The Chris Cuomo Project - Chris Cuomo Reacts to His Brother Andrew Cuomo’s Mayoral Campaign

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

Chris Cuomo addresses his brother Andrew Cuomo’s decision to run for mayor of New York City, explaining why he won’t be covering the race on NewsNation—but also why he won’t stay silent. He opens up about their relationship, the scrutiny that comes with public service, and the double standards in media when it comes to political ties. Cuomo reflects on how growing up in a political family shaped his career, why Andrew’s candidacy is different from past campaigns, and how he is handling his brother’s entrance into the mayor’s race. 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: Oracle Right now, Oracle is offering to cut your current cloud bill in HALF if you move to OCI. For new US customers with minimum financial commitment. Offer ends March 31st. See if your company qualifies for this special offer at Oracle.com/CCP Bamboo Reclaim your time. Check out the free demo at BambooHR.com/freedemo. See for yourself all that BambooHR can do – and how truly affordable it can be too! Factor Eat smart with Factor. Get started at FACTORMEALS.COM/FACTORPODCAST and use code FACTORPODCAST to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. Cozy Earth Luxury Shouldn’t Be Out of Reach. Visit CozyEarth.com/CHRIS and use my exclusive code CHRIS for up to 40% off Cozy Earth’s best-selling sheets, towels, pajamas, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. My brother Andrew is running for mayor and it is something that I have to address. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project.

So my brother's running for mayor. And on News Nation, I had to say what I'm sure is painfully obvious to you, which is that I'm not going to cover the election. I wouldn't cover a local mayor's election anyway. I cover national events, but there's a conflict here and that's why I said what I said. But there's so much more to it. Now, why do I have to address him running for mayor?

Well, here I can say whatever I wanna say. I have no boss. Okay? News Nation is different. Even though my bosses knowing everything that they know about what happened at CNN, and really, you know, I never feel that that's fair, by the way. Yes, people I had as friends at CNN went bad on me.

But again, I've told you, it's either something that I forgive, even if I don't understand it, but I really do understand it. They believed what they were told. It just wasn't accurate. My beef is not with CNN. I believe in CNN. I don't understand why you guys trash it. Every outfit goes up and down. Okay? CNN, to me, is no different. I just believe it's the biggest, broadest, most resonant media outlet in the world on the face of the planet.

I believe that. You don't have to agree with me, it's okay. But my beef is with the man who fired me and the man who I believe pushed him to fire me. And while I've dealt with it personally in terms of where I put them and how I feel about them and what kind of energy I exert on that, that's my beef. They lied about saying I lied. So NewsNation knows all this. They were incredibly accommodative.

They weren't asking me to really say anything to the audience about it. But I felt I needed to because of what happened in the past. And I wanted to make it clear. And again, I know. I know what you're going to say because I've been hearing it for years. We get it. You helped your brother.

Well, I did, although you could argue, did I, seeing how you wound up resigning and everything went as badly as it could have, did I really help at all? But what I didn't do is go after his accusers. What I didn't do was be like in charge of all of his, you know, his tactics or whatever strategy or whatever they came up with. I was leading nothing.

I was in charge of nothing. I went after his accusers never. Okay, never. And fortunately, although very difficult to do, I can prove all that. And I can certainly prove that my boss at CNN knew exactly what I was doing and knew exactly what Andrew was doing

because he was in contact with both of us all the time. Now, I don't wanna look back. I don't wanna go back. Why? Because that's not how life is lived. What happens happens. You learn what you learn and you move forward. So why would I talk about it here? Because I don't think people actually understand why the relationship matters as much to me as it does. Well, you get it. I have

a brother. He's not just my brother. See, that's what people don't get. And I want to explain it to you. How do I feel about him running for mayor? Well, my easy hedge is I don't vote in New York City. But I am enthusiastic. Look, here's what I can tell you about my brother. I don't care how you feel about his politics. My brother is a tough guy. He's a fixer.

He knows how to work within government really well, and he's been really tested. And he's learned a lot of lessons. Some because of what he did right, a lot because of what didn't go right for him. Okay? That's his case to make to you. I ain't making it. I will tell you this. I look forward to the people getting to decide his political fate. I think it's really It makes more sense even dare. I say the word fair Because I don't really believe in fairness and politics but This is a better

result for my brother Than having to resign let the people decide and the people decide. And the people should decide. By the way, I believe this about Mayor Adams also. Just go back and look at my coverage. I didn't know whether my brother was gonna run or not. I knew that that indictment against Adams was weak sauce. Now we hear much later that they were gonna add more to it, but they didn't.

