Why Politics No Longer Reflects Most Americans

Summary

The Chris Cuomo Project

Episode: "Why Politics No Longer Reflects Most Americans"

Date: January 20, 2026
Host: Chris Cuomo
Guest: Michael Smerconish

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Overview

In this episode, Chris Cuomo sits down with fellow veteran broadcaster and famously independent voice Michael Smerconish to discuss the widening gulf between American political discourse and the true beliefs and priorities of most Americans. The discussion explores why partisan extremes dominate despite the clear rise of political independents, the toxic incentives in modern media, and what can be done to restore civility and common experience in American civic life. The duo dig into poll findings, gerrymandering, closed primaries, the power of algorithms, and the need for stronger community bonds as antidotes to runaway division.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Reclaiming the Middle: "The Mingle Project" and Restoring Common Bonds

• [04:01–06:05]
  • Smerconish introduces the "Mingle Project" with the goal of rebuilding common community experiences lost to political self-sorting and tribalism.
  • He cites academic works—Putnam’s Bowling Alone, Twenge’s iGen, Bishop’s The Big Sort, Haidt’s The Anxious Generation—as parts of a puzzle, all pointing to the erosion of shared social spaces.
  • Quote:

    "I've had this epiphany... the self-sorting among us, the divide politically around us, it needs to get fixed. And the way to do it is to restore common experience."
    —Michael Smerconish [04:12]

The Disconnect: America’s Silent Majority of Independents

• [06:05–07:26]
  • Recent Gallup poll: 45% of Americans self-identify as independents.
  • Most political discourse ignores this plurality, focusing on stoking division for commercial gain.
  • Quote:

    "But if you tune into your most popular pundit... they're all stoking that flame against one another. They don't want to know that 45%, a plurality, are independents."
    —Michael Smerconish [06:49]

The Loudest Voices Dominate: Why Extremes Get All the Oxygen

• [07:26–09:56]

  • Cuomo and Smerconish discuss how passion among the fringes outcompetes the numerically larger center, due to intensity and media algorithms.
  • Institutional structures—closed primaries, gerrymandering—amplify extremist control.
  • Quote:

    "Passion resides among the fringes... They win on a passion index, right? But they don't win in terms of the numbers."
    —Michael Smerconish [07:41]

• [09:12]

  • Smerconish: "Can you imagine how easy it would be, Chris, to show up and read the fucking talking points... Oh my god, what a day at the beach that would be."

Media Incentives, Outrage Algorithms & Public Cynicism

• [12:05–15:10]
  • Cuomo compares understanding media code to seeing the Matrix: pundits pursue outrage and division for clicks and revenue.
  • Smerconish points to the perverse incentives of social media—a system that rewards rage and demagoguery.
  • Quote:

    "The algorithms, I think, reward the kind of bad behavior... They reward rage, they reward hate. The quickest path to get a following is to be one of those individuals. I couldn't sleep if I played that game."
    —Michael Smerconish [14:12]

Will It Take a Catastrophe to Reunite America?

• [15:10–16:40]
  • Cuomo recalls post-9/11 unity but doubts it could be replicated outside extreme crisis due to entrenched partisanship.
  • Quote:

    "The refractory change is something so terrible that all the artificiality of conflict falls away... But if it's anything like what we've seen before, then it's Trump saying, this is the left, and the left is saying, this guy is Hitler."
    —Chris Cuomo [15:52]

Reflexive Partisanship—and the Search for Anyone Who Breaks Script

• [17:09–19:35]
  • Both express frustration that, after any hot-button event, public figures and social media instantly retreat to party lines without honest, nuanced dialogue.
  • Smerconish wishes for a conservative to admit police excesses or a progressive to acknowledge valid law enforcement points—rare, if not nonexistent.

Media’s Ever-Lower Guardrails, and the Rise of Algorithmic Outrage

• [19:35–23:36]
  • Cuomo laments the lack of editorial guardrails in digital media, where trending is driven by primal “worst inclinations.”
  • Smerconish raises alarms about the role of AI in amplifying fake news and videos, imagining a near-future where people argue over totally fictitious viral events.
  • Quote:

    "Never in the existence of media before have we allowed the main editorial direction to be a consistent feeding of human beings' worst inclinations... That's what the algorithms do. By design, they find the most provocative to drive outrage."
    —Chris Cuomo [21:17]

The Crisis of Accountability—and the Value of Media Structure

• [22:48–23:51]
  • Cuomo defends legacy media’s editorial layers, arguing some system of responsibility is needed, even if imperfect.
  • Smerconish agrees: "We need parameters that are established and enforced to rein in all of the incivility and all of the content that's false." [23:36]

Hope in Generational Change and a New Independent Plurality

• [25:18–26:26]
  • Despite cynicism, Smerconish sees hope in the record-high proportion of Millennials and Gen Xers identifying as independents.
  • More participation can “water down the fringes,” and perhaps a new generation used to this fractured climate will demand change.
  • Quote:

    "My glass is half full... In that Gallup survey... 45% of society saying they're an I, not an R or a D... it's Millennials and the Gen Xers. So I would like to think that they could save us."
    —Michael Smerconish [25:18]

The Economics of Division and the Wallet as the True Voter Issue

• [38:20–41:00]
  • Despite media’s obsession with culture wars, both agree that midterms hinge on affordability: “gas and groceries.”
  • Smerconish: “Wallet wins. Cost structure—there is no deviation from it anywhere I go, anyone I talk to.” [38:55]
  • Both criticize how health care reform is discussed and manipulated in politics, noting structural challenges and perverse incentives.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Chris Cuomo, on the independent predicament:

  "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am stuck in the middle with you. What an amazing theme song for an independent political voice."
  [00:30]

• Michael Smerconish, on bipartisanship:

  "You and I are the same... Thank you for showing us that left and right don't have to be divorced from right and wrong."
  [00:41]

