The Chris Cuomo Project - Chris Cuomo breaks down 2024’s most interesting stories

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

Chris Cuomo revisits 2024’s most significant moments, from the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the fallout of the presidential election to the unexpected rise of Hawk Tuah. He examines how outrage culture, media narratives, and shifting societal values defined the year and considers what these lessons mean as we move into 2025. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com Support our sponsors: Get Maine Lobster Right now, when you go to GetMaineLobster.com and enter promo code CUOMO at checkout, you get 15% off all orders. RadioActive Media Text Chris to 511511 or visit them on the web at radioactivemedia.com Text rats may apply.  Everyday Dose Head over to everyday dose dot com slash chris for 25% off plus 5 free gifts with your first order including a USB rechargeable frother, Go to everydaydose.com/chris for 25% off plus 5 free gifts with your first order. Cozy Earth A better year starts with better sleep—wrap yourself in Cozy Earth. Don’t wait! Head to CozyEarth.com/CHRIS now and use my exclusive code CHRIS for up to 40% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Chris Cuomo here at the Chris Cuomo Project joined by the one and only OAO Gregory Ott. And you know what that means? That means that we're gonna be taking a look at certain things where we play a little pitch and catch with the biggest stories of the year. Is that accurate? I know you heard pitch and catch

and you took it a different way, because you're a dirty bird. No, I heard OAO. What is OAO, original asshole Ott? Like what does OAO mean? It is now, one and only. No, I heard OAO. What is OAO? Original asshole aunt? Like what does OAO mean? It is now. One and only. Oh, one and only.

Ha ha ha ha ha. I like yours better though. Ha ha ha ha. Mr. Improv. That's a pretty good self-deprecating improv, I guess. Yeah, I like it. I like it. So we've had a pretty big year, I think 2024 record year,

in terms of the fact that we've had a pretty big year, I think 2024 record year in terms of, I don't know, heat. We've done well here at the pod. I mean, we basically doubled this year, right? Yeah, we have almost half a million subscribers on YouTube. We are like, I think by the time you watch this, we might be at the half million point, but as an advertisement, please subscribe. I can't tell you how, I'm the one who goes to the comments for the comment episodes and all that.

So many of you say you subscribe, but you don't have that little icon next to your name that tells me you subscribed. You have so many listeners that don't bother to, and the reason you should subscribe is- And it's free. It's free on YouTube. And the reason you subscribe is because you'll know

when the new episode comes out. You don't have to wait for the algorithm to say, hey, you may like this. It shows up in your feed so you can watch it on your little TV while you're having your macaroni and cheese at home. Yeah, mac and cheese. Queso, baby. I think that subscribing suggests to some of you that you're somehow owned and that your information and that you're going to get blasted with ads. It's not what we set it up for. It's not what I would ever do. So I just want you to be able to get an early mention for us.

And it also actually helps us monetize the podcast, which is good because it gives us freedom to do what we wanna do, how we wanna do it. And I'm very happy for the growth. So thank you for that. What topics do you wanna review? Well, I thought it'd be fun to go through the calendar year and see all the crazy things that happened

over the past year. There's a lot of like important stuff, a lot of offbeat stuff, just to kind of give us a well-rounded review of things you might've forgotten about, things you might've clearly remembered since January 1st, 2024. Me gusta.

What's the first? First one is right in the start of January 2024, that door fell off that Boeing plane. Yes. I would not want to be in that flight, but you know, there was an investigation and all that stuff, but I want to know if you wanted to speak to, you know, the status of this once great company and how the mighty have fallen in so many ways. Well, they're still mighty. They still get the contracts. And there was more than one door, but not enough to really make a difference.

And the lesson is we move on. And it did not crater confidence in flying as people thought it would. It did not change the industry as people wanted it to for about nine minutes. And when I said that, when Greg mentioned it, I'm sure you were like, oh yeah. Because that's where we are now.

We're like goldfish. Something means everything to us in the moment and five minutes later, it's gone. And that's part of the problem with social media, constantly feeding the beast of the new. We don't really sit in things. We get into a fervor, but we don't really ever process. And you'll see that as we go through these stories,

month by month. Well, this might've been bigger than the Boeing thing, at least on the internet. In February was an event that you might remember called Willie's Chocolate Experience. What? Willie's Chocolate Experience was a makeshift, unlicensed Willy Wonka event in Scotland

that was promoted using this AI image and a bunch of families and kids went to this thing thinking it was like a Willy Wonka event, but instead it was just put on by some people and it wasn't very well organized and it was not officially Willy Wonka. It was just some other chocolate guy and there was a character called the Unknown

who was behind a mirror and people were really upset, but it was basically the equivalent to the Fire Fest for Willy Wonka fans. And now many of you are like, Fire Fest? Again, things just come and they go. You don't remember, you didn't cover this on News Nation. This wasn't like a two night story. The Willy chocolate thing?

You never heard of it in my life. I'm gonna find some B-roll and play that. And I've been to Scotland recently, and I heard no mention of it. All right, well, I guess that's in one ear out the other. For you. No, for you. I'm the one, I'm still remember this.

I'm the one who wrote this down. I would have loved to go to it. I don't think you remember it. I think that you looked it up, found it to be obscure and funny and picked it. On the contrary, I have some stupid, weird news YouTube channels where I have this bank. I can tell you about the KFC lickable wrapping paper.

Lickable wrapping paper? Yeah. I like that idea. Yeah, I'm sure there's nothing bad for you in that. Well, actually there's a disclaimer that says you're not supposed to consume it, but it tastes like chicken and sage and onion, only in the UK.