And I think that the deal that Trump made him is weak sauce and unfair to Adams, putting hooks in him like that until the election's over. Well, then we'll look again. I mean, come on. How's that not extortion on some level? Not legally, but operatively, that you have hooks in the guy like that. Pardon him or dismiss with prejudice. The charges are gone or they're not gone. So I thought that was all unfair to Mayor Adams. Okay.

So, well, what does that tell you? That's what I've been saying and that's what I think. Well, but your brother's running against him. Okay. And the people will decide. And I'm okay with that more than you are. Why? Because I've had to grow up watching my family exposed to this kind of scrutiny.

I have had to learn to have a level of objectivity about my own that most don't. I'm still obviously biased towards my own family, certainly my brother, but I've had to watch since I was, I don't know, nine, 10, my brother, my father be scrutinized by the media, my family scrutinized by the media. I remember a reporter asking me, my mother gets mugged, right? I'm, I don't know, 10, 11.

I get out of the car, I'm in the back of the car, I'm upset because I didn't want to grow grocery shopping after my little league baseball game, where I'm sure I struck out of the car, I'm in the back of the car, I'm upset because I didn't want to go grocery shopping after my little league baseball game, where I'm sure I struck out a hundred times. And I was sitting in the back seat upset. This guy comes up on my mom when she's getting out of the car and grabs her with her grocery bags. I get out, I say, what are you doing?

And he sees me, let's go of my mom. She drops her purse. She says, cause she was afraid of what was gonna happen to me, whatever. I take a swing at the guy with the bat, miss him. I told you I couldn't hit shit. Probably I'm sure I'd have a terrible game in Little League also that day.

I then chase him. He jumps into the back of the car, takes off. Makes news, why? Because my father was getting in politics at that time. He ran for mayor, he lost in 1977. But I gotta tell you, I don't agree that the city is where it was back then, but people feel like it does.

I mean, I lived it, you know what I'm saying? We were in Queens and I was in and out of the boroughs all the time. We were a precocious lot. When you were 10, 11, 12, 13 years old, you were on the subways, you were going places in Queens. Not like today where someone's gotta hold your hands

everywhere forever till you're like in college. And I remember that, I remember that. And a reporter actually asked me, why didn't you catch him? Like that's what I've had to grow up with, okay? Like why didn't you catch him? Did you wanna let him go? Yeah, I wanted to let the guy who mugged my mom go. No, I wanted to crack his head with the bat. That's what I wanted to do. I missed. Why? Because I'm a shitty baseball player.

That's why. That's why I learned how to fight with my hands because the whole swinging of the bat thing didn't work. So I've grown up with this. So I have a level of objectivity that you may not, but that doesn't mean I'm objective or anything near fair when it comes to judging my family. I'm very protective of my brother. I have a lot of reservations about him exposing himself to this. I understand why his daughters said they wish

that he didn't feel that this was necessary, but just like my father, he does. And I don't. I would never run for political office. Why? Because I don't believe in the process. I think it's too ugly. I think it's too low percentage. And I don't believe you people deserve that much of me. I think I give too much already, not in terms of personal sacrifice, but of my wife and kids and the family that I choose who are all exposed to whatever you decide to say and feel about me and my professional life. They have to live with that.

And I can't believe that I still did that to my own after growing up that way and knowing that I didn't want that for my own. And yet I still did it. As my mother would say, Allora va bene. And so, okay, let's move on. My brother's running for mayor. My brother's running for attorney general. My brother's running for mayor My brother's running for attorney general. My brother's running for governor. My brother's running for mayor. I'm For my brother. I Love my brother. I support my brother. I believe in my brother That's the end of the analysis for me, okay

Why? Does my commitment to my brother mean anything different than your commitment to your brother? Well, maybe it doesn't. Maybe you're the same. Maybe you're better to your brother, to your siblings than I am. I'm not a great anything. Okay?