• Smerconish, raw on the “passion index”:

  "They win on a passion index. But they don't win in terms of the numbers."
  [07:41]

• Cuomo, on outrage algorithms:

  "That's what the algorithms do. By design, they find the most provocative to drive outrage. They admit it, they say it... We've never had that in media before."
  [21:17]

• Michael Smerconish, on AI and fake videos:

  "There could be a video that would be floated. We'd have no idea whether it was bogus... And we'd be arguing about something that was completely fictitious. That's a new wrinkle to it."
  [22:16]

• Cuomo, on why media needs some order:

  "I've seen the upside of editorial layering and accountability and responsibility more than I've seen the downside..."
  [22:48]

• Smerconish, on hope for independents:

  “We water down the fringes when more people get in the pool. And right now, there are institutional forces at play that preclude those independents among us from having the same seat at the table...”
  [25:18]

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Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:30: Opening theme, introduction of Michael Smerconish and the episode’s focus
• 04:01: The “Mingle Project”—reestablishing shared civic experience
• 06:05: Gallup poll: 45% Americans self-identify as independent
• 07:41: Why passion at the extremes dominates politics
• 09:56: The commercial incentives for outrage and tribalism
• 12:05: Media’s financial motivations: comparing it to seeing the code of The Matrix
• 14:12: Social media algorithms feed division
• 15:10: Could catastrophe reunite divided America?
• 17:09: Reflexive partisanship after contentious events
• 19:35: Social media, legacy media, and rise of “worst inclination” algorithms
• 22:16: AI and the threat of indistinguishable fake content
• 23:51: Editorial structure vs. chaos in modern media
• 25:18: The next generation's potential to fix what’s broken
• 38:55: “The wallet wins”—true voter priorities vs. media narratives
• 41:00: The hard political realities behind healthcare, taxes, and lobbying

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Tone & Takeaways

• Candid, irreverent, and sometimes profane (plenty of self-deprecating gym stories and colorful language from both men)
• Lively banter and deep respect between two fiercely independent broadcast journalists
• Critical and forthright about both political institutions and their own industry’s shortcomings
• Hopeful call for a more representative, civil, and engaged American middle
• Urgent warnings about the present and near-future threats of algorithmic media and AI-generated misinformation

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Conclusion

Through humor, tough honesty, and deep personal experience, Cuomo and Smerconish chart the ascendancy of independent voters and the challenges posed by systems that reward division and outrage. They call for renewed civic engagement, editorial guardrails, and the rebuilding of common experience—especially as a new independent generation rises, potentially poised to reclaim American politics for the rational, decent, and pragmatic majority.

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For more: Listen to the full episode for detailed anecdotes, poll breakdowns, and further practical ideas for bridging divides.

Transcript

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[Chris Cuomo]

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[Chris Cuomo]

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am stuck in the middle with you. What an amazing theme song for an independent political voice. And Michael Smerconish has it. He's got the Steelers wheel anthem, and boy, oh boy, is it fit for him. Perfectly. And I wanted to talk to the poll master Michael Smerconish with all of his great insights he has in his Twitter polls that he puts out. How does he see the state of play in our politics? Why does he believe that the independent is the future? And what does he think about me coming into his backyard there at Sirius Radio? He's got something to say about everything, and it's always well thought out. Here is the master of the middle, Michael Smerconish. Michael Smerconish, I am a friend and a fan. Thank you very much for showing us that left and right don't have to be divorced from right and wrong. I don't know what the Mingle project is. Help me understand.

[Michael Smerconish]

Okay, first of all, will you cover the guns? I. I feel like you're gonna kick sand in my face next.

[Chris Cuomo]

No.

[Michael Smerconish]

Is that too. Is that. Huh?

[Chris Cuomo]

No, never. You and I show you. You and I are the same.

[Michael Smerconish]

You. What's. What's under this? Size 44 sport coat.

[Chris Cuomo]

44. That's. That's no joke. No, you don't have to show me, and I don't want to know. And you and I are on the same side. And if anybody ever did the wrong thing to you, they would have a very profound.

[Michael Smerconish]

You're nice to say that. I promise, I promise I will answer whatever that question was that you asked me, but I just want to tell you, you, like, bring back memories that the apex of my physical was as an undergraduate at Lehigh. I will never forget when I could bench press my own weight. And I don't mean the old universal machine. Right? Like, it was a Big thing if you could get up your own weight on free weights. And I remember that moment. It was my sophomore year, but it's been downhill ever since. Anyway, nice to see you.

[Chris Cuomo]

I know the trajectory, my friend. Brought into sharp relief by my own son, who I call Muscles Marinara. Mario Cuomo, the legacy of my father, is taller than me. He is a professional model. He is 20. He looks like Tarzan, and he is literally better than me in every, every measurable way. And that makes me very happy. But look, we're all controlling our rate of death here, right? We're in, you know, once you get over, really 40, it's really a battle of attrition. And I am now in a category of what I call all show no go. I look more capable than I am. And I get it. I'm working on it. I'm trying. And that's how it is. No hormone replacement yet, But I am teaming up with a guy because my blood work is atrocious. But I'll save all that from another time. And when I see you in person, tell me what the Mingle Project is. Are you doing a dating site?

[Michael Smerconish]

No. And. And. And thank you for allowing me to do some shameless promotion. I was going to say self promotion, but it's. It's not about me. I'm trying to restore common experience. I've had this epiphany moment in the last two years, a particular moment that put me on a path of realizing that the self sorting among us, the divide politically around us, it needs to get fixed. And the way to do it is to restore common experience. I'm sure that in the Cuom family, whether it was your mom, your pop, your grandfather, your grandmother, they were joiners. You know, maybe it was Sons of Italy. Right? Maybe it was the Elks, maybe it was the Rotary Club, maybe it was the jcs. We've got to be buying into our communities and restore common bonds and any opportunity, you know, to come on and reach the. The. The Chris Cuomo project audience, I at least want to throw in a reference to it. I do videos. I speak on the subject. I'm trying to build bridges.

