What’s Next in 2025? Chris Cuomo on Politics, Media, and Culture

Summary

Summary of "What’s Next in 2025? Chris Cuomo on Politics, Media, and Culture"

The Chris Cuomo Project episode titled "What’s Next in 2025? Chris Cuomo on Politics, Media, and Culture" delves into Chris Cuomo's comprehensive predictions for the year 2025, covering various facets of politics, media, economy, technology, and personal insights. Joined by Ryan Reynolds, the episode provides an engaging exploration of the anticipated shifts and trends shaping the near future.

Introduction

The episode kicks off with Chris Cuomo introducing a unique segment where he steps into the rare role of a predictor, offering his forecasts for 2025. Joined by Ryan Reynolds, Cuomo embarks on an in-depth discussion, setting the stage for a multifaceted analysis of upcoming changes and challenges.

Prediction 1: Evolution of the Podcast Landscape

Cuomo forecasts significant transformations in the podcasting ecosystem, emphasizing a shift away from the early influx of big investments that have since dwindled. He articulates that:

"Money rushed into the pod space and tons of big and bad deals were made. In the last five years, that money has dried up." ([04:31])

He predicts that the podcast landscape will experience consolidation, with major streaming platforms acquiring smaller ones to streamline monetization and distribution. Cuomo envisions a surge of higher-quality talent entering the space, moving beyond the likes of Joe Rogan to personalities such as Bill Burr and Louis C.K., enhancing the overall quality and diversity of podcast content.

Prediction 2: Shift Towards Independent Voters

Addressing the political arena, Cuomo anticipates a growing trend of voters identifying as independents rather than aligning strictly with Democrats or Republicans. He states:

"You will see a continuation of independents out growing and outpacing Democrats and Republicans in national elections. This is the best news in my lifetime for our politics." ([14:09])

Cuomo emphasizes that this shift towards independence is driven by voters prioritizing critical thinking and personal relevance over party allegiance. He argues that this movement can lead to a more moderate and balanced political landscape, reducing the extreme polarization currently seen in primary systems.

Prediction 3: Economic Narratives and Trump's Influence

Cuomo explores the economic narrative shaped by former President Donald Trump, predicting that Trump will claim credit for improvements in the economy, irrespective of factual accuracy. He notes:

"Donald Trump is going to announce that the economy is already better just because he's here. And what this is going to be is politics, but it is politics of persuasion by evasion from the truth." ([12:05])

He critiques the manipulation of economic narratives, highlighting how Trump may leverage Biden's mixed economic legacy to his advantage. Additionally, Cuomo points out the ongoing challenges in the advertising sector, forecasting a return to traditional partnership models as new strategies emerge to cope with declining effectiveness.

Prediction 4: Technological Integration and Algorithmic Changes

In the realm of technology, Cuomo anticipates deeper integration of tech into human bodies and a necessary overhaul of social media algorithms. He asserts:

"The next step is integration into you. And then you get all the scary things about becoming the machines, then the machines take us over." ([23:11])

Cuomo criticizes current algorithmic practices on platforms like TikTok and Twitter, advocating for changes that reward more substantive and positive content rather than prurient and sensational material. He emphasizes the need for broader content diversity to combat the homogenization driven by existing algorithms, which prioritize engagement over quality.

Prediction 5: Foreign Policy Challenges

Cuomo discusses the persistent conflicts in the Middle East and the complexities surrounding the Russia-Ukraine situation. He predicts:

"War in Israel doesn't end. Trump can't negotiate a settlement to Russia and Ukraine and it gets uglier before it gets better." ([36:31])

He expresses skepticism about Trump's ability to effectively mediate in these conflicts, citing a lack of sophistication and understanding of the nuanced geopolitical landscape. Cuomo foresees escalating tensions and a potential deterioration in Russia-Ukraine relations, underscoring the enduring instability in the region.

Personal Predictions and Reflections

Towards the end of the episode, Cuomo shares personal predictions and reflections, offering a glimpse into his own life amidst the broader societal changes. He discusses his health struggles with long COVID and outlines his goals for personal development and happiness in 2025. Additionally, Cuomo touches upon significant milestones for his family and professional endeavors, highlighting the importance of balance and well-being.

"I have to focus more on my happy and what brings me pleasure and what makes me feel better, health-wise." ([42:24])

Conclusion

In concluding the episode, Cuomo reiterates his commitment to helping listeners navigate the complexities of the modern world. He emphasizes the value of planning for success and fostering a collaborative spirit to achieve positive outcomes.

"If we plan for success, we may find more of it, as long as we do the right things. And a big part of that is usually doing it together." ([47:00])

Cuomo expresses gratitude for the support from his team and audience, underscoring the collective effort required to tackle the impending challenges of 2025.

Notable Quotes

• Podcast Landscape Consolidation:
  "Money rushed into the pod space and tons of big and bad deals were made. In the last five years, that money has dried up." — Chris Cuomo ([04:31])

• Rise of Independent Voters:
  "You will see a continuation of independents out growing and outpacing Democrats and Republicans in national elections. This is the best news in my lifetime for our politics." — Chris Cuomo ([14:09])

• Economic Narratives Manipulation:
  "Donald Trump is going to announce that the economy is already better just because he's here. And what this is going to be is politics, but it is politics of persuasion by evasion from the truth." — Chris Cuomo ([12:05])

• Technological Integration Concerns:
  "The next step is integration into you. And then you get all the scary things about becoming the machines, then the machines take us over." — Chris Cuomo ([23:11])

• Foreign Policy Predictions:
  "War in Israel doesn't end. Trump can't negotiate a settlement to Russia and Ukraine and it gets uglier before it gets better." — Chris Cuomo ([36:31])

• Personal Focus on Happiness:
  "I have to focus more on my happy and what brings me pleasure and what makes me feel better, health-wise." — Chris Cuomo ([42:24])

Final Thoughts

This episode of The Chris Cuomo Project provides a thorough and thought-provoking forecast for 2025, blending political analysis, media insights, economic trends, and personal reflections. Chris Cuomo leverages his extensive experience to offer nuanced predictions, encouraging listeners to consider the multifaceted nature of impending changes and their potential impacts on society.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hey there, Ryan Reynolds here.

