Cuomo's Mea Culpa

(September 18, 2024) Chris Cuomo allegedly called President Trump after the second attempted assassination to apologize for…something or other. He talked about it on his show, maybe Monday? It didn’t really pop up on any one’s radar until Wednesday, when it became a hot topic on social media. This is understandable because, really, who watches Cuomo anyway? Certainly not me. I’ve got much better things to do, like braiding my nose hairs.

At any rate, I put a link to the video and a transcript at the end of this piece. Watch it, read it; judge for yourself.

This is where I’m supposed to commend Cuomo for reaching out to Trump. I’m supposed to oooh and aaah about his conciliatory tone and his condemnation of the rhetoric his fellow Democrats have been spewing for years and years—except he didn’t, actually. I’m supposed to gush over his acknowledging Melania’s feelings, and applaud his sentiment that the verbiage has gone too far. I’m supposed to empathize with his frustration over the sad state of affairs in our political discourse and laude his courage to speak out in such a way, before all of his dozens of viewers.

Yeah, no. As the man said, “Nuts to that!”

I’m not saying I don’t agree with large chunks of what Cuomo said—I do. The rhetoric has long since passed the point of rational discourse. And whose fault is that? It wasn’t people on our side who started using terms like “bitter clingers,” “basket of deplorables” or the “threat to our democracy.”

As Fredo said: “Look, I'm not blaming Democrats. I'm really not. I blame the guy and whatever disease he has that the people around him either knew about and did nothing about. The guy was arrested 20 years ago for barricading himself with all these weapons. Why are we caring about one another? Where are we taking care of our own, where are we pushing to get help? We're leaving people languishing, dying on the streets. What is going on with us, I don't get it.”

Notice the “I’m not blaming Democrats” bit. Why not? What about that list the Trump campaign recently dropped of all those Democrats and their degradations, threats and comparisons to Hitler? When are you going to blame the Dems for that, Chris? Calls for apologies to Melania are all well and good, but how about telling Obama, Hillary, Biden, Kamala, Pelosi, Schumer, Walz and the whole Hee Haw gang they need to tone it down? ‘Cause we all know it’ll be a chilly day in hell when that happens!

He’s right about one thing: we are leaving our own people languishing and dying in the streets—and nowhere is that more apparent than in Cuomo’s New York City, where his brother Andrew used to be the Governor. It’s Democrat policies that have flooded our nation with “newcomers” that have been given the red carpet treatment while American citizens—many of them Veterans—got the shaft. Where are the calls to take care of our own first, Chris? It couldn’t be because all those “newcomers” vote for the party of free goodies while Veterans do not…could it?

And let’s not even start talking about what brother Andrew did during COVID, sending the elderly back to their nursing homes to make sure the virus could clean them out. The Nuremberg 2 trials are going to be ugly. Just sayin’.

Yes, we are hideously divided, and that process started during the reign of the Blessed Obama. President Trump’s first term wasn’t nearly sufficient to fix it, but he did threaten the Blob and the globalists enough that he had to be removed. Now, 3 ½ years after the stolen election of 2020, with a selected DEI candidate heading the Democratic ticket, the country is straining at the seams as hard as me trying to wear a Size M shirt. Both are unattractive to see and unlikely to hold together very long.

Given where we’re at right now, Chris Cuomo’s little mea culpa hit the right tone, but it’s too little, too late.

Cuomo chided Trump for missing the opportunity to tone his rhetoric down. Given how weak and insipid his own monologue was, I don’t think Cuomo has any room to talk.

Solid B for effort, Fredo. C- overall.

A 4:28 video of Cuomo’s show is at https://x.com/rob_vendetti/status/1835867358679765275?s=46&t=Lc2EZlMEXlWLpVSTrK_Y8Q

Transcript of the above video:

“And you can think what you want about Trump. He does not have many more full critics of what he says and does than me, ok? And yet I called him today because I am ashamed of how we are responding and not responding to the threats on him. And I feel for his family, and I know you can roll your eyes and say yeah that's your choice, and I think it's a wrong choice.

“OK we gotta get out of the judgment business and start judging ourselves, and you gotta start rewarding things that are better.

“And I gotta tell you, I don't know how he stays in the race. I don't know how he got up after being shot in the head. And you people who try to mitigate that? You need to check yourself. He gets up, pumping his fist, stays in the race, barely even talks about it?

“Now look, I do believe he has wasted opportunities, and he has another one now. Who better than Trump to say “we can do better? I can do better?”

“I know he keeps doubling down on his angry rhetoric. How can he not? It keeps working for him. I don't know that it gets him elected. My theory is that he needs to expand. He had a chance to do it after he was the target of an assassination. At the RNC, he had a chance to say “I know what got me here. It's not gonna get me where I want us to be.” He did not take that chance. He now has another chance.

““Oh, you're supporting Trump!” I'm supporting us. The idea that I am a Trump supporter is laughable to the man on your screen right now. (Trump) That is not what this is.

“I am worried about us. I am ashamed of what's happening around us right now, and the relative lack of concern about it. I just don't see how we get anywhere better than where we are right now.

“Look, I'm not blaming Democrats. I'm really not. I blame the guy and whatever disease he has that the people around him either knew about and did nothing about. The guy was arrested 20 years ago for barricading himself with all these weapons.

“Why are we caring about one another? Where are we taking care of our own, where are we pushing to get help? We're leaving people languishing, dying on the streets. What is going on with us, I don't get it.

“That's why I reached out to Trump. I wanted to just say, ”Listen, I’m really sorry that this is going on, and it's being dealt with this way.” Not because I'm in favor of his politics or what he says. I criticize him all the time. That's my job, and he deserves it, but he doesn't deserve this.

“A guy pointing an AK-47 at him while he’s playing golf? And we take solace in the fact that the guy didn't get any rounds off? That does not work for me.

“If I had been through what that guy’s been through in the last two months, you would not know where I am. You would never see me on TV again. No way I would do that. I don't know how he does it. He's got kids, they’re adults, but he's got grandkids. He's got a wife. People giving sh…crap to Melania Trump, worrying about whether or not there was a plot around his (sic) husband, how could she not? I don't think she's right, but I totally get why she feels that way, and people mock her? And then her husband has a guy pointing with an AK-47? Where are those people apologizing? That’s what it’s time for. “I should not have come at you, Melania Trump, for suggesting that maybe there was something more afoot. I get your paranoia. I get your feelings, you have a right to that.”

“There's nothing wrong with saying that, with being a basic decent human being. It has gotten too out of control, too far from where we need to be, and how we need to be, and I don't know what to do about it. I don't know.”

End transcript

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

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