[Chris Cuomo]

First of all, I dig it. It's the answer. Not a great business strategy right now because we are in division for dollars mode. But you have always. You've always rejected that. I always thought some of the highest praise I would consistently hear about you. Mike was. Well, but he was a Democrat, right? No, but he was a Republican.

[Michael Smerconish]

Right.

[Chris Cuomo]

But now he's now. So not only did they not know which is amazing. But they did, even in their ignorance, acknowledge that you had transcended that. So you were, you were, were and are way ahead of where the situation is now. That's challenging commercially because what you should be doing is picking aside and beating the shit out of everybody who's not you. So when you're pitching the Mingle Project, what, what does that look like? I see the polling that you do all the time and they're very interesting questions. And I want to know what you've learned from your own efforts. Tell me, so what are you doing to help people mingle and what does that look like?

[Michael Smerconish]

So I constantly bring on guests. Not always that exciting. Chris, A lot of them are social scientists and academics, people who are familiar with the data. I feel it intuitively. But I've got plenty of science behind me. I'll give you an example. Robert Putnam, 20 years ago he writes Bowling Alone. That was really the seminal book in this subject, which says that it's all about joining and it's all about building bridges. But it's Putnam and it's Gene Twange with Igen, and it's Bill Bishop with the Big Sort, and it's Jonathan Haidt with the Anxious Generation. I don't see these works as one offs. I see them all as pieces of a puzzle that need to be assembled and presented as a narrative. So, I mean, you wanna talk about a poll? The most important poll that I have seen came out from Gallup this week and said that 45% of Americans regard themselves as independent, like the two of us. Okay, 45%. But if you tune into your, you know, your most popular pundit, somebody who's got a big. They're all stoking that, that flame against one another. They don't want to know that 45% of plurality are independents, but that's where most of the country is. You and I have talked about this before. The issues are a mixed bag. Conservative on some, usually the fiscal issues, and more progressive on the social issues.

[Chris Cuomo]

So explain to me then why what you and I have to process every day and what social media is, is nothing like the apportionment that you just outlined.

[Michael Smerconish]

Yeah, well, because I think that passion resides among the fringes. I think that a greater number of people are somewhere between the polar extremes. But we got stuff to do. You know, we've got bills to pay and families to raise and responsibilities to handle. And perhaps for us, we're not out there hanging the yard sign, the bumper sticker, writing the check and going to all the meetings that are required for people to express themselves politically. They win on a passion index. Right, but they don't win in terms of the numbers, at least according to me.

[Chris Cuomo]

Okay, if they don't win according to the numbers, then why how can it just be the fringe when it is the dominant dynamic in what trends and who has influence?

[Michael Smerconish]

I don't know if you know this. I'm the lead plaintiff in an action pending in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania right now that seeks to overturn our closed primary situation. Our state your love it, your state and Florida sucks. Are like yeah, are the big three. And, and look the, the answer to your question is that for a lot of these elections it's, it's preordained by the time of the general election in the mid, in the midterm, 435 congressional districts. How many are really in play? 35. I don't know. That's what David Wasserman tells me. So you know, the passion gets rewarded in closed primary states, gerrymandered districts. A lot of self sorting taking place out there where collecting among the like minded. And that's what I'm trying to, to fight against. And you're right, you and I together, you were never that way at cnn. You're not that way now. We're not that way together on potus. We would have a hell of a lot easier path if we were like the extremists. Can you imagine how easy it would be Chris, to show up and read the fucking talking points, you know what I mean? Instead of thinking about an issue, it's like just tell me what to say. Oh, okay. Trump good, trump bad. And then follow the breadcrumbs. Oh my God, what a day at the beach that would be.

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[Chris Cuomo]

Well, I gotta tell you, I mean, it is getting harder. You know, the. The. The challenge is that not only do I consider myself to be losing, and I do believe in the Pyrrhic victory of fighting the good fight, I. I do believe in that, even if it's a little man in La Mancha E. But it is hard to. It's. It's not hard. It's confusing to see what works for people. Like, I was watching. I'm like Neo. I'm like Keanu Reeves at the end of the first Matrix, where I just start to see the code and I'm like, oh, I know why Megyn Kelly's going to Candace Owens. Oh, I know what this is about. Oh, now she's saying that she's a yellow signal in Venezuela. Oh, she's trying to get him back. She took a beating last week. She's trying to make that adjustment. I see. Oh, look at Don. Oh, look at Acosta. Oh, look at Benny Johnson. Oh, look at Pacman. I see these people, and I see why they're doing what they are doing, because it's generating clicks and revenue. But it has become, I think, Michael, not fringe anymore. Even if. Even if it is reflective of minority populations looked at demographically on the whole, in terms of our media, political culture. They are now what is driving our dialogue and our decision making. I mean, it's not about.

[Michael Smerconish]

Look.

[Chris Cuomo]

I mean, look at. Look at affordability. Mike. There's no question that the Democrats best angle for the midterms is just beating the drum of no culture. Wars, just affordability. The cost of this, the cost of that. Purchasing power this, purchasing power that. Wages this, wages that. But they can't stay on that. They've got to do the dance because they want to get the clicks every day, Mike. And I don't see a way out of it.

[Michael Smerconish]

I concede a lot of those points. We've ceded the ground to the loudest voices in the room. And the algorithms, I think, reward the kind of bad behavior that you and I are talking about. Right? They reward rage, they reward hate. And the quickest path to get a following is to be one of those individuals. I couldn't sleep if I played that game, you know? Hey, Chris, do you know what I want to do? I want to buy your boat. And I want to buy your boat paved with a message like, we need to mingle, we need to build bridges. Wouldn't that be a great thing? Wouldn't it be nice if the people who want to put the society together again and restore civility are the ones who get rewarded? Call me a dreamer. I think you can do what we do. I think we're proving it and be successful. Maybe not to the extent as those who are stoking the animus, but the water's warm.