[Chris Cuomo]

It's a new year and you know what that means. No, not the diet resolutions.

[Ryan Reynolds]

A way for us all to try and do a little bit better than.

[Chris Cuomo]

We did last year.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And my resolution, unlike big wireless, is to not be a raging and raise.

[Chris Cuomo]

The price of wireless on you every chance I get. Give it a [e-mail] Switch $45 upfront.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Payment required equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first 3 month plan only. Taxes and fees. Extra speed slower above 40 GB on unlimited. See mintmobile.com for details.

[Chris Cuomo]

Oh, I hope 2025 is everything you wanted it to be. How do we know? We just started. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. I'm going to do something that I don't really ever do. Make predictions about what we should be looking for, for better or worse this year. What do you say? And I'm bringing in for the help with this segment, the one and only, the inimitable, the new daddy, Mr. Greg. Ot not real name. My producer here to help me along with predictions.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He's got a ton real name and I want to share with you. Hey, I have a ton of predictions. One is I predict that it is a new year right now and the prediction has come true. Happy New Year.

[Chris Cuomo]

Wow. Well done.

[Ryan Reynolds]

What a clairvoyant, huh?

[Chris Cuomo]

Well done. Do you think you add to the brood this year, yes or no?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Like the cicadas?

[Chris Cuomo]

The brood. The cicadas. The bugs. Yeah. They talking about your family?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh no, they call that the cicadas like the one. They're underground. That's like a brood of cicadas is when they emerge from the crowd after a long sleep.

[Chris Cuomo]

O brood.

[Ryan Reynolds]

The brood, the odd brood is staying put. It's. It's not changing.

[Chris Cuomo]

There are no plans for expansion in 2025?

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, there are no plans for expansion period.

[Chris Cuomo]

Has this been run through the board of directors?

[Ryan Reynolds]

The board of directors is. Has been consulted and this is signed, sealed and delivered.

[Chris Cuomo]

I don't know about.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm so. I'm sorry. Closed for business. Whether whether it's a child or cicada. But I love, I love both the child and the cicada we have living around right now.

[Chris Cuomo]

Cicada. Remember when we were so afraid about those? Very interesting thing to remember. Now we got drones and world wars and terror back on the rise. We used to be worried about those bugs and that all of the bumblebees were gone.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You know that actually what happened to that? There was. There's an insectarium. I think in New Orleans that last year when the cicadas came out, they were cooking them and you could go there and get like a cicada dish.

[Chris Cuomo]

Protein.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. Insect protein. So maybe that's a prediction. I'm not gonna make that as a prediction, but like to kick things off, maybe people start eating more bugs. 2025.

[Chris Cuomo]

I'll tell you something, we're doing it with our dogs. My wife Christina runs the Purist, which is this wellness as an ethos. So it's not like just matcha tea, it's oh, well, who made this shirt? And what kind of dye do they use? And do they hire people the right way? And so dog food, what are you giving your dog? I'm not into this whole human grade food for dogs. Like if you want to do that, that's fine, but it's really expensive and hard to store. For me, we found dry food. Oh, I don't want to feed it. Don't do whatever you want to do. But for us, I got three dogs and we found this cricket based dog food. They should actually advertise with us. They're called Jiminy Cricket. I'll sell you for free. Really? Yeah. And I'll tell you why the dogs don't go to the bathroom as much. Their weight has been very easy to maintain and it's all based off what the serving recommendations were with the food on the back and you know, the leaner the dog is, just like with us, the longer they'll live. So very important for us. One of our guys is getting up there. Where do you want to start? With predictions.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I, I would like you to walk us through if you have three to five of your top predictions for what's going to come in 2025. This is going to be a big year. I mean, we have a new old president coming in. I'm looking at the Wikipedia breakdown of all the things. First of all, 2025 will be the first square year since 1936.

[Chris Cuomo]

What does that mean?

[Ryan Reynolds]

2025 is a square of 45. So mathematically it's already like quite interesting.

[Chris Cuomo]

I would have never put any level of interest in that.

[Ryan Reynolds]

This is Wikipedia. Anybody can write this. But I, I think it's.

[Chris Cuomo]

So let me, let me, let me just kind of go. I don't do this. Okay? This is the opposite of what I do, right? Which is this is going on low information, high guess from, you know, I usually do high information, low guess. So I. First thing, okay, I've got a prediction number one, the Podscape is going to change and the people who were at the top last year will not be at the top all of this year.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So this is pertinent to the podcast. This is a podcast you're presumably watching.