You would think they would sell it here. Oh, they'd sell edible wrapping paper. You just eat it here. I think most people just do eat it. Yeah, they just dig right in. All right, moving on. That was a December story. Willy Wonka was February.

March, March was a big one. Let's get serious again. That was Biden's State of the Union address. And I brought this up because that was such an interesting tent pole of everybody going, hey, should Biden run? Should Biden run? Hey, look at the guy. He can do it.

Look at those vim and vigor he's got. And that of course set off the June debates, followed by the July dropout, followed by Harris becoming the nominee in August. I want you to walk me through going through that entire experience. Joe Biden was supposed to be a one-term president, should have been a one-term president, is a one-term president. His decision to run for a second term doomed the Democratic Party.

And their inability to move him off that position and to do something about it, is their failure, which doomed them as well. And we saw that in the State of the Union because it had been exaggerated how much his decline had affected him. And the State of the Union, he seemed basically okay. And then what would happen in the succeeding time was the narrative started to shift. Why?

Never one reason. As Jordan Peterson, his best line, I always try to give him credit for it. You have to be careful about single factor explanations for complex situations. Beware single factor explanations for complex situations. And an election is very complex and multifactorial. So what happened? Well, people did not want Trump to win.

Inside the party and outside the party, and absolutely in the media. And I don't fault the media for that the way many of you do, because I get why they would fairly, not objectively, but fairly, believe that he is against them and against constitutional principles and against democratic principles, and to be opposed. I get it. Now, did they go over the top? Of course they did.

Everything we do is over the top. Everything. Everything we do is too much, too fast, and then fades too fast and too much. Everything we do is too much, too fast, and then it fades too much and too much. Everything we do is too much, too fast, and then it fades too much and too fast. Everything. And you saw that with him.

Trump is the best, Trump is the worst, Trump is a Hitler. And then it's oversaturation, diminishing returns, and then people stop scrutinizing him at all, no matter what he does. Too much, too soon, too much, too soon on the back end as well. With Biden, too much, too soon, and then on the back end, it was, there was no guardrails on it anymore. He's brain dead, he hasn't been in control, it's his wife,

he shit the bed in the debate, by the way, never a good debater. The stutter was the least of it. This is a man who had been cast as the best of the Democrats when he has never been that. Circumstance, man-met moment when he won in 2020. We wanted boring, we wanted old, we wanted staid, we wanted non-controversial. And the Republicans quickly pivoted

and made him all of those things to offset what Trump is and to bring down Biden, and it worked well. And then the Democrats handed them the election by fucking up their own process. And they took away the ability to say that this election, the democracy is on the ballot when they weren't democratic

in their own Democratic Party process. And we watched it all in real time. And I will say that we rode that wave ahead of most, even in the digital space. And I'm not talking about the propagandists that were just trying to get Biden out and trying to say Trump is good. But you know, you saw it even in the evolution of some of the podcast guys like Rogan, where they were just like, I think Trump, I think Trump's pretty good. I think it's all been a lie. I think it's, you know, it's just this, this steady suggestion of how everything is fake, except what I say. Everything can't be trusted except me. And that nobody really gets it except I do. And to me, it's just a sales pitch, honestly. And it's working

well for certain people. so good for them. Why would I say good for them if I don't seem to like what they're doing? Well, because that's capitalism. That's a marketplace of ideas. And I believe over time, the better ideas will win. What was it Dr. King said? The moral arc of the universe is long,

but bends towards justice over time. And I don't mean justice in terms of law and order. I mean, I'll adapt the expression to mean in terms of what's best for people. I just think it can take a long time. And I think especially here, we err on the side of freedom of choice, when really what people side of freedom of choice,

when really what people want is freedom from choice and for things to be made very simple for them. Now, if that sounds familiar, you know why? It's a line from a song from Devo. Freedom of choice is what you want. Yeah, freedom of choice is what you've got. Oh, what you've got, no. Freedom from choice is what you want,

and they were right. Anyway, so I see it, I recognize it, and that is the story of the election. People were outraged, okay? Candidates matter, and the Democrats were out of step with how people felt. And they were responsible for the status quo that people rejected. And that was really the story of it.

And Trump's victory was complete, but also exaggerated. He barely won the popular vote, which is very rare for Republicans to win it all, so check the box. Kudos to him. But it wasn't a huge mandate. He didn't even get half the country. So, well, but he won both houses of Congress. Very small margins, though. And people who have done it in the past have usually done it by more. So it's very tight. And his win has been exaggerated.

And we'll see how well he can keep the ranks going forward, even through his own cabinet process. So we'll see, we'll see, we'll see. Don't be in a rush. Don't get ahead of it. The story of the election was outrage that Democrats tried to pretend wasn't real. I wanna pivot to something that happened in April. This stems from a story in 2021.

There's a mass shooting at Oxford High School. That's the town I grew up near. I was like 10 minutes away from. And a bunch of kids were killed, awful as all these are. The parents of the shooter were sentenced in court for involuntary manslaughter, and they were sentenced to 15 years in prison. And it was the first time parents were held accountable

for a school shooting or a mass shooting in this manner. And I found that to be a really interesting case. There has to be accountability. At some point there has to be accountability. If you knew. So this used to be called the Good Samaritan argument in the law. And some states have Good Samaritan laws,

which is where they take what was loosely understood as a moral obligation and made it a legal one. And in the law we used to have, or we still do have a whole reductive analysis they take what was loosely understood as a moral obligation and made it a legal one. And in the law, we used to have, or we still do have a whole reductive analysis on whether or not you have the legal right to do or not do what you did, but it makes you a moral monster.

