel.com now, the next reason that inflation is everything, because we're talking about business now, right? But business is not just C Corps. They just get all the love. Did you know that only, like, less than 1% of businesses in this country are big businesses? It's overwhelmingly, literally 99% plus small businesses. And small businesses hire half the people and create half the gdp. So it's not like, oh, yeah, there's a million businesses, but they don't do anything. And it's all the big ones. The big ones do half, but it's half small businesses. So why don't small businesses get half the benefits, half the love? You see what I'm saying? Because they're all flow throughs, right? My podcasts are a small business, and I've got to hire, I've got to pay, I've got to deal with. I have very few write offs, and my tax rate is funded. Filters through as an individual. So it's much more than the corporate tax rate. Why? It's just a preference structure from the government. It's not capitalism versus socialism. It's a choice. Small businesses often absorb rising costs for fuel, utilities, inventory, shipping, insurance and labor in ways large corporations don't. Why? Well, several reasons. One, their access to financing. Two, their financing to their excess and ability to leverage. Large corporations often get better pricing from vendors. Why? Well, because they buy more. They're more important to their vendors. You know what I mean? So they're more likely to get preferential treatment, just like they are with the government. Also, they often have an ability to spread costs, at least on their balance sheets, across all these different operations and entities in a way that small businesses can't. Okay, smaller firms Usually have less flexibility, forcing more difficult choices because they don't have the cash reserves either, because they don't have the liquidity from the stock market as many big corporations do. So they have to raise prices, they have to deal with their inventory, they have to let go of workers, they have to accept lower profits, you know, delay any plans. It hits small businesses more. Okay? And to the extent that they can get anything through the SBA or any other kind of state or local program or any kind of financing access they have to credit lines, it gets way more expensive really fast when inflation goes up. So when inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, which is where it is, policymakers are less likely to cut interest rates. Higher rates means more expensive business loans, credit cards, auto loans, credit lines, you know, all that stuff that affects both entrepreneurs seeking capital to expand and families trying to buy their homes or finance major purchases. So you see, inflation is everything. It is everywhere. It's like carbon when it comes to organic life. It's in everything. It's everywhere. It affects everything. Okay? Now another reason inflation is everything, because so much of politics is that the reality winds up being dictated by the perception. All right? Which is a short way of saying it is. For a meme, perception is reality. You know, is the economy good or bad? You tell me. How do you feel? I can justify it either way. So inflation creates uncertainty, which creates fear, which creates a perception of risk and risk aversion. So they don't spend. Businesses become reluctant to invest because they can't predict future costs. Families become cautious when they're not sure how much the money will go. They don't live their dreams, they don't go on vacation, they don't splurge. Right. So it slows spending uncertainty, slows spending, hiring, investing. Right. Individually and on the small business level, for sure. And bigger corporations also do this. How many of us have learned, for all the talk about how many jobs are available, well, not in the high income space. Right. Even as a professional, like a lawyer or a doctor, so many places right now aren't hiring. Why? Uncertainty. We don't know. We got to see. Let it shake out. How many of us have heard that? I have. Have you? Probably so. 4%. Why? Why above 4%? Why is that some kind of magic number? Oh, here's why. A 4.2, which is the most recent headline CPI is significant because it's more than double the Fed reserves, the Fed's long term target of 2%. It's also the highest annual CPI reading in about three years, which is very important politically. Why? Because it gets rid of the Biden fucked us argument. This administration is doing something that is usually not allowed this deep into a tenure of over a year, which is to blame the other guy, the last guy. That's definitely part of politics. Nobody ever gives the last guy credit for any kind of head, you know, tailwinds he gave you that are helping you do better in your administration. You don't get the benefit. You know, you never say, oh, thanks a guy from other party who was president before and who I criticized all the time, but it turns out his policies are helping me. You're never going to hear that, but you will hear certainly early on that, hey, yeah, look, this is bad, but I mean, you know, this is what I inherited