[Chris Cuomo]

Here's what has happened, okay? Now, money rushed into the pod space and tons of big and bad deals were made. In the last five years, that money has dried up. There's. And there's an aphorism in investing. You never want to be first dollar in first dollar and got killed. People were given a lot of money for their podcasts and people have gone broke. They've been bad deals. Kind of like what happened when Sirius thought that having Howard Stern would make them like a household thing hasn't happened, just made him really rich. But it's not like serious is everywhere now, right? They're just mainly in like rental cars. So the pod scape. Second, second dollar in with the pod scape. With this election, people now know that you can get bang for your buck and you can get reach and resonance. And I'm telling you on the right and on the anti institutional side, you're going to do a lot better than Joe Rogan and his merry band of, you know, cut rate comedians. And I'm not saying that those guys will disappear, but you're gonna see better, bigger talent come in. Like what a guy like a Bill Burr is gonna get enticed into that space? A guy like Louis ck.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Bill Burr has a podcast, but I'm.

[Chris Cuomo]

Saying ramping it up, that there's gonna be money that puts it into a sphere where he's sitting with major people as opposed to it just being an. And that's what I'm saying. Instead of it just being like an end to what Bill Burr does, it's going to be his thing. Okay? Stephen A. Smith is going to explode on the landscape of conversation. Okay? And again, no disrespect to Rogan. You must give him his props for building a platform. Good for him. But now you're going to have better talent in that space. Okay? And that is my first prediction.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's in just to piggyback on that. This came out recently that more people are watching podcasts now on YouTube and you've been doing this, this podcast dropped first on YouTube. You from the beginning were like, hey, let's put myself online. People want to see me and hear me. So it's like, you know, one product in one. But it's the confluence is interesting to me of like this thing you used to listen to it's like, well, it's quite easy to get a setup, you know, in your house like this and broadcast.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

In. In a very DIY way. And people are now, especially a lot of the YouTube stats are more people are watching things on their televisions and thus you sit down and watch a show. It's kind of replacing talk shows. We talked about this before, but like.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yeah, this prediction 1a is you will see mergers in stream platforms. I went to YouTube early because I believe video kills the radio star. People want to see more than they want to listen. I'm not telling you not to listen. Look, it's not my thing. I do an audiobook every now and then. I'd rather read, but I want to see. Why? Because I'm a visual learner. And you take so much more in from people when you're actually seeing them. Obviously reading them texts, you get the least context, the least feel. Hearing their voice you get more. But seeing them and hearing them, so to me it's a no brainer. But what you will see prediction 1A is consolidation in platforms. Because the problem right now is there are too many different places that you have to go and you need to monetize and they are going to start buying each other up.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I just started watching the Day of the Jackal on Peacock. Have you seen that? Holy shit. That is some. The music, the acting. That is a show. And I didn't watch the original Jackal, but I guess Richard Gere is like the ready Ed Bane or Eddie Redmayne character. That's a. I.

[Chris Cuomo]

But it's kind of the thing. Like back in the day, nobody was surprised by the movie you told them they should see. Right? It'd be like you should go see Gladiator 2. It's pretty good. Everybody knew that Gladiator 2 was a thing and you had to go to the movies. Now there's a really good chance that I've never heard a fucking word about Peacock. I don't have it. I haven't done it. There's a chance because you have so many outlets, okay. And some of the big ones are going to have their own. That's what they did. That was the first step. The next step will be that Peacock will buy some second tier or three or four streaming platforms and take all of their content. That's the next step.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, the only reason I have Peacock is because my parents have cable television and I have their account.

[Chris Cuomo]

You ape it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, I ape it big time.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

My eyes, my icon in there is the. The boss Baby.

[Chris Cuomo]

Oh, really?

[Ryan Reynolds]

When I log on, I see the boss baby. And that, that means it's, that's my time. You are watching.

[Chris Cuomo]

My son found a really ugly My caveman meets Minotaur kind of figure that he has made my avatar on all of our streaming.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, really?

[Chris Cuomo]

Yeah. Which he thinks is hilarious.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You. And you don't have a picture of it handy? No, but as a caveman. Minotaur. So Harry is a minotaur. Have like a spike on the head.

[Chris Cuomo]

He just, it looks like kind of a cow headed caveman. Oh, he thinks it's hilarious.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh yeah.

[Chris Cuomo]

Muscles Marinara, as I call him. Next category that you want a prediction.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Let's go. Economics. Anything, anything big in the world of, you know, world business.

[Chris Cuomo]

First thing that's going to happen is Donald Trump is going to announce that the economy is already better just because he's here. And what this is going to be is politics, but it is politics of persuasion by evasion from the truth. Okay? He was running down the economy on purpose. Now he has the opposite inclination. So suddenly it's gonna not have been as bad as it was. And in fact, that's gonna be true everywhere because the Biden administration definitely made some problems worse and made some problems better. Better, but didn't message it well. Southern border, the numbers have been up and down, but they have been fixing infrastructure and dealing with some minute rule changes there that have actually flattened out with a couple of peaks that they had at the end of the year. There was one last big push that came in at the end of the year. People were trying to get in here before Trump. Interesting, right? Shows you how powerful narrative is even in outside US Audioscapes and listening spheres. So he's going to say the southern border is already better. Something he wouldn't have given Biden credit for, but that's where the credit deserves. Now, this is not unique to Trump. Very often presidents get credit for what happened before them and very often they get blamed for what happened before them. Right. It can go either way. So the economy is going to wind up being seen as much better. And I got to tell you what, I'm not going to believe it any more than I did when they were telling me it was terrible. You look at the media space, advertising to play off my first prediction, advertising is in the shitter right now. People don't know how to make money with advertising anymore. They don't know how to measure it. They don't know who matters and where it matters and why it matters. Ah, another prediction. 1b. Okay, so prediction 1. Prediction 1a. Prediction 1b. Television and podcasts and radio and whatever you want is gonna go back to single or double partner models. You will see Chris Cuomo at News Nation saying, look, I actually drink Essentia and here's why. I'm very sensitive to whatever bullshit. There won't be bullshit. Whatever it is. Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ph, yeah.