I'm not making a bit here. Isn't the Seinfeld finale based on that? Like the good Samaritan, yeah. So moral monster is, I can't believe you just watched that kid drown. But unless there's a state law in place that makes you do what reasonably you can do in a situation, you don't have to do it, okay? And maybe you can't swim, you know what I'm saying?

But, now you start to evolve. A lot of school shootings. In truth, yes, compared to the rest of the world. And compared to our gun violence in America, no, there aren't. We just care about them because they involve kids. It's not the numbers. There are a lot more.

See, the Republican talking point is a good one. Why don't you care about Chicago? Why do you only care about these schools? And they play with these, you know, they play with these concepts that they actually don't believe in themselves, but they do work well rhetorically. You don't care about those black kids in the inner cities. No, you don't care about the black kids in the inner cities.

You're just playing to advantage with it right now because they're shooting each other every time, you know, all the time. And Democrats don't care about them. But then a school shooting happens and they want to change all the laws. It's a good, clever political play. You're just not acting in good faith about it, but that's politics. And at some point you need accountability.

And if you know that your kid is fucked up, your kid is sick, your kid is despondent, your kid is disconnected, your kid is dark, your kid is saying bad things, and you give them access to dangerous weapons and don't do enough to try to get them help, and they go and kill other people's kids. Well, it's just an extension of the bully dynamic, right?

Your kid is beating up my kid at the bus stop every day, and you say, well, kids will be kids. Eventually, I'm going to beat your ass, right? Or I'm going to sue you, or I'm going to go to school, or I'm going to do something. Eventually, you've got to be responsible, or I'm gonna go to school, or I'm gonna do something. Eventually you gotta be responsible. This is your kid. That's what caught up with us in this. And it was a one-off.

We haven't, we've seen maybe one other of it since then. I think it's the right thing directionally. I think that, I don't know what label you might slap on me for this. I am very live and let live. I am very nonjudgmental about people, but I also believe that your right to do and be whatever you want ends right where it meets

my reciprocal right, okay? So as soon as your right to parent however you want starts to affect my kid and my parenting, right? This is what that whole trans and what's in school stuff starts to affect my kid and my parenting, right? This is what that whole trans and what's in school stuff bubbled up as. Now we got an issue. And I think the time has come for parents to be held,

not just civilly, but criminally responsible for the actions of their kids, to the extent that you can make a case that you should have known or did know and had the ability to affect. And that part is hard. And it should be hard. And it should be a really high bar.

And that will be frustrating, but I am, again, I'm all for that. It's okay if it's hard. It's okay if you don't make the case as often as you think you should. It's better than making the case when you shouldn't. Something else that happened in April was the total solar eclipse over the lower United States.

Trump looked up during a solar eclipse without the glasses on. Oh yeah, I mean, hey, he might not have a chance to do that for a solar eclipse like this in his next term because the next total eclipse in the US won't be until 2033, and that's just in Alaska. The next in the lower 48 won't be until 2044. So if you missed your chance to look at, you know,

this and this guy, you'll have to wait, you know, a couple of decades unless you want to go to Alaska. I got to tell you, it was somewhat unsatisfying. I had the special glasses. Oh, you did? And it wasn't like you see in the movies. Yeah, I had the glasses. My neighbor came out and she had a colander

and she projected the colander onto a box and she says, well, just get the glasses. Colander. Do people use that anymore? Yeah, yes, of course. I use it like every time I make noodles. What are you talking about? No, no, no, no.

I know. I'm saying like, do people also call it a sieve? Do they call it a strainer? What do they call it in your house? Colander? The strainer. A strainer. But the device is called a colander.

But I think you're a little cracka, cracka, cracka. What the hell? I think you're a little- What are you talking? This is the name- I think you're a little white bread though in terms of your vernacular in general. What are you talking?

This is, the thing is called a colander. I'm not saying it's not. I'm just saying that that's not what people you talking? The thing is called a colander. I'm not saying it's not. I'm just saying that that's not what people from Queens call. Best brands for colander. And you got two different generations of two different ethnicities that both called it a strainer. It says pronunciation.

It kind of looks like calendar. Yeah, it's not. No. But I'm just saying most people call it a strainer. That's all. Do you have any opinion on the way an eclipse works? Do you want to see more of them or less of them? No, but I am forming an opinion on daylight savings time.

Oh, great, great, great, great. Now, cause Trump wants to ban daylight savings time, but there's a difference between daylight savings time and standard time. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm saying daylight savings time. It's daylight saving time. Yes. Daylight savings time. Daylight saving time. It's I'm sorry. I'm saying daylight savings time. It's daylight saving time. Yes.

Daylight savings time. Daylight saving time. It's very hard to forget. But isn't the one that he wants to ban the one that is actually the good one? Doesn't daylight savings time give us the longer days? The adjustment doesn't matter what he says. What would be done is that you don't make the adjustment

away from what would give you a longer sunlight in the evening. The problem is why they created it, which was then it's really dark for a long time in the morning. And people thought that was a safety issue with going to school and other kinds of things. Yeah, sleep in. Well, another conversation.