My brother is not just a brother. My brother raised me, okay? My father, may he rest in peace, would admit, own, and probably embellish everything I'm saying right now. My father was so committed to you people, so committed to public service. He gave it everything. He saw it as a privilege that came first before my mom, before his

family. Not saying he didn't care about his family, he did, but he believed in public service. It was like holy to him. And Andrew has that. But when Andrew was younger, Andrew is 13 years older than I am, okay? Now, a couple things. One, he's aging better than I am. I know, it's amazing. But he really is 13 years older. And he is not taller than I am. I know it's amazing but he really is 13 years older and he is not taller than I am. Okay? I bent down in a picture as a joke and as a good

reflection of what the media is really about, they use that picture all the time. You know why? Because it's bad for me and negativity is a proxy for insight and that's what the media too often is about. Or too many in the media are that way. Shouldn't generalize. There's some people who do the job the right reasons the right way. There's some who don't. And let me tell you, I'll take the real media over the pod people any day.

Okay? I'll take people who you think may have an axe to grind any day over. Okay, but Andrew is the guy who taught me how to ride a bike, taught me how to throw a ball, taught me how to tackle, taught me how to defend myself, taught me why I had to defend myself, taught me what my responsibilities were to my sisters, my parents, him, my grandparents. He got me involved in sports, took me to these places, taught me about cars, he taught me about cleaning and responsibility and protecting.

He taught me those things. Why? Where was my father? He was in public service. Remember, I'm much younger than my siblings. I'm 16 years younger than my oldest sibling. Andrew is not the oldest. He ain't the oldest and he ain't the smartest in my family. And I would argue he ain't the most accomplished

in my family. My sisters who were smart enough to keep their names out of your mouths have done amazing things. Doctors, lawyers, Oscar nominated documentary makers running homeless housing, starting charities, studying the relationship of food to cancer. I mean, amazing things. They've raised amazing children.

They're just smart enough to not need to be in the public spotlight the same way. So when I think about my duty to my brother, this is a guy who in a simple but for analysis, I'm not where I am. I'm not who I am. That's where I'm coming from. That's why helping my brother in a jam is a no brainer with absolutely no time to think about what it would mean for me. I don't know what it would mean for me if I didn't. Support comes from Cozy Earth. Cozy Earth products are designed to transform your 5 to 9.

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So if he, if he matters so much, why aren't I quitting my job and running his campaign? Cause he doesn't want me to. Why? Cause he has better. That's why, but I'm not the best at that. I may know my brother better than anybody else, but that's not necessarily an asset. He knows what he's doing.

This man is a pros-pro when it comes to governance. Smart as hell. And I learned from him, watching him, he got put into politics at 18. He ran my father's first campaign. He had to become my father's tough guy. He had to become my father's tough guy. He had to become my family's tough guy. Because my father, he was a beautiful philosopher, romantic believer in politics, in virtue,

in God. And he was not well suited or acquitted to a lot of the aggressive, muscular, Machiavellian aspects of campaigning and of governance. And he told my brother, that has to be you. Now, Andrew has always been a natural protector. It's who he is. He is not someone to get sideways with if he thinks you're doing the wrong thing

or if he thinks you're part of a problem. If Andrew likes you, you know it and you've got a friend that you can count on. If he does Andrew likes you, you know it and you've got a friend that you can count on. If he does not like you, you know it and you've got an enemy you can count on. Like it, don't like it, that's your choice. Uniquely so with him when he wants your vote. But that's a choice he made. The choice I make is I love my brother. And if I thought that me being involved with his campaign would be better for him, then I would.

But I know he has better. There's also no question I do what I do better than what he does. And being in that world. I mean, I know it as a student, as someone who's lived it for 40 years of my 54 years. And by the way, I'm being generous there. It's actually longer than 40 years. I'm just starting to get a little sensitive about my age, I think.

I'm 54. My father's been in this game since I was like eight. I broke my collarbone. Yeah, I break my collarbone, falling off the top of a refrigerator. How I got there will leave to history. But Meyer, who takes me to the hospital? My brother. We had an event. We, I was like seven, eight, they had an event. My father was running for mayor. Who figured out how to cut my coat so that I could

get it on my coat, my shoulder? Andrew. Who figured out how I was going to get another coat when my mom freaked out that I had just cut up my reversible blue and orange Husky Parker. Andrew, Andrew. In my life, it's always been Andrew. It's not to say that my sisters are phenomenal influences and caretakers in my life and always have been. Want to hear a funny story? I'm in military school. Another thing that'll be left to history as to why I wound up there. Um, I see that they are selling a sandwich called a grilled cheese. You're like, yeah, we know what grilled cheese is.