[Chris Cuomo]

And be like, oh, my God, that's such a sellout. Tell it to Edward R. Murrow, he did it. Tell it to Cronkite, he did it. Tell it to Mike Wallace, he did it. Hmm. Last time I checked, kind of giants of journalism.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, Flintstone sold cigarettes.

[Chris Cuomo]

So this is what they used to do. Mike Wallace would be smoking a Chesterfield and tell you why he was. To me, at least it's transparent. What do you think? It's not a commercial enterprise. You know, it's a commercial enterprise. So everybody else is doing that. I think the link is affinity. Okay. Like, for me, I drive a 2014 Ford Raptor. Why? I think that that truck was the best muscle truck Evolution. And I like Fords. Now. That used to not be a thing for me. Right. My brother's a Pontiac guy. I think as long as you have a direct affinity to whatever it is. I don't use Traeger grills because I think they're built cheap. You want to go back and forth about that? If you're Drake, that's fine. But for me, I will advertise what I think works for me. That's what I do here. I take this shit, I use this stuff. And we're going to go back to major partnerships in media.

[Ryan Reynolds]

To your first point, I don't know if I'm sure you've seen this graph, but, like, about a week after the election, consumer sentiment index by party affiliation, it completely flipped. It went from Democrat to Republican. It was just like, oh, Republicans are gonna be in power again. Oh, now we think the economy is great. Like, it really.

[Chris Cuomo]

It shows what a partisan game has always happened. It has become more pronounced as the party system has become more of a binary battle to the bottom, where they are looking at through the prism of their own advantage almost exclusively. And to me, it's frightening. And these parties cannot be brought down in terms of their power and influence soon enough.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And to the second point, prediction number two. Prediction number two, technically, it's really fine.

[Chris Cuomo]

Prediction number two, we're not going to have a major election right this year. We don't have a presidential election this year. You will see a continuation of independents out growing and outpacing Democrats and Republicans in national elections. This is the best news in my lifetime for our politics. This is the best news in my lifetime for our politics. The more of you decide, look, I'm gonna go off critical thinking. I'm gonna go off what works for me and mine. I'm gonna go off what makes sense. I'm not gonna compromise for some group that I don't give a shit about. And clearly they don't give a shit about me. The better it is for this country. You're not going to get rid of the party system. I don't think so. Not anytime soon. I don't even think you're going to get a real third party anytime soon. But I do think the more independence there is and the more independence there are. Okay, so like independence from. And then independence, you know, ence versus ents as a number. The less influence they'll have. At least in the primary system. We've got to move towards rank choice and open primaries. I know, but that would screw the parties. Fuck the parties. You need more moderate candidates. That's how you get them. The primaries is where we all get screwed because they play to a magnified minority that comes out to vote. And you get the most extreme people because they have the most ardent supporters. Prediction number two. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from get main lobster. Oh, man. Christmas, New Year's, we're all trying to make a menu that makes people feel special, shows the love and food feeds family, but also our idea of what is special and you know, what works best. Gotta have lobster involved. You got it. What better way for a cheat day around the holidays than with a just a amazingly succulent lobster tail from the place that is the birthplace of lobster in America's culture. Get Maine lobster. Oh, get Maine lobsters. Mac and cheese with a side of fresh Maine scallops replacing the boring like burritos cereal. Come on. Right now, when you go to getmain lobster.com and you enter the promo code CUOMO at checkout, you get 15% off all orders. That's a good deal, especially for the holidays. Visit getmain lobster.com and use promo code Cuomo and you will get 15% off all orders. Today. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from select quote look, so much in life is uncertain, and the older I get, the more comfortable I am with my decision to have life insurance in place to take care of my family. All right? Now, the problem is it's complicated. You know, there's so many sales pitches there's so much pricing, there's so much variability. That's why I am so happy to partner with Select Quote. It's one of America's leading insurance brokers. 40 years of experience, they've helped over 2 million people find over 700 billion in coverage since 1985. Head to selectquote.com and a licensed insurance agent will call you right away with the right policy for your life and your budget. Select Quote they shop, you save, get the right life insurance for you for less at selectquote.com Chris C. Go to selectquote.com ChrisCToday and you get started. Select quote.com/Chris C. Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from Radioactive media business owners CMOs. You got a plan on growing in 2025, right? It's going to be a lot of uncertainties this year. But not everything's uncertain, right? One thing for certain things are going to be different. Why not utilize something reliable and stable for your marketing efforts and tap into the power of podcast and radio reach in the U.S. listen to this. Audio reaches more than 271 million people every week. That's more than social media and digital media combined. My friends at Radioactive Media know the recipe to launch, optimize and scale performance by building compelling audio campaigns which actually work. Their personal approach, knowledge of the medium is unparalleled. They believe in the power of radio so much, they even use it themselves. Right here, right now. Text my first name, Chris to 511511. Just text Chris to 511511 or go on the web@roadactive media.com text rates may apply.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Let's go back to politics. You talked about independence, what they might do this year. I'm wondering if you kind of give me a prediction on like just the Democrats in general and the Republicans in general. Like with the Republicans, Trump is really spraying a lot of stuff out there. I've been reading everything from like, he wants to privatize the postal service and then you got Doge working on stuff I'd love. And then, you know, the Democrats are all over the place. So I'd love to see your just state of play or where you see each party going in 2025.