[Chris Cuomo]

Listen, I agree. You and I are depending on human nature in something other than, I hope, abject, unconscionable crisis. Because that is the refractory change. Right? The refractory change is something so terrible that all the artificiality of conflict falls away. Nobody can tell you what the state of play was in government on September 8, 2001. Nobody can tell you. They just know that once September 11 came, everybody was on the same page and we all knew who the bad guy was.

[Michael Smerconish]

Yeah, I don't know if that would happen again.

[Chris Cuomo]

I do.

[Michael Smerconish]

I don't know if that would.

[Chris Cuomo]

There's no way it happens again. Here's what happens. Unless, again, it's got to be unconscionable. It's got to be so. An order of so much greater magnitude that you don't have time for contrivance. It's too existential. But if it's anything like what we've seen before, then it's Trump saying, this is the left, and the left is saying, this is it. This is. This guy. This guy is Hitler. He's normalized all these wrong things. And the American people, sadly, would then move on from whatever it is. It would get six to eight days of coverage. It could be 10,000 dead people in a secondary city in New York, in America, it would get six to eight days of major coverage, and we would move on to something else.

[Michael Smerconish]

I fear that you're right, but I think something that's relevant is the immediate aftermath of the Minneapolis shooting. And it was predictable, but so frustrating to see that, that when, you know, when one video had come out, even before a video had come out, people were suiting up in their usual partisan jerseys. I was looking at that, you know, with. With hopefully some critical thinking and an independent eye and seeing fault on both sides. You know, she put herself in that position. He overreacted.

[Chris Cuomo]

Oh, no question. The legal analysis is easy. The legal analysis is the easiest part of the situation. Whether or not they're criminal charges or not, I get what the test is. I get what she did. I get what reasonable people would do in those situations. I get it all. What we saw, which was interesting to me, is right saying, oh, I'm not going to get in the heads of the investigators. I'm not going to do that. Let them do it. It's not for me, which is such a hedge that they will do all day long. And the left was doing what it should in this case now, calling it a murder, saying that this is what ICE does. Of course everything is going to go too far in an angry moment like that. But to me, what the sticky bit is with Minnesota is there is what was on Nome's podium. One of us, all of yours, on the Homeland Security podium that she speaks in front of. The motto is one of ours, all of yours. Who is she talking about? They're all ours. Who's yours? Who's the you? Who's the them? I have never seen anything like it. And no, I'm not going to tie it directly to Nazism. Yes, there have been fascistic exercise of this collective strength versus the non, you know, the non believer in Nazism and in a lot of different movements. So it doesn't have to be that. But you and I have never heard of anything like that before. And you got to ask her, who's the yours? The illegals, who's the yours?

[Michael Smerconish]

I would love for there to have been, and if you know a name, then you can correct me, a conservative, a single conservative who would have said something along the lines of my natural inclination. My loyalties lie with law enforcement, but in this case, I viewed this as an excessive use of lethal force. Or a progressive who would say, my instincts lie with the activist. I think that ICE is out of control. But, geez, why didn't she obey the ICE command? Why did she accelerate? Why did she. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And I'm hard pressed to identify anybody who broke character. And that's what it's all become. Just. Just a play on an ongoing basis.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yes. And that's what we see again and again and again. Here's the problem. It has taken over. It is what now? Here's the one missing. Here's the one piece we control that keeps getting ignored. And I do believe this is going to change and it's going to change this. So right now, the piece of sophistry that justifies the state of play on social media is you call it legacy, call it msm, call it whatever you want, anything other than social media. You people, including me, obviously fucked it up. And so now we all get to do it, okay? But that has become a justification for doing it worse. We have never seen mis and disinformation like we see now. We have never seen the lack of corrections. We now have influencers who say, breaking news coming into the Michael Smerconish newsroom. There's no newsroom, there's no staff, nobody works there. You're getting it from some social media feed that you saw on Twitter, and that's their justification. You screwed it up. So now we're gonna be able to do it worse. Now there is one aspect though. Here's the one aspect, Mike, that I want your take on. Never in the existence of media before have we allowed the main editorial direction to be a consistent feeding of human beings worst inclinations. If you did that on your serious show or on your next CNN show, and you were like, today I'm going talk to you about the three things that should make you want to kill your neighbor most. You would get immediate phone calls of. Michael, what the. What are you doing? Get in here. We got to have a meeting. That's what the algorithms do. By design, they find the most provocative to drive outrage. They admit it, they say it. People who advertise want their ads placed adjacent to that content. We've never had that in media before. Bleeds it leads, yes, but there was always an editorial pushback that, hey, you guys are just doing infotainment or you guys are just doing sensationalism or what about not with social media? So now we have what decides what trends is something designed to deliver us feedings of only our worst inclinations on a topic. We've never dealt with this before and it's destroying us.

[Michael Smerconish]

And it becomes self fulfilling because artificial intelligence can then feed that system not Only with content selection, but also with audio. And what worries me most, video. It occurred to me as we were watching those multiple videos from Minneapolis that the day has arrived where there could be a video that would be floated. We'd have no idea whether it was bogus. Right. And we'd be arguing about something that was completely fictitious. That's a new wrinkle to it. And I don't know how we win that battle.

[Chris Cuomo]

I don't know how we win any battles. I gotta be honest. You know, people are like, you gotta get off Cable News Nation, you know, whether they like or they don't like it, you gotta have your own thing. It's all independent now. I don't believe in that. I believe in resources. I believe in bosses. In fact, you know, I think that there are challenges with it. Yes. But in this business, I've seen the upside of editorial layering and accountability and responsibility more than I've seen the downside. Yes, there's downside. We all know it. It's been going back a long time, but not like what I see with these independent guys. They don't even give a shit if they're right. They just move on. They just move on.