Any parent, as you will be, 10, 11 years from now. So I'm actually currently a parent. No, no, no, I'm saying of a teenager. Yes. I was moving on. The idea that teenagers, anything over eight, okay? Not that that's a teenager, any kid over eight. The idea that they are ready to do anything

early in the morning is absurd. And there's only one reason that we haven't gone to school that early is to accommodate our work schedule. And I do wonder that now that there's so much more flex work going on, although talk about what's going to happen this year, I think people are going to be brought back into the workplace in big numbers in different areas. But my point is, there's no question that kids should start school later. And they're more nocturnal.

I mean, it's a no brainer for any parent, but it doesn't meet our work needs. And I would very much like a school to have that choice. Now I know some do, like Florida and some other states have different flex calendars for when kids go to school, like they can be in school different months and stuff like that. I think the time has more than come, it's past due.

It is past time to change. You wanna talk about daylight saving time? Great. I think that how we deal with kids and when they go to school matters a lot more. Not to mention all the worn out watch mechanisms for all these people having to constantly flip it back and forth. Or fall back and forth,

trying to remember that stupid expression. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from factor. Days are shorter, but what you have to do? Not shorter. You need to fuel up the right way these days. Everybody's got their gains in mind. Everybody knows they need their macros and they want to eat well and they want to eat tasty and they want to eat affordable.

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select quotes. 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. Alright? 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 dollars 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 slash Chris C. Go to selectquote.com slash Chris C today and you get started. Selectquote.com slash Chris C. In May, Florida became the first state in the union to ban lab grown meats. In May, Florida became the first state in the union

to ban lab-grown meat. And the Santus put out a statement saying, "'Florida is fighting back against the global elite's plan "'to force the world to eat meat grown "'in a petri dish or bugs.'" Now this is in response to these cultured meat companies that are taking cells of animals and finding ways to actually grow, you know, like a chicken breast that is from a chicken, but not from a chicken,

if that makes sense. Yeah, they're cloning. Yeah, it's essentially cloning, but just the piece of flesh that you want to eat. Yes. And this is kind of controversial because this is, some people think this is a way that, you know, can help fight climate change and, you know,

eating beef is such a huge, you know, contributor to the climate problem. And the Santus was kind of roping that in with, you know, these UN reports that find, you know, people should eat more bugs and people should eat more plant-based foods and whatever, but it's not for me, like, just to just have a bowl of worms. This is a straight up culture war that plays to fear

of change and of what that change is about. And it's a clever play for DeSantis, it works well for the red meat, pun intended, that is based once. But look, we have a supply issue and a demand issue, okay? The reason we have so much shit in our food is because we have so much shit in our food is because we need so much food. And you have to figure out a way to accommodate that that we're not doing right now.

And I don't have an opinion on lab-grown meat. I'm sure there's certain issues that could pop up with it that make it less desirable and more risky than real animals. And I'm sure there's a counter argument for that. My point is we have a demand and a supply issue. And as we will see with the Trump administration, the idea of taking out all the things that are allowed in America's foods,

but not in other countries foods, until you get to the big populations, right? Not the shrinking populations like throughout Europe and the UK where they can be more selective in things. But China, India, they have all kinds of shit food. Why? Because they have a supply issue also. And that's why we have all the preservatives

and stuff in our food. It sort of lasts longer. And it shouldn't be like that. And DeSantis is making a play on that, which is fine. You can find your boogeymen and they work well politically, but what is your solution? How do we get enough food? Now, can you push back on this argument?

Yeah, sure. So the argument is we don't have enough food. Then why are we so obese? Ah That is clever rhetorically, but deceptive why? We have an obesity problem because of what's in the food not simply how much food people eat It's what's in the food is a bigger factor than the how much, I would argue to you. And I think that there's a good factual basis for that. So I get why I wouldn't eat lab grown meat.

You wouldn't even taste it? Oh, I'd taste anything, but I would eat bugs. Yeah. You know, look, I'm an, I can't say I'm a white guy, but I was raised in an ethnic environment, okay? And we eat lots of shit that people wouldn't eat, like, you know, organs and parts of animals and things that, you know, people wouldn't eat.

You'd be like, oh, I'm not gonna eat a kidney or Thalmus gland or whatever, you know. Thalmus gland? You know, sweet breads, you know, what they call sweet breads. The Thalmus glands and the sweet breads? Those are glands. Oh. Anyway, the point is, you know, sweet breads, you know, what they call sweet breads. Thalmus glands and the sweet breads. Those are glands. Oh.

Anyway, the point is, you know, the poorer you are, the more you eat, you know, of whatever is available, right? So that's a lot of ethnicities develop what they, you know, would call subsistence cultures, right? Whatever you need to do. So I would eat anything that tastes good. That's good for me. I would eat.

And I've had bugs several different places in the world that were fine. I've never bit into one of those big fat grubs like you see people doing in Southeast Asia. I'm not ready for that. But I- That's a bit much. No, no, as somebody who's like eating crickets and stuff,

I know the distinction that you're making. It's like, that's a, yeah, there's certain- Crunchy versus gooey. Yeah, that's a, yeah, there's certain- Crunchy versus gooey. Yeah, it's a texture play. May, the month of May, May 30th, Donald Trump was found guilty, 34 counts of business fraud in the hush money case here in New York.

Never liked the case. Why? Look, if we're talking about a law school exam, yeah, he did it. But the idea that no one is above the law means that there's no such thing as prosecutorial discretion and then they take down everybody they can all the time is demonstrably false. And they went after Trump because it was Trump. And the guy who went after him campaigned that he would go after him.

And it was a weak case. The idea that you're gonna bring somebody up on criminal charges for paying people to be quiet about their personal life, seriously? You see a social policy value in that, for public policy? The business records thing, this is what these guys do. And if you wanna go after the whole industry, fine, but why go after him when he's not one of the most egregious people? It was because it was Trump.