Guess who didn't Me I thought those sandwiches were called girl cheeses Why because my sisters Maria and Madeline were the only ones I had ever seen make them before we never ate out Never I cannot tell you Remembering being with my family except once at a Chinese restaurant. I don't even know why we were there other than political things. Ever. Families in Queens where I were, you ate at home. You ate together. I don't know. So now you're saying, wow, he's dumber than I thought he was. No, it's just an unsophisticated background.

You see, one of the things that makes my family interesting to people in the media and in politics is because of that alchemy. Very middle-class, very middle-class upbringing. My father, first generation born in this country, less than, not seen as a white guy, seen as an ethnic, marginalized, told he was less than, even in school, made to for, forced he would say, to share high honors, valedictorian, with Irish people or other ethnicities who were considered better, couldn't get a job on Wall Street,

although he was an incredibly talented and high achieving law student and then lawyer, because he was Italian and he knew it and it made him crazy and it drove his passion for purpose. Blue collar, I was a paper boy, little league, paper boy for the New York Post of all rags. Regular place, sister got mugged, mother got mugged, fights on the street,

guys coming through the neighborhood, breaking into houses, stealing bikes, watching Andrew pay his way through school, finding cars, souping them up, racing them, selling them, working AAA. He did, Andrew's a master mechanic because he worked AAA. Do you even know what that is?

24 hour call, wearing his shirt, Andy on it, hates being called that, don't know why, but he does. Nobody calls him that. Anybody who ever says, oh yeah, I know Andy. No, they don't know him. They might as well say, yeah, I know. Instead of calling me Chris, call me Penelope. So we went from that experience to my father unbelievably winning a gubernatorial election

and moving into the mansion. So when I was 11, 12 years old, I wound up moving into the governor's mansion. Who explained to me, and not well enough because I wound up getting in trouble and getting sent to a military school? Andrew, who ran the campaign? Andrew, he was in his mid-20s.

Who took me up to Albany? Andrew, who helped me when I couldn't understand what the hell I was doing in Albany, which was like crack a town compared to where I grew up? Andrew, why am I in the media? Andrew, my father hated the media. He couldn't believe, I tell you this as a joke, it wasn't a joke.

He used to say, why can't you do something that's more beneficial to society, like sell drugs? As a joke, because he thought the media was so abused. He would think it even more today with digital media. It's so irresponsible. It's so obvious that everybody's just playing to advantage. It was Andrew.

Andrew knew that I wasn't loving what I was doing in the law and what I was doing in finance. And Tim Russert, who was very tight with my brother, who had left working for my father, and went into what was supposed to be management at NBC, and he wound up being on camera and like, you know, ushering in a new era of political savvy and commentating on Meet the Press. Timmy was there when I was growing up.

And Andrew talked to him and he talked to me about why they thought that this would be a good fit for me and that I should consider it, even though it was gonna be really hard because of who my pop was. There's this misconception that being a Cuomo helped me in the business. I couldn't get a job.

Nobody, it's not like today where the name gets you the job. I wasn't Jenna Bush. I was a political operative as far as they were concerned, even though I wasn't, in a time when there were none on TV. They didn't really have outsiders at all until OJ, when lawyers started to get put on TV as journalists. And I do believe lawyers, especially those who practice, have a huge advantage in the media over those who haven't.

They just understand the workings of society, argumentation, confrontation much better. I don't just say that because I am one. I just, I say that because I see it. So I owe him so much and the rest of my siblings, it's just they're not running for office. I would back them the same way. Crushed me that my sister didn't win the Oscar the other night.

I thought she was going to. I thought her documentary short was the best, Death by Numbers. It bummed me out so much so that I ate a half a gallon ice cream. I probably would have eaten it if she had won also though, to be honest. I love my family. They've been phenomenal to me. And I think that's what makes us a little different. Everybody says they love their family. Everybody's going to be tested. We've been tested a little bit more out loud and maybe a little bit more deeply than some, not all, not even most, but some. And it's created a unique bond. And when it comes to what's right and wrong,

and you go with your gut, my gut was formed by much of as anything of watching my family. And not just my siblings and my parents. You know, I married somebody who's a way better person than I am. I often feel bad for her that she married me, except for the kids. Other than that, I know she could have done so much better

and such a better life than being exposed to this bullshit. You know, she's in the wellness business of like how to live a more pure, company's called Purist, you know, it's like so getting away from extraneous negativity and influences that don't help you down to a vibrational level. And she marries this jackass who goes into the media

and gets involved with the political maelstrom. I mean, what's more toxic than that? So I am surrounded by people, my friends too. I believe my magic ability, which helps me in this business tremendously, is to draw better people to me. My friends are all better examples of what I wanna be than I am.