[Michael Smerconish]

Yeah. No guardrails, no structure. I agree with you. I'm old. I'm old school in the same sense as you that we need some type of. We need parameters that are established and enforced to rein in all of the incivility and all of the content. That's false.

[Chris Cuomo]

I think it's over. I don't know what comes next again. It's like the Matrix. I can't believe how far ahead those Wachowski brothers were. I'm telling you, I would, like, become a disciple of theirs if they hadn't become like sisters instead of brothers now. And not because I'm anti trans. It's not it at all. It's just. I don't understand. Or maybe they were even ahead of it again, you know what I mean? Because they transitioned before anybody else was. But when I watched that movie, the Wachowski brothers were talking about things that we're like five years away from right now.

[Michael Smerconish]

Right now.

[Chris Cuomo]

And that was like 20 something years ago that they. That they came up with the Matrix. But even then, it's. The message is, I don't know what comes next. But I want you to know we are aware of what you're doing, and we're coming to stop you. That's where some of us are coming. That's what you see in the Smerconish. Number of the plurality of Americans are now, no, I'm not a Republican. I'm not a Democrat by choice. I am neither. That's what you're seeing. I also do get the counter argument there, Mike, which I'm sure you get hit with all the time also. And I don't have a great answer for it, which is, oh, so you don't want me to be able to vote in my state's primary, and all of these people are on one team or the other, and I am antagonistic to absolute things that I see on one side, and you just want me to not have any agency. You just want me to just not be part of it. That's what you're asking me. What's your response?

[Michael Smerconish]

Yeah, my response is to say, I think we all benefit from increased participation. I think we water down the fringes when more people get in the pool. And right now, there are institutional forces at play that preclude those independents among us from having the same seat at the table as the rest of the Republicans and Democrats do. And by the way, my glass is half full. You're kind of bumming me out, but I'm looking forward to us bookending on potus. This conversation where people are gonna get a healthy dose of the two of us back to back, talking to people who are on the left, on the right, but also in the middle, because I think they need voice, and we're gonna give and we're gonna give it to them. But. But the glass half full is that in that Gallup survey? What has changed that now has 45% of society saying they're an I, not an R or a D, which is an all point high. It's the millennials and the Gen Xers. So I would like to think, Chris, that they could save us because this is the only environment they've ever known, and they don't like it and they don't want to be a part of it.

[Chris Cuomo]

Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from superpower. Now, I am all about the data when it of my wellness. If I can't measure it, if I don't understand the metrics involved, then I don't take it or I won't try it. Okay? Superpower is the key ingredient to understanding you. Okay, here's what it works. They send a licensed professional to your home, or they work with, you know, labs that'll be nearby you. All right? So you can do it either way. It's a simple blood draw. And they have over 100 biomarkers by the way. That's a lot more than you usually get in a CBC from your doctor, okay? And what these biomarkers do is they are the metrics that tell the story of you, okay? What are you doing? Well, with what are you not? What do you need? Where are you proficient? Where are you deficient? Okay? Heart, liver, thyroid, hormones, metabolism, vitamin mineral levels. Listen, listen, my brothers and sisters in Gen X, 50 Plus Fitness, okay? 50 Plus Fitness is doing it smart, not doing it more or harder, okay? Superpower is the most comprehensive and advanced system out there to understand you, okay? And you don't have to guess. You don't have to figure out why something's working or not and why you're sensitive to things or not. The blood tells the story. And that's why I'm so high on this product and working with this make this year, the year that you stop guessing about your health. That's why you need Superpower. Not only did Superpower reduce their price to just a buck 99, but for a limited time, our listeners get an additional 20 bucks off with the code CUOMO. Go to superpower.com, use my name as the code at checkout, and you'll get 20 bucks off your membership. Okay? Now, look, they're going to ask you. Hey, where'd you hear about Superpower? Show the love, man. Tell him Cuomo sent me. First of all, you've. You've been doing it. You are a steady diet. You change with the dynamics in terms of not your principles, but your positioning and how you deliver the perspective. That's why I love what you do. And it's a big reason that I wanted to go back and be with you in the morning. I didn't want to do an afternoon thing. 1. I don't. I don't have the time. But I also. I just. I don't see the need. I got the podcast, I got the cable thing, but in the morning, you know, and. And being someone who listens to your show, you're a big reason I have sxm, by the way, because I listen to POTUS almost exclusively. It's Politics of the United States, channel 124 on Sirius. And I listen almost always for you, and not because I just. I love you as a guy, and you've been such a good friend over the years, but I need to hear people who are open to what they disagree with, and I understand why there's no appetite for it, but it's now become a precious commodity. What I'd like to do that. I didn't the last time. And you and I go on each other's shows fairly regularly, but we used to do it even more. But then I got shit canned from where Michael is at cnn, so I can't go on those shows anymore. But I wish him and all the brothers and sisters there good luck. I'm not. I have no grudge against cnn. All you guys know that. Here it's different for me. But I want to come on your show more and I want to have more of the anchors there who are driving perspective on each other's shows. Because I want to show that people can disag decency. I mean, that's easy for us. I'm going to Defer to you 9 out of 10 times. We disagree anyway. But in general, like, even if it's like this, this Dean Obadiah guy who was like calling for me to be canceled the other day, I used to have that punk on my show all the time at cnn. I want to have him again now. And I'm calling him a punk, tongue in cheek. I get why he feels the way he does about me. He's wrong about seeing me as Islamophobic. I am the opposite of that. I want people to understand the difference between the perversion of that FAI extreme Islamism and the 1.6 billion Muslims that we have in the world. It's like blaming all Christians for the people who blow up the abortion clinics. So that's my message. I'm not an Islamophobe. Quite the opposite. But I want to go on a show and I want to have it be face to face, if it can be. And not because I'm a vanilla gorilla, but because people are different when they're looking at each other. People are different and they remember civility, that the veil of anonymity, the digital veil, makes you forget. You don't get what I get, and you don't deserve it either. But when people want to light me up in person, if they are a female, they light me up unless I'm with my kids. Women have always been decent, unless they're drunk. But if they're not drunk, women are decent. And if they see me with my kids, they leave it alone. If I'm not, they come up, hey, let me ask you. But it's never a question, right? It's an accusation. And they come. They don't give a myself, men. Here is the dynamic. Nine and a half times out of ten when there's going to be animosity. All right? Huh? You're much bigger than I thought you were. I'm telling you nine and a half times out of ten, okay, My response is always the same. Oh, it depends on the size of your television screen. Oh, you need a bigger television screen. And then they say, huh? And you can see they're struggling because they wanted to come at me and say, you hate Trump. You are anti this. You're wrong about that. But now they don't want to say it for the stupidest reason in the world, which is mail to mail. Now, it's not a keyboard. Now, there is a chance that there's going to be a price or a consequence that you're not ready to pay. Now, now, they happen to be 100% wrong, right? Because what happens as soon as anything like that happens is I'm writing checks, right? I'm writing checks. That's what's happening. So that's not gonna happen until I get my kids out of college. But they change, and then they start asking questions. And it made me realize, Michael, one, we got a lot of pussies in society. Two, man, Mike Tyson. I hate saying this, but Mike Tyson was right. Being on digital social media has made us forget that sometime times you get punched in the face for what comes out of your mouth. And that's why they're so ugly. There's no accountability, right? Yeah. And I hear it all the time, but I don't know what to do about it except talk to people. More indirect engagement, which Sirius is allowing me to do. I do it on. You know, I'm the only cable TV show. I take calls all the time at night. Which, like, the News Nation guys were like, what is this, 1960? Was it telethon? I was like, I'm telling you, hello. I'm telling you, it'll work. It'll work because they're gonna say things to me people aren't used to hearing people be allowed to say. Because News Nation plays to cable even more than CNN did. Cnn, Remember, the big breakout word was Dana Bash saying bullshit. And then we were all out to say bullshit. Then we were allowed to say shithole countries. News Nation realizes it's not fcc. It's got its own decency standards. But you can curse at me there. So people found that refreshing. They found it authentic, which is sad on one level, but I don'. About what gets you paid and gets you clicks and gets you put in people's feeds. I don't understand how you're supposed to overcome any of that.