right now, by the way, I would make the argument that what Trump inherited this time and in his first term was way better than he pretends. Even this time we were in a post pandemic period of recovery. Numbers were going the right way. Now they're not because of him. Okay? That's the key part to this inflation analysis. Not only is it twice the Fed's target, but it's twice because of what he has done. Do you understand? Okay. Inflation pressures have re accelerated rather than continuing to cool as it had been during Biden. Okay, Remember this idea that Biden sucks on the economy because he's a Democrat? Well, first of all, check yourself because Democrats historically don't suck for the economy. Okay? Quite the opposite. Second, he inherited a pandemic. Did he make it worse? Did he exacerbate things? I would say yeah. Some of his economic policy decisions I didn't think were right. I thought the CHIPS act was a huge boost. He should have made a lot more hay out of that and we should have done a lot more of it. It is fundamental, fundamental to our long term economy. Fundamental. The chips economy, huge. Taiwan huge. But in the midterms, it's all inflation, all inflation, all inflation. And you can't blame Biden. You did it, you increased it with your tariffs, with your tax policy, and most importantly, with your war. Okay? And the idea that he had to go to war, that's a bullshit excuse. He did not have to do what he's doing in Iran. And I would argue it's not even working now. The rate that it is shows that it's accelerating and it's more than twice. And optically that is a bad look. Okay, all right, but why cpi? There's so many other measures. You got the Stock market, you got, you have, you know, jobs and unemployment and underemployment, all these other things are always giving us. Why? Why? Because it is the most important measure for families. It tracks prices that consumers actually pay and directly affects your budget. Okay. The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, the pce, okay, is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge because it captures broader spending patterns and adjusts for changes in consumer behavior. But I argue that it is too sophisticated and starts to remove the direct understanding of the pressure in this moment on the people who matter most, which are families, not middlemen. And industry dynamics. Okay? And again, headline CPI not core because core excludes food and energy. Okay? Now another reason that everything is inflation and inflation will be everything in the midterms one, because when people know that you're ignoring what's wrong with their money, they get pissed off when you're like, yeah, okay, inflation's up, but there are no illegals raping your kid. Yeah, there were no illegals raping my kid before. And I want you to enforce the laws. But I'm worried about my money more than I'm worried about an illegal raping my daughter. To use your language, your coarse language or inhuman language. That's why this is so powerful, because those other culture things. Yeah, what about that trans kid that's playing against your daughter? Yeah, okay. Obviously I don't want someone Cuomo side playing against my 13 year old daughter. Although the, this shoulder thing now I think that I couldn't really compete against most 13 year old athletes, female or male. They don't care as much as they care about this. Okay, so it's an anti distraction device in politics. It's very hard to get away from. Yeah, but you raised inflation. Oh, yeah, but we also took away a woman's right to a reproductive choice. You know what I mean? It's, you know. Yeah, you did that too, you mother fuck. You know, so that's not a good look, but it is good offset to culture wars because this is very real and it matters more. Public sentiment around inflation tends to be driven less by economic theory and more by their lived experience. Meaning what? It is less susceptible to bullshit. Okay? Because they just know. They know what's happening when they go to the grocery store, right? It's higher. Gas, groceries. Gas, groceries, higher, higher. That's what you know. Oh, but it's because of your state. Whatever, it's higher, okay? And it's on your watch. And everything I'm looking at says that you affected it and not in a good way. Okay. Renters and home buyers feel squeezed. Why? The rent's going up and the renter can't buy. Why? Because the price of money's going up. See what I'm saying? You can't refinance your mortgage. It's getting more expensive. Small business owners are having shrinking margins. They're worried. Now, are there other issues? Yes, of course. Of course. But this one really matters a lot and I think is dispositive of what will happen in the midterms. Look, can we get distracted? Can there be something. Yeah, yeah, sure. But I think that all across the country, in most different places, spaces, and with most faces, inflation is gonna be their main concern. Okay. Consumers often report feeling that they are working harder just to maintain the same standard of living. That is huge.
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Huge.