[Chris Cuomo]

Play is going to be obvious. Everything is better than it was before. And he's gonna use what was happening under Biden, who did not message it well, to his own advantage. That's politics. His talk is not gonna match his walk. And that's not a surprise in politics. So people aren't gonna be Offended, the Democrats have to be very careful not to overplay the significance of that and instead ignore Trump's shortfalls and fill in the spaces of opportunity. And my prediction is that the big opportunity, perversely is going to be in line with who was just targeted by the assassin. Meaning the problem with disconnect in our society is cost structure. Stock market's doing really well. Inflation is on the way down. Right. There are plenty of indices, metrics to point out, but the cost structure of living, the cost of living is too high. And it's because we allow the providers to make much more money than anybody else ever can and it plays to their advantage more than everybody else's. Now, part of that is capitalism, but part of that requires correction also. And my prediction is that Democrats are going to start targeting the cost structure. What does that mean? Well, who makes our food expensive and why? How much of it is about what is in it? How much are our drugs and why? And what is big pharma making and how. Why is insurance such a big and looming boogeyman everywhere in your life? Your health insurance, your house insurance, your car insurance, co op insurance, your pet insurance, everything's going up, up, up, up, up. Why and why do they just get to keep making money hand over fist? Target the right bad guys. My prediction, not Trump, not his band of merry men and that they're all would be dictators. Leave it alone. Find the shortfalls in his own success and pick on the right bad guys. That's my prediction. You go after the right bad guys, you get back in touch with how people feel.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And then what about with tech? You know, Trump has been going back and forth on, you know, he was the one who started the tick tock band, then he wanted to walk it back and now he's meeting with the guy and who knows where this is going to land, you know, by the time he's actually president. But I believe the ban is supposed to go into effect the day before he takes office. So not just tick tock, but like, you know, with everything, with, with Australia passing the social media thing that bans, is it teenagers from, from being on the platforms, on social media platforms, you got Grand Theft Auto coming out later in the year, you got Avatar coming out. Is there anything in the world of like technology that you could see they make a prediction for?

[Chris Cuomo]

You know, the beautiful thing about technology is that it overwhelms us consistently and our world is changing so much so fast that you, anybody who predicts what's next, I mean, look, everybody's saying that we're getting closer and closer to where the technology gets integrated into the body, right? You used to have to sit down in front of it, then you could carry it, then you could hold it, then it was part of you. Now you're wearing it. The next step is integration into you.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Like that chess player.

[Chris Cuomo]

What chess player?

[Ryan Reynolds]

The one who is alleged to have cheated using those vibrating anal beads.

[Chris Cuomo]

You see what I deal with alleged. But he would have done.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Some people tested it out to figure.

[Chris Cuomo]

Out vibrating anal beads in there.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, I'm saying that's. That's a use of technology to help someone, you know, progress.

[Chris Cuomo]

Your habits aside, I don't know.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I actually barely know how to play chess.

[Chris Cuomo]

The next step is that gonna. Is gonna be that it's in you. Okay, look, we've always done this with how we track our pets. It's only a matter of time before we put it inside of kids. And of course, there'll be reaction formation to what is it doing? What else is it doing? Of course there'll be tension, but the next step is obviously to integrate it into the person, right? And then you get all the scary things about becoming the machines, Then the machines take us over, you know, all that. So that's where technology is taking us. And to me, it's not even predictive, it's just suggestive. That's the way it's going. But I don't see anything this year that changes our lives as we know it the way this did. I do believe that you're gonna see curbs, and I guard rails, let's say. And I'm worried about them. I don't buy that TikTok is an instrument of China. I do believe that they don't use it there the way they allow us to use it here. And I think there is a lesson in that. I think that the algorithms need to be shifted, and I think it defeats the censorship argument. The censorship argument is a good one. I believe in more ideas, not less. I do. I believe in that. And I think that you have to fight the fight and that the censorship is not worth what it gives you because it empowers things that are being ignored or being censored, and it makes them seem like they're more valuable than they actually are. So instead, I think you change the algorithm to reward different things. Now, I don't know how you make a high ground argument on the basis of what it's rewarding now. It's like constantly pushing you towards sex, provocative shit and outrage. So Is that the fruit of free expression any more than if it's pointing you towards success stories, life changing moments and technological advances? I mean, is one inherently more valuable as idea, as speech than the other? I don't think so. And why is it that my fit, even my fitness videos take me to tits eventually. Oh, like the algorithms just push you towards prurience. Oh, no, mine. Bullshit, Bullshit. Okay. I'm just saying I have no problem with changing the algorithms so that they reward different types of behaviors. Why is it free speech and free marketplace to have the algorithms constantly pushing you towards what makes us worse? It's not what they allow in China. That's something that I think is worth discussing as a guardrail and I think guardrails are necessary, but I'm very worried about them because I don't want to limit people's access to things. The algorithms do that without being an expressed or understood limitation. But they are that and we're obviously okay with it. Right, because we're all trying to figure out how to maximize those algorithms to create our own reach. Right? Everybody's a brand now. I think the ban of a certain age makes sense as a parent and as somebody who realizes that the influence is clearly beyond the control of the ability to balance the influence. And yes, my parents felt the same way about television, but it was not like this. And I just don't see the positive yield. I don't hear the positive yield. There was a moment in time where all the gaming was making kids better hand eye coordination. We were going to have a whole new generation of pilots.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh yeah.

[Chris Cuomo]

Didn't happen. But what we are seeing is that they're less connected. There's more deviance, there's more loner syndrome, lone wolf syndrome, and there's disconnection. You know, the Internet was supposed to connect the world. Instead it's made everybody individual silos within it. So we got something wrong here. And there is a need for correction.

[Ryan Reynolds]

With regard to Mr. Musk's purchase of Twitter. Not, I believe it's called letter X now.