[Michael Smerconish]

Look, we're gonna have Five continuous hours of independent thinking. We won't always agree. You'll be civil, I'll be civil. People will have a place where they can go, hear all perspectives and not have to play the game of suiting up in a predictable partisan jersey. So I'm, I'm thrilled. Let's go do this.

[Chris Cuomo]

Well, I'm, I'm happy to do it, and I'm always a call away to do it, especially when you don't like what's come out of my face, which could either be that I misspoke, how it was clipped, or I got it wrong. It could be any of those. But I am open to all of them and really appreciative of it. And it makes me, you know, want the audience to understand the benefit of, of the insight you provide in terms of how you see the state of play. Do you believe that the Trump administration is having a successful. Go to this point, and how do you define successful?

[Michael Smerconish]

Thank you for complimenting my poll questions. It takes me a long time to come up with them, and I love them. So this is being formatted in my noggin as I'm speaking to Chris Cuomo, but I have a poll question in my head along the lines of, if peace is kept in Gaza, if the Russian war with Ukraine ends, if Venezuela is reformed, if. What else do I want to put in the mix? Something about Cuba? Probably not Iran, if there's regime, if all of these things happen. Would you say Donald Trump has had a successful presidency? I don't know how. You don't say that he will have had it now. I don't know that that all happens. There's a lot there that can go wrong. But I think so many times it's a referendum on him without regard for what the issue might be. Everybody just decides, oh, Trump's for it, I'm against it, Trump's against it, I'm for it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And that's frustrating to me because Chris, oftentimes, I agree with where he's trying to go. The methodology is never what it should be. You know, so much gets broken along the way. But sealing the border, it was necessary, you know, 100%.

[Chris Cuomo]

That's. That's a layup. It's what he's doing with ice right now that I argue was not what was promised and is not necessary. I mean, I find it interesting what metrics you pick. I don't believe the midterms should be about all of the things that you mentioned. I don't think it should be.

[Michael Smerconish]

I'm not arguing that they will be.

[Chris Cuomo]

I think it should be just gas and groceries. Gas and groceries. And if, and if I have anything to say about it, and if Democrats listen to me at all healthcare, health care costs, if he doesn't bring in those health care execs and yell at them or whatever, he doesn't have to yell at them. That would be Puerto Rile also. But the when he promised that to our earlier conversation, I say, I gotta tell you, that's a good idea. You know that Trump's exactly the kind of guy who could bring in this group to come. They're gonna come and he could have them there and he could say, you know, everybody hates you guys. You know, the guy shot one of you and we're gonna have to fix this and we're gonna do it with you, without you. So I hope you got some ideas here and I hope you go meet and I'm gonna have Jeffries and I'm gonna have Schumer, unless the Democrats drop, kick his ass to retirement. And I'm going to have Johnson and I'm going to have Thune, and they're going to be sitting in the room. I'm going to say talk to them. I'm here to negotiate this any way you want, but it better change because I'm coming. If he does that, he's got a chance. But otherwise, I don't know.

[Michael Smerconish]

I don't mean to suggest that people are going to vote on Venezuela and not on the price of groceries. I'm just saying in looking at the issues as you and I are sitting here, what's hot button right now? Now, in a foreign policy realm, there's a lot of stuff going on and it could break in his direction. It could. Even if it does, I think that people won't give him credit for it.