It's weird. And they get along so well with each other, even though they all come from different worlds and different parts of my life. And a big part of that in shaping me and making me what I value and what I don't is, of course, my brother. And now I got to talk about it. Why?

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They know how to launch, optimize, and scale performance by building compelling audio campaigns. And the key is they work. Why? They have a personal approach. They have knowledge. They have experience. They have a track record. Now what's interesting is, if you look at how this is covered, it won't be because I'm being so comprehensive here, I'm not going to be able to explain it to you, but I'm going to be able to explain it to you. I'm going to be able to explain it to you. I'm going to be able to explain it to you. I'm going to be able to explain it to you. I'm going to be able to explain it to you.

I'm going to be able to explain it to you. I'm going to be able to explain it to you. I'm going to be able to explain it to you. I'm going to be able to explain it to you. Of course, they apply. Now what's interesting is, if you look at how this is covered, it won't be because I'm being so comprehensive here that it's gonna be too frustrating and tedious for people to pick apart. And they gotta be a little bit careful about picking it apart because I have the entire thing

and I will show how people take what I say out of context. And I'm looking forward to it. So be warned. But why did I'm looking forward to it, so be warned. But why did I have to talk about it at News Nation? Well, because of why I got shithand. It's not, my brother's not in the middle of a scandal, far from it. Do you know how many people were pushing him to run?

I've never seen this before in terms of his political, I remember with my father, but not with Andrew. And I get why him being in the middle of a scandal was one thing for the media, but I think they were out to get him and me, and they succeeded. And it's very different when he's just running for office. This isn't new to the media.

There are many people in the media who've had family members, spouses running for office. This isn't new to the media. There are many people in the media who've had family members, spouses, run for office, serve in government. They didn't leave the media. And I won't either. And there's no need. There's no legal or even ethical obligation. I just won't cover the campaign. I could cover it here. Why? This is my platform. Well, you don't get to have your own life anymore. This is a rule that only applies to me, like these other little edicts that the media came up with, because the media never advises politicians who are in crisis, right?

Even if they cover them, right? How many out there are praying, I don't say their names right now, of who I know have advised my brother, my father, other politicians in my 25 plus years as a journalist, where I've heard people brag about how they were involved with Clinton or Bush or Obama or Biden or Trump, and how, oh yeah, they wanted my take on what's going on and I told them and you did it.

Bragging about it only to say like some high priest, oh well, we all know you don't get involved with the politician. We don't advise politicians. Fuck you don't. But look, life is hypocrisy. Life is pain management. Life is unfairness. Life is you getting good outcomes that you don't deserve and bad outcomes that you don't deserve. That is life. And I have been through it just like you. Way easier than so many lives that I've covered. So much easier.

I lost my job. It's nothing compared to what I've watched so many people overcome and succumb to. So I get it. I always have. It's always given me a perspective that I needed and that has been helpful for me in going through things that were hard for me.

Maybe they wouldn't have been as hard for you, right? Maybe you wouldn't even have the same concerns for your brother and him exposing himself to public scrutiny again, I don't know. Some of the things that helps me understand better. I saw Don Lemon the other day doing a piece about walking next to some friend of his, I guess, saying, do you think Andrew's gonna win?

Do you think, like, it's some extension of his man on the street stuff. And he casually says, you know, at some point in one of his videos, well, you know, Chris isn't my friend. Yeah, I'm not my friend because he decided to trade our friendship for a job. And I get it, I get it, I get why he did it.

It's not like I'm waiting to see Don in the village that we both live in so I could, you know, bang his head off the ground. That's not who I am, it's not how I am. I understand, I understand why he did what he did. But I have a pretty simple condition for the guys in my life and the women too who are my friends You ride or die

I'm there for my friends, especially when times are tough, especially when it's inconvenient And if that's not you then that's not you. That's fine. I don't hold it against people this is a tricky businessman and when your boss was also a friend tells you something and It's good for you to believe it, that's what people do. And I get it. And I don't want to re-litigate it, and I'm not blaming, and I wish them well. I wish everybody well that I worked with.