[Chris Cuomo]

What's it called? The letter X. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He likes this letter. So he puts it in everything. I don't get it. But I mean, there's so many cool letters out there. He, you know, everybody's saying, or a lot of people, a lot of people are saying that it played a huge role in the past election. But there are charts that show the number of active users going down. It's been going down precipitously since he bought it. It's not as wide. It's never been a major platform. It's very popular among journalists and media people, but it's never been one of the biggest social media networks. It's a big one, but it's not the largest.

[Chris Cuomo]

What's the largest?

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's probably Facebook or Instagram.

[Chris Cuomo]

It's interesting because X gets all the.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hype because that's where, I mean, for years it was the fertile ground of, like, journalists and people in media are posting here live. You can actively react to things in real time. And it was, you know, you would have like, a municipal service set up to publish an alert of like, hey, the weather, you know, things like that.

[Chris Cuomo]

Now it's all on Twitter.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, it's all on Twitter. But what's happening is like, you know, NPR going, hey, we're not going to publish here anymore because we don't like the platform.

[Chris Cuomo]

It's only a few left, the outlets, and they'll come back. Well, unless there's something better. And blue skies don't seem to really be getting attraction. Threads has that artificial force multiplier because everyone who's on Instagram is on threads.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right?

[Chris Cuomo]

That's not really. That's not really kosher.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm only. The only reason I'm bringing this up is I'm wondering, to your point about algorithms, Threads specifically does not show people political or news content. You actually have to go into your settings to say, yes, I would like to see political stuff. But the app is so strange because it's all just, like, things people were talking about two or three days ago as soon as you log on. And a lot of it, if you follow politics. Yeah, you get some of it. For the most part, it's these, like, strange old conversations. It's lag. And I'm wondering, I'm wondering if you see anything in that scope changing, especially with, like, you know, all these CEOs going over to Mr. Trump and saying, ah, well, you know, we're sorry, okay, we're gonna give you some money for the inauguration. And kind of capitulating a little early on. Like, do you see anything trending in that direction from the. From an algorithmic perspective? As in, like, yeah, we're going to keep flushing news down the toilet online because we really don't want to promote this. We know it's hot water. We know we keep having to pay out of our ass for it. We don't want to invite the bad attention. We. We just want to avoid this altogether. Do you think Threads is almost like a canary in the coal mine of like, more of these platforms are going to say less. While Twitter, you know, stakes out its claim as the right wing version of all this other stuff and blasts out their, you know, not outright propaganda, but certainly right wing positive messaging on so many fronts.

[Chris Cuomo]

I can't point to anything in American culture that has become controlled by the demand for less, can you? Everything seems to be in the direction of more.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Some say less is more, more media.

[Chris Cuomo]

Well, depends on the quality of it. Right? So more media, more outlets, more variety. Now do you get this paradox of within the growth, a sameness that becomes pervasive. Yes, to my point. Outrage, sex, you know, everything salacious is what gets you these things. And you see it even in digital media, call me daddy and all of these things that anything that's sex related blows up. So even though you have more, more, more, more, more, what works is less, less, less, less, less. And I think it's a problem.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I just interrupt. There's a great video essay in the New York Times from somebody who, a creativity expert who explored why it seems that everything looks the same and sounds the same these days. And it's because, in his opinion, the algorithms have reduced everything to this little tiny tip of the iceberg. Whereas if you get down to the bottom of the Internet, the bowels of this iceberg, where I like to live, there's a ton of great stuff flourishing out there. But because all these platforms are pushing out what they want you to see and it all is kind of homogenized. Well, yes, that's why we're all listening to like very similar sounding music and very similar looking movies. And I know this is an argument that's going on forever, but like so much control is in the element.

[Chris Cuomo]

A lot of that, the music, is true. I see it in my daughter and her friends, the 14 year old. And they're getting it all off TikTok. They're getting these playlists off of TikTok. So they're all listening to the same shit and it's the same compendium. Right? Because it's not like just chapel roan. It's like, you know, these, these song selects and look, it takes us back to the same thing. So the prediction is algorithms are going to have to change. There's going to be pressure. Stop telling us that you're not manipulating the information. Stop telling us that you can't regulate it. This is what you do, you mofos. You figure out where to put your ads on the basis of what's getting the most wattage so you know how to do that. We want to change what you're manipulating to get the most wattage to have a broader aperture. And I know that won't be as good for you, but literally fuck you, because it has been stilted in your favor for too long. And Elon may say he's doing it differently. I don't know, because I think he's catering to a very specific agenda that he just likes. So that is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about making more pie instead of figuring out how big a slice you can get in the existing pie. More pieces. The algorithm should be changed to reward behaviors that aren't all prurient and bad for you. Okay? It's all junk food all the fucking time. And I think that that can change and they can still make their money. And I think at a minimum, it's a conversation. You may say, no, I agree, or disagree. That's fine. Let's have the conversation and let's make something happen. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from Cozy Earth. Look, your resolution's got to include getting better rest. Cozy Earth helps. There's a reason that it's got best selling bedding. Here's what I like about it. There's technology in the textile. When it's cold, it helps keep you warm. When it's warm, it does help keep you cool. How? I don't know. And I actually research it and I still don't get it. But it doesn't matter because they know how to do it. At Cozy Earth, I like to be responsible about my purchases. And I do like to feel that what I'm doing may help make something I care about a little bit better. They're using bamboo, not the materials that textile companies usually do. And bamboo is highly sustainable. It's not doing anything bad to anything. And it's fast and it's easy for them to use. A better year starts with better sleep. Wrap yourself in Cozy Earth. Please don't wait. Head to cozyearth.com Chris use my exclusive code. Chris up to 40% off. How amazing is that? Cozy Earth. If you get a post purchase survey, please say you heard about Cozy Earth from the Chris Cuomo Project podcast. You guys send me the comments saying thanks, you love the stuff. Tell them support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from Everyday Dose. Look, we all want to be better, mentally, physically, but our habits don't always match up with our goals. That's where Everyday Dose comes in. Coffee? Yes, but better since I started drinking Everyday dose. I've noticed I can get through my day with this consistent, smooth energy. No peaks and valleys. All right. That kind of roller coaster caffeine crash. Deal. No more. I'm big on gut health. This blend of collagen and mushrooms is like a one, two punch for keeping me regular and feeling good. Taste legit smooth rich coffee flavor. Definitely tastes like coffee because it's made with premium roast arabica coffee extract. Head over to everydaydose.com Chris and you will get 25% off plus five free gifts with your first order, including a USB rechargeable frother. Very important changes the drinking experience. Trust me. Every month after you get additional amazing free gifts with your order just because you're now part of the team, every month you're going to get additional amazing free gifts. Go to everydaydose.s e.com Chris and you'll get 25 off plus 5 free gifts with your first order.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Okay, we did. We did a little bit of politics. We did a little bit of economics. We did some entertainment. Any wild cards out there? Something that isn't on somebody's mind or like something that isn't top of mind right now that might like, not like a volcano erupting, but you know, something that isn't headline news right now that nobody's paying attention to that you might.