[Chris Cuomo]

That's true. But the midterms, as you said you mentioned earlier, how many districts are actually up for grabs? And in those seats that are up for grabs, how has the district been manipulated in terms of its demographics then within that, what's the state of play within the primary? You know, once you check all those boxes about what came out of the primary and in those things, you distill it down to very few things that are going to move the needle. And I think one of the.

[Michael Smerconish]

One.

[Chris Cuomo]

Of the universals will still be that the wallet wins. The wallet wins. And cost structure is there is no deviation from it. Anywhere I go, anyone I talk to on the north shore of Oahu I had this lady come up to me when I was watching my son praying that he wasn't going to get driven into the reef because I didn't know how I was going to go get him if he did. And I'm sitting there on the beach, you know, just another fat guy on the, on the beach. And this lady comes up and she's like, like, you know, I don't know what he's talking about. About gas prices being down. Not in Honolulu, not in wi, not here, not for us. I said, well, you know, you're literally a set of islands, you know, off, off the coast. Things are going to be more expensive. They're more expensive where I live because I'm out on the eastern end of Long Island. It's more expensive. This is a national average. And she's like, I'm just telling you we're not feeling it. And I hear that everywhere. Michael.

[Michael Smerconish]

Yeah, I think healthcare is the most potent among them. Too often the media has, has cast this as a con, the ACA benefit extension, when in fact my health care went up. I'm an independent contractor. I buy my own health care. I'm not covered through cnn, I'm not covered through Sirius xm. I'm not covered through the Chris Cuomo project. So I'm an independent contractor writing my own check. My health Insurance went up 20.6% this year. In one year, 20.6%. So everybody, I think, is feeling this at some level. And even if Trump brings together those healthcare executives, which would be wise, where's the replacement plan? They focused all their energies on dismantling the Affordable Care act without any replacement. By the way, Chris, I'm the one guy you will meet who defends in the abstract the whole intention of the aca. Everybody's getting in the pool. Everyone will have health insurance. Therefore we can pay for the people with pre existing conditions. It makes sense. It's free market.

[Chris Cuomo]

Market.

[Michael Smerconish]

It's no different than you having to have insurance if you're going to drive your car. And the idea that people were hoisting Gadsden flags, don't tread on me. For the right not to have health insurance is crazy.

[Chris Cuomo]

Chris Cuomo project is brought to you by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Let's get something straight. This country works because we have rules. One of the most important rules is that the government doesn't get to tell you you what to believe. Okay? That is not anti religion. It is pro freedom. The First Amendment draws a clear line between church and state. Why? Because we are a secular society. We want people to be free to believe or not believe as they so choose. Okay? There is no indoctrination. So anyone's faith does not get prioritized. It doesn't matter how many of us feel or think a certain way. That's what elections are about, not the Constitution. Alright? We will not let religion be weaponized in politics. That's what the foundation is all about right now. That line is under pressure from Christian nationalist movements that want their beliefs written into law. Yes, I was raised in the Christian and Catholic, Catholic tradition. Yes, it matters to me. Yes, I choose to have faith. As flawed an individual as I am, that does not mean I want to put my faith on you. And I certainly don't want you to put your faith on me. The Freedom from Religion foundation exists to enforce that boundary in schools, courts, government. So everyone's rights are protected, not just the loudest or most powerful group. All right, this isn't one left versus right. It's rules versus chaos. So please visit FFRF US newyear. Okay. Or text my first name. Chris to 511-511. Support the work of protecting our shared freedom. Text Chris to 511-511 if you believe in fairness, accountability and a Constitution that applies to all of us equally, check it out. FFRF US/New Year. Or text Chris to 5 11. 511 message data rates. Of course they apply. Of course it's maddening on one level, but you know the aca, I say to people all the time, you call it Obamacare, that's fine. I don't know why they called it Affordable Care act, because it was really about accessible, it was really about extending coverage.

[Michael Smerconish]

Coverage.

[Chris Cuomo]

This came from Heritage. This was the Heritage Foundation. And the key to it was the individual mandate. And that's what Romney did in Massachusetts. And that's how it worked. And that's how the Republicans knew if they could vitiate that one aspect of it, get rid of the mandate, they knew that it would start to collapse. And so that's what they did. And now they say, look, it doesn't work. And it's like, yeah, you just poured sand in the gas tank and now you're bitching that the engine doesn't run well. So look, I get it. But you know what, as Bill O'Reilly loves to say, that's politics, you know, which he only says when it serves him. But it doesn't matter on one level. And as much as they're never going to have something to replace the academy, it's too big an idea. It's too much. It's not how Trump works. And what they'll do is they're going to see personal empowerment and private sector and competition as the right things here. And I disagree. I think that what's missing in the equation is something that is just as true in capitalism as it is in any other system. But we don't like it because the powerful don't like it. Which is is the rules. The rules, okay, Taxation of it being less for business than it is for top tier individual is a choice. That's not capitalism. It's a choice structure that we have. And you can absolutely say your tax rate is going to be X as long as the people who work for you in this group, and here's how I define it, make Y or that the C suites don't make more than Y. And if you don't meet that burden, you do not get that tax rate. There's nothing unconstitutional about it. There's nothing wrong about it. It's a choice. And the problem with that is the people you want to do that to hire people in every district across the country. And they give more money in lobbying than any other industry in the world. And the access to it is the most fundamental. Anybody who needs health insurance is ready to die for anybody who's going to take it from them because it's pretty much a life or death situation anyway. And that's why they don't mess with it. They won't even mess with the credit card companies. Trump just did a very clever thing here. Totally intellectually dishonest. He knows he can't do it by himself and he knows Congress isn't going to do do it. Two reasons. One, they're afraid of these guys lot of money, you know, a lot of money, 200 million a year they put into politics. Second reason, a lot of people in your districts are going to get cut off from credit and because of the purchasing power problem, they have to borrow. So they're not going to do it. Trump was clever to throw to dangle it out there like this nice idea. He can't do it and they won't do it. So he has two out doubts on it. He's going to get the credit for saying what's wrong, but not blamed for not doing anything to make it right.