Chris Cuomo
As a political factor of dissatisfaction or faction, the. Are you better off than you were four years ago? Okay. That Reagan metric that was given to him by his speechwriter or whatever, taken out of context, there's a whole story that goes along with it. I interviewed the guy who came up with the line, but am I doing better for you than the last guy? No, you are not. Unless you fool me into valuing you in a way that is more important than what I'm talking about right now, which is how my family's doing economically, which is like my main responsibility as a head of a household. Right. And that's why you will see the recent reports and reports that will follow what's coming out right after this that I'm telling you about declining consumer confidence, because they go together. Inflation goes up, confidence goes down. Period. Doesn't matter what you tell me about how long, short term it's going to be or why it is or that it's worth it. It's not worth it. Not worth it to me. Okay. The labor market remains relatively strong. Yeah, Meaning what? Meaning that we don't have enough people to fill the jobs that are here. But how much do those jobs pay? Okay. And look, this stuff that you're going to hear about Social Security having a problem, this will come up again. It's such an easy fix. It's just that rich people don't want it. All you have to do is just tax a higher ceiling. Raise the ceiling on how much income gets taxed. I think it's $174,000 now. Make it 274 and create an offset. The offset is if you don't need your Social Security, but you paid into it, so it's your money. You should get a tax benefit. Instead, I'm not going to take the Social Security, but I do want a tax benefit for not taking that money. Why is that so hard? Why can't they do that? Seriously? The Social Security problem goes away, by the way. This is another aspect of immigration, by the way, you know, because a lot of workers, even illegal workers, they pay in to Social Security, they just don't get the benefit of it. That's. You look it up yourself. I'll look it up with you. Do illegal entrants who work in America pay Social Security? Yes. Many unauthorized immigrants working in the United States do pay Social Security taxes, even though most are not eligible to receive Social Security retirement benefits based on that work. Here's how it happens. Employers are generally required to withhold Social Security, Right? So some unauthorized workers are used, borrowed, incorrect, or otherwise invalid Social Security numbers. So they get away with it. But most do. Okay, and let's just follow up on this. Which illegal. I don't know that any illegal people or people who are here illegally are entitled to Social Security. People who are in the United States without legal immigration status are not eligible to receive Social Security. Yeah, I know. That's what I was saying. However, there are situations. Oh, they get lawful immigration status and where you all. Yeah, obviously. Okay. I'm talking about if they're here illegally, they have enough qualifying earnings. Most retirement benefits require 40 quarters, roughly 10 years of coveted work, covered work. Their earnings can be credited to a valid Social Security record. Yeah, I know, but they got to become legal, otherwise it's not going to happen. Anyway, I was right. So this is a very, very, very, very, very big moment. Okay? Inflation is everything, okay? Inflation is everything. And it is going to determine the midterms. And Trump cannot get away from it. He cannot blame it on somebody else. Not if the Democrats are on their game and they're fighting for economic populism and they're focusing on this
Interviewer or Guest
foreign
Chris Cuomo
let's end where we started. Inflation is everything. The President can say whatever he wants, but this is going to say the most about him and his administration. No matter what else is going on, this will resonate the most, the most seriously, the deepest and impact votes. The most in the most places, in the most spaces, in the most, with the most different kinds of faces in the country. Thank you very much for subscribing and following. Thank you for checking me out on the morning at Sirius Radio. Thank you for going to my YouTube channel and subscribing here and at Cuomo Crimetime, because that's growing and crime really matters. Why it's one of the last connective tissues we have in our society. Politics is all about division but crime in the administration of justice and trials and the untold stories with the players of these big cases that we're all following, which is my angle on it of showing you what's the untold story, what they're not really telling you or what they're exaggerating just for clicks. It's a really important space because it's about the administration of justice. It's about how our society functions and it really matters. So subscribe to Cuomo Crime time. Subscribe at YouTube. You can pick all these different levels. You'll get both podcasts. I'll see you at News Nation every weekday night at 8p Eastern. And I just thank you for the opportunities and I know the challenges are real and I know that so angry and nasty. Stay a critical thinker, stay independent, stay a free agent and let's get after it.
The Chris Cuomo Project — Episode Summary
Episode Title: Everything Costs More And Trump Owns It
Date: June 11, 2026
Host: Chris Cuomo
This episode centers on the pivotal topic of inflation, examining why Chris Cuomo believes it is the most significant political and economic issue in America leading into the midterms. Cuomo places direct responsibility for heightened inflation and its consequences on former President Trump, challenging Trump’s claims about the economy and dissecting the real-world impact of policy decisions. With a mix of economic analysis, political insight, and trademark candor, Cuomo explains why inflation—measured by the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI)—trumps all other issues for American voters today.
Chris Cuomo’s tone is direct, exasperated, and often combative, especially when rebutting Trump’s economic claims or warning Democrats not to get distracted by lesser issues. The focus is squarely on the material realities families face, and Cuomo repeatedly encourages listeners to ignore political spin, focus on critical thinking, and “stay a free agent.”
Final Message:
Inflation, as measured by headline CPI, trumps all issues as America heads into the next election. According to Cuomo, Trump cannot escape accountability for current economic pain. If the Democrats remain disciplined, focus on this single, critical issue, and resist culture war distractions, the path to political victory is clear.
“Inflation is everything, and it is going to determine the midterms. And Trump cannot get away from it.” — Chris Cuomo [37:58]