I do. I care about that place. I care about them. I don't believe that you live your life treating people the way they treat you. I don't believe that. I your life treating people the way they treat you. I don't believe that. I believe that you try to do good and when struggle comes your way and it does, you got to figure out how to love that struggle.

You got to love it. You don't just embrace it because that's where your consistency gets sideways. You got to learn to lean into what's hard in your life. And that's easy to say and hard to do, but that's how it is. So, you know, you're hearing all these people, whether it's Don or CNN, or everybody's talking about my brother now running. Does that give me lots of feels?

Yeah, it gives me lots of feels. It gives me all the feels. Why? Because I don't see him the way you do. I don't see him the way you do. I don't see him the way you do. I see him as somebody who, now that my kids are older, I would step in front of my brother no matter what was coming after him.

I would take a fight up for him in a heartbeat. I really would, and I know that sounds dramatic, but is it that far-fetched in our society today? I don't know. One of the dumbest things anybody can do around me is to threaten my brother or say something stupid in front of my kids. You're gonna get the worst part of me.

And I think that's another reason that I probably don't get involved with his campaigns. So it's not just that I'm not as good as his team. I'm just, I'm too close to it. I'm too close to it. And I'll always be his brother. I'll always give him the best sense of everything that I see and hear in a business that I understand at a subatomic level.

But that's all it is. And that's all it's ever been. People made up stories that were convenient for their own fortunes and their own advantage. And that's just the truth. And it really doesn't even matter if it is the truth, because people believe what they want to believe anyway. And life then goes on. He's running.

He'll either win the primary or he won't. And if he does, then he'll either win the general or he won't. And if he gets in, there is 0% chance that he doesn't make things happen. That's just all he's ever done. Will they like it? Will it be the right things?

I don't know. Where does it lead? I have no idea. Is this something I made him do? Nobody makes him do anything. Okay? I'm telling you that right now. Even the idea of like him getting jammed up in a deal like they just did to the mayor here wouldn't ever happen. It's just not who he is. But it doesn't make him better or worse. It's just, it's who he is. You'll decide. If you vote in New York City, you'll decide.

Not campaigning for him. I'm not making the case for him. Wouldn't make any sense if I did. What would you care what I say about my brother? You know what I'm saying? As like a voter, right? I wouldn't care if I were you. I wouldn't.

But I did want to explain to you why it's not just as simple as like, this is the guy who I never talked to and every time we're together for the holidays, we kind of want to punch each other in the face, but he is my brother. No, it's not how it is with us. I own too much.

I own too much. Everything that I'm interested in in my life, I pretty much mooched off of him. Fishing, cars, fighting, family. You know,

that's what you do, is you pick up from the people who raise you. And that's my brother. So, and you know, do I miss our joint efforts in public? No, and I'll tell you why. I never really liked the whole brothers Cuomo thing. I didn't.

Why? Cuomo sexual, I thought, was very thing. I didn't. Why? Cuomo-sexual, I thought, was very funny. I still do. When I see those shirts for Andrew, I think it's hilarious. But because I don't believe that my relationship with my brother needs to be on display. That's why. I thought of trying to guilt him into doing a podcast with me when I was getting back into the media.

Because we see so many things the same way, but we also see so many things differently, especially politically. And it's an interesting thing because I have a much more detached view of what he sees as like an officer in an army. It's like his perspective. And I'm like someone covering the war. You know? So it's also, you know, it's interesting. And I also get a kick out of seeing him try to defend his party when I think his party sucks. And I think both parties suck for different reasons. I think his party's a joke. That's why I don't have a lot of Democrats on my show.

I'm not deferential to Democrats. I think they're a joke. I'm not deferential to Republicans. I think they're a joke. I'm not deferential to Republicans. I think they sold themselves out. I think they're a joke. Because I think the two party system is a joke. And I wish Andrew didn't have to be in a party. I wish he could just be independent,

but you can't be in this system. Look what happened to Bobby Kennedy, man. You can't get into this game. They've got the control of the money. They've got the control of the infrastructure. They got the control of the money. They've got the control of the infrastructure. They've got the control of the process. All the people in power who are supposed to be doing checks and balances are on their teams. Why do you think Trump had to run as a Republican? You really think he's a Republican? You know he used to be a Democrat, right? Why do you think

independent is the fastest growing party of the electorate? Because the parties suck, because they're about nothing but which one of them is worse. And this binary bullshit battle to the bottom is toxic to us. It exacerbates everything that makes us weaker. I believe that. They turn us from a fist in the fingers. That's what they do. You ever ram your open fingers into something doesn't feel good So that's where we are he's running not a city voter

If I were I may consider his candidacy Depends what he's gonna do for my taxes Depends what he's gonna do with these ebikes that that scare Dusty flying all over the city all the time. I can't believe it's such a big issue, but I don't live in the city. I love him very much. I worry for him being in a public campaign. I worry even more now than I used to.