[Michael Smerconish]

All right, brother. It all makes sense to me.

[Chris Cuomo]

Michael, I appreciate you very much. Thank you for spending time with me. Thank you for encouraging me to be part of the SXM lineup. I look forward to Being there, being on your show, Chris, we have.

[Michael Smerconish]

We have a history. I just want to say this quickly, if I may, because, you know, when you were doing Morning on cnn, I was a guest and it was fun, and I would come in studio, you, Alison, it was a good time. I thought that we had good content, we got along and we delivered the goods. You went to primetime. And then I had the privilege of guest hosting your show. You know, that was a big thrill for me, and I really appreciated the opportunity to hold down the fort. And we were, of course, in that same time period, period together at potus. But now the opportunity to be together, you doing mornings, me following you.

[Chris Cuomo]

I'm.

[Michael Smerconish]

I'm elated. I. I think it's like. I just think it's going to be five straight great hours of content. You're doing two, I'm doing my three, and together, I think it's going to be pretty potent. I really do. So I'm psyched. You're a good friend, and that's great. But this is also, like, a nice piece. We fit well together, I think.

[Chris Cuomo]

Listen, I think that's high praise to me, and I will take it. And I appreciate it. I look forward to the opportunity. I'm going to work very hard to make it work. I got a whole plan about what I'm going to do that is different than the last time that I did it, to make it really useful. And I look forward to your take on it. So, Michael, thank you very much. I'll talk to you and see you soon.

[Michael Smerconish]

Soon. By the way, Alan Parsons called. He. He wants the name of the. The show back.

[Chris Cuomo]

Let me tell you, I. It bothers me every time I hear. Hear it. I'm like, this is the most perfect song for a political show ever. Stuck in the middle with you Steelers wheel man. I don't know why. Let's talk. I don't know why you didn't buy it, but I would, if I had a little bit more success, if I could pick Aide for a year and make that partisan money, I would then go license the song and love telling you you can't use it anymore.

[Michael Smerconish]

You. You know that when you told me, when you told me you would love to have that song and I should own it, I. I did track down the surviving member of the band, and I had that conversation. I couldn't write the check. Cuomo could probably write the check.

[Chris Cuomo]

You better not tell me how much, because if I can, I will. Michael, I love you, but I love that song, too. Take care of Yourself.

[Michael Smerconish]

See my buddy.

[Chris Cuomo]

Michael Smish, always reasonable. Not just left and right. And look, I know that can be unsatisfying, especially in difficult times. But I have to tell you that hard times make strong people. And I will bank on guys like Mike like who are strong enough to be independent and refuse to fold. What do you think? Now I thank you for subscribing and following because you are critical thinkers. Right? That's why I'm selling this gear. Is that two reasons. One, to reinforce that you wear your independence, that you're a free agent. You're different. You're not one of these pack animals. Okay? You're not a party. First, you're not party anything. You're not led. You lead yourself through your own reason. Seasoned choice. Because you're a critical thinker, free agent. You're an independent. And the good news is we're the fastest growing part of the electorate. That's good. Now what's even better than that? Finding more ways to make a difference. So today, if you are an early bird and getting this as soon as it comes out, you have a chance to check me out on Sirius Radio today on channel 1 2, 4. That's their POTUS channel. No, not President. It's politics of the United States. And I'm starting my morning show there today, 7 to 9 Eastern. And what's different about it? I take what social media is trying to tell us and the influencers and the power players and the cognoscenti and they have. This is what they say the list of most important things is. This is what's trending. Is the trend. Your friend. I start off with that and I analyze for you. Here's why these things are trending. Here's what the context is of of them. Here's what matters and here's what doesn't. Here's what's true and here's what's not so that you can then form your own conclusions and preferences. We'll have big guests. Sure, sure. Why? Because it's important to talk to the players. But remember what this show is really about you. Okay? Letting you voice your frustration, your disassociation, your disbelief, your discontent. You're dissing of. I don't get get it. I don't want to get it. I don't like it. I want more of it. I know it feels like you don't identify and relate with a lot of what's going on in the media, especially social media. There's a reason for that and this is the remedy. And I'm happy to do it. So I'll see you there. You call in. I'll get to your calls now. I'll get to your call sooner. If you're a special person, how do you be special Also, so today, if you go anywhere that you get my content anywhere, where you get my Chris Cuomo Project podcast, you'll see that I have now subscription tiers. Sometimes that's just to get content without ads the easy way. You know that. But I'm doing other things on YouTube where I'm going to have tiers of subscriptions. Sometimes it'll help you get a preference on the radio show. Sometimes it'll get you content from me that you're not going to see anywhere else. Sometimes it'll be me fielding questions in a closed session with just those people. Sometimes it will be me one on one. If you want to pay for that, because my time is valuable too, believe it or not. But depending on the level of involvement and access that you want, check out the different subscription tiers. There's going to be plenty of content, just like always. But there are people who want to pay for a different experience, who want different access, and I'm okay with that. And as you know, you can always ask me questions through the Minecraft app as well. But this is easier access, more direct access. Look there on YouTube, look on the other platforms where you get the podcast, and you'll see what's available, what the pricing is and what you get for it. All right? I appreciate you subscribing and following everywhere or. Or anywhere. Okay. And I'll see you, of course, News Nation every weekday night, 8p and midnight. All right? News Nation, wherever you can get that on cable, you'll see it. If not, my clips are all over social media, Instagram, TikTok. You can follow me in all of those places. All right. This is a new iteration of my developing understanding of how I can help us get to a better place. And the key ingredient is you and your involvement and your interest. So thank you for that. And I'll be seeing you everywhere I can, every time I can. Let's get after it.