[Chris Cuomo]

Think, one, Bills win the Super Bowl.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, OJ. OJ's dead.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yes. Two, war in Israel doesn't end.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, really? You think? Oh.

[Chris Cuomo]

Three, Trump can't negotiate a settlement to Russia and Ukraine and it gets uglier before it gets better. Those.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm actually very surprised by those.

[Chris Cuomo]

So am I. And I hope I'm wrong. Oh, not about the bills, but I hope I'm wrong and I will just. So why am I saying it? What just happened in Syria, I cannot believe that. One. You don't care. But whatever. The idea that this guy Jelani and his merry band of men that just went in there are not going to become extreme Islamists strains credulity. Well, but they're not flying the flag right now. I know, but everything about them reeks of not wanting a democracy. They just want influence over the people. And I think you're gonna have a new and worse actor in the region after Assad. And look, Assad was a bad guy who did bad things to his people. Not saying he isn't. I'm just saying he wasn't alone in that and he was a stable one. These guys are gonna be unstable and they're gonna be really open to influence because they're gonna be broken. So that is going to add to Israel's woes. And I think Bibi Netanyahu has changed people's feelings in Israel about him. Almost unheard of. He was the wrong leader at the wrong time. Many there were arguing. Now it's starting to shift. Why? They are in straight war mode. Ukraine is getting exhausted. They're running out of people, they're running out of will. They're starting to listen to everybody trashing Zelensky as part of the problem. He will be pushed to hold elections. I guess these are more predictions. I don't believe that that's going to be true in Israel. I do believe it's going to be true in Ukraine. And I think Israel is going to hunker down and say, we need to kill these mofos once and for all, because otherwise this is like Groundhog Day for us and it's got to end. And I think Trump is gonna have a really hard time negotiating that, because his lack of sophistication, his lack of gravitas is gonna loom large there with Bibi Netanyahu and the regional players. Similarly, I think that the idea that he can get Putin to do anything is so naive. And this is now Putin's legacy. And it's a situation that, to be honest, Trump couldn't give two shits about. It worked for him as a cudgel in the election. Too much money to Ukraine. Zelenskyy's a bad guy. Remember, there's one reason Trump thinks Zelenskyy is a bad guy. Because of that phone call that got him in trouble.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Perfect phone call.

[Chris Cuomo]

That's the only thing he's got going. Remember who did Zelensky replace? A Russian puppet. They voted him in two rounds of voting for change. So is Ukraine corrupt? Yeah. Distinguishing themselves in that way, yes. But Zelensky wasn't part of the kleptocracy or the kakistocracy. He was a change agent. How well has he done? I don't know. We'll see in the next elections. But that is a false narrative that Trump used out of convenience. Now, you're going to need gravitas, you're going to need intelligence, you're going to need sophistication, you're going to need. You're dealing with really old, established cultures and players here. And I think he's going to be way out of his depth. And I hope that I'm wrong, because we need these conflicts to end, to wrap this up.

[Ryan Reynolds]

We start with some sort of personal predictions you tried to get out of me about my brood of cicadas or whatever. Do you have any personal predictions for yourself for 2025? Like a. Like a mustache or an earring or.

[Chris Cuomo]

If I could grow anything other than pathetic facial hair, I would have a full beard and mustache.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Really?

[Chris Cuomo]

100%. I am the guy who should. You know, my other producer here, Amrish, literally looks like Captain Caveman. He should not have that beard. I should. Now, it's in part cultural frame, not just aesthetic. Come over here, Amrish. He's very handsome, and I love him, and I love how the team has come together. I mean, he's a beautiful guy. He's a smart guy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He's a talented guy. He's a frame. He's more of an audio producer.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yeah, he's not a frame.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He's an audio engineer. So I have to.

[Chris Cuomo]

Amrish is into music, and he's into tech, and he's in all these things. He's beautiful. But I should have this. This should be on my face. I am manly. He is a renaissance man. You know what I'm saying? He's artistic, and he's all these other things and creative and sensitive. I am a caveman. I should have a big, thick beard. I wouldn't wear it like his because ethnically, it wouldn't match my people the way it does his. But I would want a beard and a mustache.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Wow.

