Leftist CNN opinion host Chris Cuomo exploded on Tuesday night over President Donald Trump telling the press today that he wanted to give Americans hope during the coronavirus outbreak.
Cuomo, who is infected with the coronavirus, said while quarantined in his basement, “Get real. The past is over. There can be no more letting politics reinforce our worst instincts. We need to build on our best instincts. And that said, while I’m asking you all to do that, the man at the top refuses to change.”
Cuomo then played a clip from Trump’s press conference where Trump said:
Well, the cases really didn’t build up for a while, but you have to understand, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I don’t want to create havoc and shock and everything else. … I’m not going to go out and start screaming, this could happen, this could happen.
“That’s exactly what leadership is,” Cuomo raged. “Anybody can tell people what they want to hear. And make it easier. And then you know what you get? Exactly where we are right now. That was the most asinine statement of leadership I have ever heard and I can’t even dismiss it on the president having 102 fever, like I do, because that is clear thinking from him.”
“I’m a cheerleader, so, I’m going to lie to you about the realities that your parents, your loved ones and your kids face,” Cuomo continued in his rant. “I’m not going to prepare the way I should because it reinforces the bulls**t I’m telling you and I’m going to hope you’re okay with it. We’ve got to do better than that. This president must do better than that. The good news is, he can. The bad news is, he refuses to. And that, I have no answer for. He said we’d be good by Easter. On Easter Sunday, you know what? I will be sick and I will be sick for some time to come. And somebody telling me something else doesn’t make me feel any better. It makes me feel worse about them.”
WATCH:
Raging @ChrisCuomo declares it's "bullshit" for President Trump to want to give people hope and NOT cause a national panic during the Wuhan Virus crisis. pic.twitter.com/ARyIGC2kqA
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 8, 2020
What Cuomo did not tell viewers was that the clip he showed them was deceptively edited and that Trump also explained that while he was trying to reassure the country that he was taking steps to combat the spread of the virus.
In his full remarks, Trump said:
Well, the cases really didn’t build up for a while, but you have to understand, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I don’t want to create havoc and shock and everything else but ultimately, when I was saying that, I’m also closing that down. I obviously was concerned about it because I closed down our country to China, which was heavily infected. I then closed it down to Europe. That’s a big move, closing it down from China and then closing it from Europe and then ultimately closing it down to the U.K. So, and it was right about that time. But I’m not going to go out and start screaming, this could happen, this could happen. So, again as president, I think a president has to be a cheerleader for their country, but at the same time I’m cheerleading, I’m also closing down a very highly infected place, specifically, the location, as you know, in China that the problems, and we’re closing it down. But we closed it down to all of China, then we closed it down to all of Europe and those were big moves.
WATCH:
Trump, asked by @benstracy about early statements downplaying COVID-19: "You have to understand, I'm a cheerleader for this country. I don't want to create havoc and shock…I'm not gonna go out and start screaming, 'This could happen, this could happen'" https://t.co/ghcURZHxfk pic.twitter.com/w4jimA5jLo
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 7, 2020