And I think it backfired, and the story of the election proves that I'm right. And, oh yeah, it's because justice has been destroyed. I don't agree with that. I don't think that's the assessment. And I think that we have to stop prosecuting political opponents and beat them at the polls. And beat them by being better, not being, you know, just relentlessly tied to proving that the other side is worse.

Some big news in June. This is from June 11, 2024. During a street interview, Hayley Welch used the catchphrase, talk to an onomatopoeia for spitting or expect duration on a man's penis during sex context. You gotta give him that hook to a and spit on that thing. You gotta hook to on that thing.

So that came out in June. Spit on that thing. She has merchandise now, she put out some trouble. She put out a coin that people claim they have lost a bunch of money on. But she was a big thing in 2024. I love the lesson of how unbankable social media phenomena are.

You bought a cryptocurrency backed on the celebrity reach of a woman who is known for one phrase that you would want no female in your family to have ever uttered. That's what you see as your value proposition. And now you're going to bitch at her when it goes south? You are a fool. And whoever did that and lost money deserves it.

And I think it's, to me, it's just an interesting lesson in how stupid we are as a culture. Although I never took that out on her. I don't, if that were my daughter, I'd have a real problem. If that were my wife, if that were my sister, my mom, I can imagine. But if it were any woman in my midst, I'd have one set of feels about it.

But I don't begrudge anybody finding an angle to get ahead in America. She's not hurting anybody. Oh, she hurt me with the crypto. You're an idiot. Caveat emptor. Buyer beware. You didn't practice that, you lose your problem.

You find me that there was a deceptive pitch or something like that, then we can have a different conversation. But that's not how I understand the facts at this time. And it is uniquely American. People like that don't bubble up in other cultures. I mean, in terms of uniquely American, it's like an old Andrew Dice Clay bit.

And the fact that this would surface last year, it's such a profane statement. And to me, as somebody with a comedy background, I laugh at it, whatever, but like, what a reflection of who we are. It's funny because she wasn't joking. No, I mean, yeah. That's why it was funny. Yeah, and you know, times are tough.

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. It's just the fact that that, to dissect what she said the way you just did, and then to leave out the actual act of what she was describing, to me is such as like the rabbit hole of like, to explain the context and the action and how this happened and where this happened

and who posted it. On the Wikipedia, it goes into like, yeah, the guys who posted it, this was like, you know, copy and pasted all over the internet. They're like, hey, we barely got any credit for this. We're the ones who found this girl. We're the ones who filmed this.

And yet she's the one selling, you know, merch at the airport or whatever. But they were talking to drunk people outside books. Yeah, drunks on the street, yeah, yeah. So, you know, how much ownership do you want of it? I think it is interesting you used the word profane. Profane usually is disrespecting something seen as sacred. I don't know that, unless blowjob etiquette is seen

as a sacred cow, I think that it was vulgar. I think the loogie makes it. It was vulgar, what she did. And I'm fine with it. I think we give way too much power. He's fine with it. Well, I'm fine with it.

But I am fine with what she said because I believe that we put way too much emphasis on what people say and not on what they do. And- Well, then we know what she does. And what I'm saying is, you know, like when I say the word fuck, okay, or bullshit, right? You get dragged for this in the comments all the time.

I get dragged all the time. And here's why I keep doing it. One, because I'll do whatever the fuck I want to do. That's America. Second, second, you are valuing a word that means nothing, and you are giving it power, and you're giving it license that it doesn't deserve. And more sophisticated cultures, like the Brits, for instance, use a lot more

vulgarity in their vernacular on a regular basis because with time and seasoning and actually understanding morality from faux morality, we are a say-it-but-not-do-it culture. Even our religion in this culture, what's growing fastest than American religiosity is an extremism where you get to do whatever you want and just say you're sorry and it goes away. And that's why the evangelicals on one level wind up back in Trump. He is like a gross manifestation of that. And even though he's completely not religious, and if any of you say

differently, you know you're lying and if any of you say differently You know, you're lying to yourselves and anyone you say it to and again I don't care if he's religious or not you do you're the one who says he's got a unique relationship with God What I'm saying is I curse in part to make a point that you value the wrong things Worry about the ideas worry about the actions Those are the things that can be truly vulgar, truly dangerous, not curse words. Taking us to month seven, we already covered Biden dropping out in July, but also some other big political stuff in July. The Supreme Court ruling of Trump, the immunity case for presidents.

Yeah. And the Trump assassination attempt, two very, very big, two huge events in very different ways. Immunity is given political context it does not deserve. It is not a crazy conservative judicial decision. It's not. It is a reasonable extension. Antonin Scalia would have been okay with it. Put it that way, Nino Scalia.

Rehnquist, I think, actually would have been okay with it. But look, it doesn't matter who would, I think. The fair analysis is that this is an open question because it hasn't been litigated about whether or not a president has immunity for what he does in office until he gets out of office or is removed from office. And then you can go after him for things.

That's really the question. The only device that's in place for dealing with what they do while in office is impeachment and removal. So that's what the jurisprudence is playing on. You may find that unsatisfying, unrealistic, but legally it's not that. What I found completely appalling and outrageous was how unimpressed lefties were

by Trump getting shot in the head. And how many of you would say, will you stop saying he got shot in the head and just nicked his ear? Once again, to my earlier point, fuck you, you get nicked in the ear by a bullet. And tell me that it's no big deal. I'm good, I'm good.