[Chris Cuomo]

Sadly, though, there is zero predictive about this, because unless Amrish decides to take part of his face and put it on mine.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Why don't you go to Turkey? Go to. Everybody's doing those, like, turkey hair trims.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yeah, they look great.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, they do.

[Chris Cuomo]

They look fucking terrible. Come on. They look like doll heads.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, please.

[Chris Cuomo]

It's terrible. Don't do that. Just look online.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Unless you want to. Hey, your body, your ch. Do whatever you want.

[Chris Cuomo]

No. Bad choice. Bad choice. So, personally, for me, I am going the wrong way on my health. My long Covid is not great because I'm not doing the things I need to be doing. So I am under the weather on a regular basis, and it sucks. My face is hot on a regular basis. People keep saying, well, but you look great. You're getting tan somewhere. No, I'm not. I'm flushed from long Covid. It's histamine response. And I'm working with Dr.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Rob.

[Chris Cuomo]

But, you know, God bless her, it's not her fault. I don't do the shit she wants me to do. Why? I have to work this year on caring about my happiness more, you know, not to get too complicated and, you know, how much do you really care about my shit? You got your own shit. But you can't just live through what you do for other people because what happens is you wind up acting out and you wind up having negative behaviors and exaggerated indulgences to kind of offset the imbalance. And that's a mistake. Or it's been a mistake for me in the past. And I have to focus more on my happy and what brings me pleasure and what makes me feel better, health wise. I got to work on it, so I'm doing it. I also am going to have some big stuff this year. We're going to have our oldest graduate from college. We're going to have our youngest, probably make a decision to go away to school, which is basically like having all my kids gone.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Wow.

[Chris Cuomo]

So because Muscles Marinaras, you know, in school, overseas. So they will all be gone and that will be really, really big change. Also, I think my wife is going to have a couple of big moves in business also this year that I'll have to accommodate. She's actually like a real boss lady as opposed to, like, me being like a cog in the media machine. She runs a business. So those are all big things to me personally. But there's a lot of personal development that needs to be done this year. And I have to find new ways to grow in the new environment that we're in politically and socially. To grow the podcast, to grow News Nation. Because it's all about reach, right? You got the three Rs in communication, reach, which is going to be a function of how resonant or relevant you are. Right. And that goes to, like, what the algorithms reward, which doesn't work in my favor. And then you get revenue, which is how you monetize what you do and what you do with that revenue, which I also think is a big part of the equation that no one ever talks about in the media. What do you do with your money? What are you doing with it? Like, you know, Joe Rogan, you just. They just paid you a gazillion dollars. What does he do with it? Oh, well, that's his business. I don't know. Is it? Everybody is actually contributing to what they pay him. Right. By subscribing to Spotify. Right. So same thing here. That's why I tell you what I use revenue for. I'm not trying to, like, impress you. I'm just being transparent. That's where we're helping people get long Covid treatment. That's why I want more of you to subscribe. I'm not impressed by the 60 bucks a year. And I know that for some of you, that's a lot of money. I get it. But I think for a lot of you, it's not a lot of money. And you spend that or more in like eight or nine things that you probably forgot about. So I'm just talking about it as a value proposition. And I think that that's something also that I'm going to be working on this year is to kind of have people understand that they're part of something with me. That's why the POD is called the project, because it's working on something together.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, just from my perspective, I hope that myself and Amrish and the team, that we're at least able to help bring you a little bit of happiness. And I have a good time recording this. We all usually have a good time doing this. We love working on this particular project with you. It's always very fun to come and talk about all this cicadas and sandwiches and my last name and all that. So I'm. I. At the very least, I hope that as down as the news will likely get with all everything you went over, there's gonna be a lot of ups and downs this year, as they are every year. But I don't know, I hope that you can find a little pocket of joy in coming coming to your own apartment to pay to shoot your own thing that you release to. To these hundreds of thousands of people.

[Chris Cuomo]

I literally pay. I pay my friends. I definitely have joy. I want to work on having more joy. And one of the things that I have going for me is that I get to do what matters most to me with people I love doing it with. And that has not always been the case, and it certainly is not usually the case, but it is here. I got these two guys here and the rest of the Rabbit Grin team that produces for us. And I got Dusty and the team at News Nation. I've never been better set up for success. So that is all highly predictive of good things to come.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Let's sing the New Year's song. Should all acquaintance be I never liked.

[Chris Cuomo]

And never brought to mind should at.

[Ryan Reynolds]

All acquaintance be forgotten in days of.

[Chris Cuomo]

Auld lang syne what does old lang syne meet again?

[Ryan Reynolds]

In the English speaking world, it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight.

[Chris Cuomo]

But what does it mean? Old lang syne Long long ago See.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Old long since times Long past days gone by Old times for the sake of old times that's like a Green Day song. Really?

[Chris Cuomo]

I love Green Day.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Me, too. I guess it's over now. All right, wrap it up.

[Chris Cuomo]

Look, I'm not in the prediction business. I'm in the business of helping you make sense of what actually happens around us. But sometimes it's good to project out into the future of what we think may happen. And sometimes that can happen to motivate what actually does happen. I'll tell you what. If you think you're gonna strike out, the chance you strike out goes up. If you think you're gonna hit a home run every time, you're not gonna hit a home run every time. But there's a better chance that you don't strike out. So maybe if we plan for success, we may find more of it, as long as we do the right things. And a big part of that is usually doing it together. Okay. I am so grateful and thankful for what we have built together to this point. And I am all in on doing even more and better this year with you. So what do you say? Let's get after it.