Well, well, well—Chris Cuomo, of all people, is dropping some truth bombs about how the media has utterly failed to treat an actual assassination attempt on Donald Trump with the seriousness it deserves.
On his NewsNation show, Cuomo revealed Monday that he called Trump personally after the second attempt on his life, expressing his disgust at how the press and political class are downplaying the situation. Let that sink in: the former CNN anchor, who has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics, called the man directly to apologize for how poorly the media has responded.
Cuomo didn’t pull any punches, either. “The reaction is unacceptable,” he said, pointing out the stark difference in how things would have played out if the tables were turned. He rightly asked the question that everyone in the media should be asking: what if this had been Biden or Harris? Would there be the same nonchalant reaction? Of course not. We’d be flooded with 24/7 outrage, press conferences, and thinkpieces about how democracy is under attack. But since it’s Trump? Shoulder shrugs and discussions about Secret Service protocols.
Cuomo laid it out bluntly: “Oh, but the guy didn’t even shoot.” Yeah, because that’s the bar now—no bullets fired, no big deal. Can you imagine if it were Kamala Harris or President Biden? The media would be setting itself on fire with outrage, but because it’s Trump, they’re treating it like just another day at the golf course. The double standard here is mind-boggling, and Cuomo wasn’t afraid to call it out.
But it didn’t stop there. Cuomo went after the fake concern coming from Biden and the deafening silence from Kamala Harris, who seems more focused on her polling numbers than showing even a modicum of empathy. And don’t even get him started on the snide reaction to Melania Trump’s fears for her husband. Don Lemon, another former CNN talking head, had the nerve to roll his eyes at a video of Melania expressing her concerns about her husband almost being killed. Classy, right? Cuomo nailed it when he said, “I don’t think she’s right, but I totally get why she feels that way, and people mock her?”
Cuomo’s key point was that Trump—whether you love him or hate him—doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment. He even went so far as to say, “If I had been through what that guy has been through in the last two months, you would not know where I am. You would never see me on TV again.” And he’s right. Trump has endured two assassination attempts in as many months, and the reaction from the media and political elite has been muted at best and callous at worst.
We all know what is wrong with our politics and us as a people. How do we get to a better place? I don’t know what sets us right but I know damn well what is wrong. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/YOjMk9A5MW
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) September 17, 2024
Let’s be clear here: Cuomo is no Trump supporter. He’s criticized Trump relentlessly, and he admits as much. But even he’s willing to call out the absurdity of treating an assassination attempt like it’s just another blip in the 24-hour news cycle. The media, the politicians, the pundits—they’re all playing a dangerous game here, and Cuomo’s the rare voice in that world willing to call it out. He made it clear: this isn’t about politics anymore. This is about basic decency, and the fact that we’ve lost the ability to react to real threats without the filter of political bias is frightening.
“You can think what you want about Trump,” he said. “He does not have many more full-throated critics of what he says and does than me, okay? 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.”
“We are playing a dangerous game with ourselves, and we’re doing it for petty stakes,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo’s words are a reminder that, despite all the rhetoric and division, at the end of the day, we’re playing a “dangerous game with ourselves,” as he put it, all for “petty stakes.” Whether it’s Trump or anyone else, treating an attempt on a former president’s life like just another day in the news cycle is a sad reflection of where we are as a country.