No, no, that's crazy. If that had happened to Harris, you guys would have talked about it for three days nonstop about how we're in helter skelter mode or whatever it is. And then you call me a bigot for saying that. This is why you lost the election. That's exactly why you lost the election. You are out of touch.

You lost the plot about how people feel in the majority. That's what you did. And that was a perfect example of it, that situation. Oh, I think it was just a teleprompter. You would have never assessed it that way if you didn't wish the guy had died. How fucked up is that? That you wished he had died. That you played down that he was shot at.

It was disgusting. And I, for one, felt a measure of satisfaction that you were punished for it politically because there is no place for that. Oh, he would have. He is not the standard of any kind of virtue, okay? And he still beat you. Man, if there is something that I hope

in this stupid bifurcated party system that we have, that you guys wake up and realize, is you don't get to tell people that they don't get to feel how they feel. You gotta figure out why they feel how they feel and meet them there and offer them something better. Otherwise, whoever doesn't do that is gonna lose. And it doesn't matter if it's Donald Trump. If he's closer to how people feel in the moment than you,

you lose, that's what just happened. And that assassination, that's why I called him. I wasn't doing what Joe and Mika did. I'm not looking to make up with Trump. He came at me personally, called me an enemy of the state. He compromised my kids. He compromised my wife. I had to move them because of what his supporters were doing because I am not in good enough control of myself physically to let someone come and insult my kids or my family and think I'm not going to try and do

something to them. That's on him. He did that. And I made him aware of it at the time. And he didn't want anything but for me to be nice to him. And then we'll see what happens if I'm nice to him. And nah, it's not going to happen. That's my beef. And I believe that Donald Trump has disqualified himself from office in this country with his behavior, words and deeds. It doesn't mean I'm not going gonna be fair to him as a journalist,

and I think I've been as fair or more than most. You don't like it. I get it. I get it, but that's the job. I called him to say, I am sorry that people in the media are playing this down like it didn't really happen to you or that it's not that big a deal.

That sucks. And I feel for your family and your grandkids. I don't know how you're dealing with it right now. I don't know how they're letting you stay in the race. I don't know how he stayed in the race. I would have never stayed in it. Incredibly brave what he did in that moment. And no, I don't like how he uses his power.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I'll see what happens here. It doesn't serve me not to. But that's why I did it. I wasn't doing a Joe and Mika going down there trying to kiss his ass so that I could get access. I don't give a shit if I have access. I think News Nation should. I think he's making a mistake. It's the only real home for independent critical thinkers in the media. But that's on him. I don't care if it's with me. That's

the truth. I reached out to him because I thought that this was a moment that demanded humanity and it wasn't receiving it. I do not care if president-elect Trump likes me or doesn't like me. He can make it hard on me. Sure, he's done it in the past. Does not change how I approach what I do. And it never will.

If anything, it only hardens my resolve. To that point about a moment of humanity, I want to fast forward to December with the CEO shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. I'm wondering if you can draw a parallel to the public response between the Trump assassination attempt and the actual assassination of Brian Thompson. I guess if I had to connect them,

it would be that people see the world as they are, not as it is. And in events, they will project their own feelings and agendas onto whatever it is. Thus, Trump getting shot may not impress you because you don't like him. A CEO getting assassinated, murdered in cold blood, gets balanced with some sense of justice

because his industry sucks, arguably. You know, 70% of people say that they are satisfied with their health insurance. Did you know that? 70%. I find that hard to believe by the way, but that is, I can't find you a much lower number than that.

So then you have this other overlay. Well, wait, wait, wait, who was it? Who was it that had a perverse reaction to this? Younger people. I just got poll data that 68% of people, which I can't believe is higher, isn't higher, shows you how much people hate the insurance business. 68% say it was wrong to assassinate the guy. How is that not 98?

Anyway, but 41% of younger people were okay with it, which is sad. And I think also it speaks to social media. On social media, you think it's okay to say outrageous, stupid shit. In fact, it's almost a commodity, especially with the anonymity. I think that plays into some of it.

And I also think that there's a lot of outrage and discontent among younger people in this country because they do not see a path forward as easily as prior generations. And I think it's a real thing. I think it's specifically a real thing for young white males. And I know nobody wants to talk about young white males. Everybody rolls their eyes, but they're angst. And how they feel that they are valued and judged in this society is a reason that Trump won. So maybe you want to reach out to people instead of judging how they feel.

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So make sure to check out drinkag1.com slash CCP for the Chris Cuomo project. and you will get this offer. That's drinkag1.com slash CCP to start your new year on a healthier note. Back in the summer, we had the Paris Olympics. If you remember that, Snoop Dogg was everywhere. The mascot was a hat, and there was Ray Gun. Ray Gun was the viral break dancer.

This is the only Olympics break dancing is said to have been in. I thought she won. She did not win. I know. I thought she did because I saw it so much and I was like, gosh, she really sucks. Yeah, she did the sprinkler and flopped around.

Was it a joke? No, no, no. It was her celebration and interpretation of it. She is like a... But how did she make the team? Well, she's since said she was retiring, but she's only going to be retiring from like professional competitions.

She still has break dancing in her heart or whatever. I think she was like a professor of break dancing or something. I don't know, but she was terrible. She was terrible. And I think that's okay within sport. I mean, art is different. Art is interpretation, but in terms of sport,

which is what they made it, it's a competition. I think it's okay to say someone sucks. That's the whole point of competition is to see what wins out. So I'm okay with that. I mean, she was terrible. September, Diddy was arrested. Yeah. Once again, too much, too fast.

And then on the downside, too much, too fast. And I don't know what's going to happen with the case. I have to say, when you have hundreds of allegations that never were anywhere until now, it's suspicious. And I think that we have to reverse the dynamic of cancel culture and start asking people, where were you? And yes, I get why people are silent and why they're intimidated by power. And especially if we go back to what these cases were originally supposed to be about, which is that women were being sexually assaulted

by people in positions of power and blamed for it. So yes, I get it. I get all of that original sin that we were trying to address, but I think we've gone way past it. To my point, too much, too fast, and then on the downside, too much, too fast. And it's just really hard to believe that a guy's advertising 1-800-SU-DITI and bringing 100 and whatever claims. Now, men coming forward and saying that they were drugged

and raped is rare. And there's a high shame index, there's an embarrassment index. I think that's true for men and women, but I think there's an emphasis within male, especially black males coming forward saying this. I am told and I am hearing from those, those subsets of communities discussing it, that this is a very rare thing to hear. When something's rare, I think it requires a little bit more scrutiny.

I took those more seriously than the 200 claims of everything's anonymous and there's no proof of anything. I think that we have to be much more scrutinizing these things. In October, McDonald's had a giant anything. I think that we have to be much more scrutinizing of these things. In October, McDonald's had a giant E. coli outbreak. One person died, at least 104 people were infected. This kind of comes back to the lab grown meat thing we were talking about earlier.

Well, it's just shit food. Well, it was actually the slivered onions that came from a supplier. But I don't know if you had anything to weigh in on. McDonald's restaurant and Ronald and all those Trump worked at McDonald's briefly and a photo op. So a lot of McDonald's content in the fall of 2024. Look, McDonald's tastes good. Okay. It's not good for you. And we know this.

We know that the bread is filled with things that are bad for you, that the meat, all of it is bad for you. I'm not saying that I have never eaten it, okay? But I do a lot of things that are bad for me. And I do think there's something very healthy, pun intended, about the discussion about what's in our food and what we're allowing to be okay here. I like that Burger King commercial where they show you how the Whopper is degrading over time.

Or maybe there's some guy who's showing you how it's not degrading. Whatever it is. Yeah, I know what you mean. It's important. Real bread goes bad in a couple of days. Really quick. Okay? Real anything goes bad fast.

That's why we have refrigeration, right? The fact that this stuff doesn't, do you remember back in the day when the McDonald's ice cream would like sit outside in the sun and barely melt? That's fucked up. And we should take these things more seriously. And I think that we have lost, I think that my criticism would be this. We've made a trade off in our culture

of outrage for conscientiousness. And we're really focused on outrage, being hot in the moment at something that is often, or if not almost, always exaggerated. But we have surrendered at the same time our conscientiousness. We don't care about things in a continuous way that fosters positive change.

We just get really outraged by things and then we move on. And I think it's a really bad trade. In November, of course, we had the election. I feel like we've talked a lot about that already coming up to here. Also in November was the Tyson versus Paul fight. And I don't think we addressed that here on the show at all when that happened.

Did you watch the Tyson Paul fight? Yeah. Did you have money on it? No. It was sad for me. You're a Mike Tyson fan. I mean, I grew up watching Tyson, you know, on the big screen with dad and shinhead buddies over.

I am a Mike Tyson as a fighter fan. Yes. And it was sad for me. Maybe it's my age. Maybe it's my misunderstanding I saw Tyson as a fighter fan, yes. And it was sad for me, maybe it's my age, maybe it's my misunderstanding of what's capable at my age. Maybe it's my concern that it was rigged, maybe it's my concern that he surrendered his dignity, maybe it's my concern that this guy is so obnoxious

that he fought against, although I believe that Jake Paul is playing the heel and doing it brilliantly. Because it makes me like, I don't like his caricature, his character. I don't know him personally. I respect his success. I think you gotta respect success.

But it was really hard to watch. And I thought I had learned my lesson watching him fight Roy Jones Jr. But at least that was like two fighters. And anyway. You see when he walked out like bare ass, when his son was interviewing him and he kind of turned around.

Yeah, I loved the son interviewing him by the way. Yeah, yeah. I don't know him. Is he in the industry? I don't know him either, but I loved the son interviewing him by the way. Yeah, yeah. I don't know him. Is he in the industry? I don't know him either, but I loved that moment. And it was really hard to watch. It was really sad to me. And I just held out a little bit of hope

that it was rigged. I really hope it was. Speaking of hard to watch, Wicked came out in November. Yeah, my daughter's like really pumped. She went and saw it. She wants us to go see it. I have a hard time going to see things that are adapted from one medium to another.

Not only adapted from one medium to another, from one piece of content to half a piece of content. The film companies keep doing this. They take one thing and they split into a bunch to keep going back. I get it, you want people to sit in the seats, but like, this is a one story. You don't have to split it in half.

It's very obnoxious. Music aside. You know, there's such demand for content. People are so desperate for success that they're going back to the well. And I think sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Like for instance, I think, bias included, bringing Robert Downey Jr.

back into the Marvel multiverse is a genius stroke. That guy is the people's champ and he is great in everything. And he is so likable and has such a broad constituency. And I am absolutely confident in my position, even though I love him personally. He is one of the best people I've ever met in my life. But that's a smart move because that franchise is nowhere

and it needs to get back to what worked. Even though he's not playing Iron Man, that's smart. Taking all of these things, like even Wicked and trying to adapt them and tease them out and twist them, even Moana too, I felt was like, felt more like you're trying to bank in on the brand than actually extend the story. And you didn't have Lin-Manuel Miranda.

And I think that really hurt it. And it was like trying to me, it was like trying to trade on some kind of woke diversity play than it was creating something that would be enjoyed and extended. Well, they're also, you know, they're developing Face Off too. Yes.

Yeah. So it just, I thought they like blew up at the end. You know, I mean, look, they've always done that. We've always gone back to what works, but it doesn't always work. To that point, doesn't always work in December, the fall of Assad in Syria. So, a very smart man told me once that when it comes

to war making and violence and taking out threats, you have to know what will fill the void. And the idea that, well, the people should overthrow the oppressor. Okay, what follows? Democracy, people getting what they want through the vote and whatever system that is that unfolds, unfolds by consensus.

Okay, I don't know how you can ask for more than that to the extent that you can ask anything because it's not your place, your people. But are these guys better than Assad? Well, nice low bar, right? Because he was like gassing his own people. But what if they're the new incarnation of the Taliban and they just put in Sharia law and all this extremism and oppressed rights? Well, then what?

Because I got to tell you, these guys reek of that to me, Jelani and Co. So, I mean, that's where he comes from. Oh yeah, but he changed. Oh, did he? We'll see. You know, the mistake is getting ahead of the facts just to keep outrage going and just to drive engagement.

We'll see. This looks bad, what's happening there. Not because I was pro-a dictator in Assad, but that just because something gets removed doesn't mean it gets replaced by something better. Look at the Arab Spring. I mean, how many of those places are where we thought

they were gonna be when we were watching Tahrir Square, you know, or in Tahrir Square? So, Assad did bad things to his people and there was a high degree of oppression there. And now we'll see what unfolds. He's gone. Will it be replaced by something better? I don't know.

To wrap up the year, obviously that is not, that's just a fraction of what happened this year, but you know, we've covered a lot of stuff on the show and on this show. To wrap things up, I wanted to bring up the words of the year from a lot of dictionaries. The dictionaries come up with their annual word of the year. The words of the year from a bunch of dictionaries are polarization, brain rot, demur, and brat. Polarization, good, real word, real thing, really affecting us, and our political system engenders it and exacerbates it. Brain rot, yes, this is a problem. And please subscribe.

This is a problem. This is a problem. I'm telling you, this scrolling thing and what is encouraged in the algorithms. I'm telling you, I didn't know what the fix for it was for a while, but then, you know, hearing this distinction between TikTok and China and here, and even if it's not true, it sparked an idea that you make the algorithms what you want

to maximize what you want. Okay, that's what these companies are doing. They design the algorithm not to maximize what's in your head and heart. That's bullshit, it's completely subjective. I think that the algorithms should be shifted to bring out things that we say match our values in this country.

And yes, freedom to be who you wanna be be and how you want to be and fly your freak flag. I totally believe those are American values. Totally. But man, that's all this shit is now. And I think we can do better. And I think they know how to do better. And I think that they're keeping us where we are and making it even worse because it doesn't matter to them. It works for them profit-wise. And I think it's a discussion we should have. A demure discussion or a brat discussion?

Demure, I don't know why that was a word. It was trending on TikTok. Some lady put out a video that was like, that's very demure. You have to be very demure. Oh, so that's why it just trended? Yeah, but it trended big time and it was chosen by a dictionary as award of the year.

I don't see the resonance as I did with Brain Rot and with polarization. What was the other one? Brat, Charlie XCX, Brat, Brat Summer. Brat is basically the opposite of demure, like a rude girl. Oh, you mean like a, like it's always been? Or does it mean something now?

It means, in I believe the context, and go ahead, at me, if I get this wrong, but it's like, somebody who's kind of pouty for not getting their way, but in the context- Well, but that's what a brat always was. I know it is, but in the context of like, a young woman in her 20s or going about her life or something. That's, I like the album.

There's a cut of the album that has a bone of air song on it that's pretty good. But I'm not a, I'm more of a Billie Eilish guy. Yeah, Brad, you know, let's get the etymology of it. And let's get the end of the episode going. Any final thoughts on 2024 as we put it in the calendar bin of history? It's from the old English,

bright, a child or a ragged poor child. Wow. There is value to the past, only if you learn from it. Only if you see it for what it tells you about what is happening now and could be next, which is part of learning from it. There is nothing wrong with failure. There is nothing wrong with failure.

There is nothing wrong with hard times, as long as you draw something from them that takes you to a better place. The mistake is ignoring what has happened or distorting what has happened to keep you stuck in the same things that made those things happen. I have made that mistake in my personal life.

I continue to do so. I've got to work on it, trying to work at it. I am working on it. It is good to review because it gives you a basis for change to make things better. And America needs that just about every way you can measure it and look at it. So the hope is by looking back and seeing

what we did wrong but also what we did right we can get to a better place this year. And I have to tell you I'm all for that so let's get after it. Thank you for subscribing and following and checking me out on NewsNation 8p and 11p every week day night and if you don't like the ads, subscribe on the sub stack. It's only five bucks a month. And the money goes to help people get treated for vaccine injuries and long COVID. And there are no ads and you get my doctor, Robin Rose,

giving her treatment that she's using on me and for longevity. She's doing me a favor by doing it. That's why we're trying to recompense, pay back with the money to help her treat more people. And I also have my walk and talk series there, which is philosophical lessons that I've learned that I don't necessarily apply that well, but you can.

I'll see you soon.