People are fucking crazy. People are trying to hurt people in a way that I haven't seen in a long time, certainly not in this country. I mean, I watched our president get shot in the head. And you know what was really scary about it? People like immediately took sides. That's scary. To see someone I love, my only brother, the last man who made me, right? My father's gone. It used to be the three of us.

I was always kind of the odd man out. The tallest, best athlete, clearly the best looking, but that's a low bar. We are not known for our looks. But now Papa's gone. So once again, my brother has had to step up and kind of wear two hats for me. And he does, and he does it with a grace and he does it with an ease. That's who he is.

The dude is a protector and a fixer. That's what he is. He's not a glad hander. He's not a comedian. He doesn't make you fall in love with him. He doesn't make everybody think they're his best friends. Not who my brother is. I'm more that way, to be honest.

And I'm kind of known as being fairly prickly myself. My father was really that. He was really that. People loved my father. Even the media, who he antagonized and disrespected and they knew it, except for his pocket of friends, right? Jimmy Breslin, Jack Newfield, Mike McElroy, who was more of Andrew's buddy, may he rest in peace.

You know, may Jimmy rest in peace, may my father rest in peace. I do think it is interesting from a Cuomo family perspective, last point. My father ran for mayor in 1977, he wanted to win. He always fancied being a governor more because he had fallen in love with Albany when he was a clerk in the Court of Appeals. My father was a brilliant lawyer. Brilliant. Okay? Way better than he was as a politician or even as a speechifier. He was a good writer. Don't get me wrong. My father could make metaphor.

No question that and he could deliver it. No question. When they used to joke about him being Cicero, he didn't like it because he knew who Cicero was and what he was about within the Roman Senate and he didn't like some of the comparisons and you know, people are usually so clumsy with what they do. They'll take one part of something and try to, you know, make it analogous to something else, but miss the understanding of the whole. But he ran in 1977 and in that race, I told you about the story of my mom getting mugged

and people asking, reporter asking why I let the guy get away. It was fricking 10. My father was sitting on stage with a bunch of the candidates, and you can look this up, I bet you somewhere, in fact check me. Bella Abzug was there. She was this woman who was a pioneer of women in politics,

big hat she used to wear. The mayor, Abe Beam, B-E-A-M. There was this jackass running around as a form of political protest, throwing coconut shells with whipped cream in them at politicians. Now funny-ish, why? Because they hurt. I watched that thing hit Bella Abza.

My father's sitting on stage. The guy comes down the middle of this thing in some school somewhere in Queens, I think we were, comes down, whips this coconut thing. I don't know if it hit a beam, I don't remember what happened, but it definitely sprayed on them, touched them somehow. My father jumps up, jumps off the stage, chases this mofo, catches him, throws him on the ground, and the rest is left to history, but the cops wind up grabbing him. That's who my father was. That's who my brother is. That's who I am. Now, you can look at some of those traits and say, that's a little aggro, man. Maybe, maybe, you may be somebody who's like,

you know what, there's never any cause for violence. There's never, toughness is really a proxy for inadequacy and you need to be sophisticated. And this is not what my father thought, certainly ain't what my brother thinks, but it is what I think. I think that we've gone too far with certain types of tolerance. There's some types of tolerance that I believe in America we must embrace and even suffer

because of the good of our democracy and what this is about. I believe that when it comes to speech, I do about political speech, but, but, but. I do find myself reading a lot about the jurisprudence of fighting words. I was talking to a mentor of mine the other day and he was talking about this guy who got up in his wife's face and was saying stuff about what he was gonna do to his wife

and basically like baiting him. And he knew he couldn't hit the guy because of what was gonna happen. I don't know if that's the best rule for society. I don't know that that makes us more civilized. I don't know that your ability to come up and insult me in front of my kids and you and I can't figure it out

between ourselves as two men, who gets to run their mouth and who gets to shut the fuck up. I don't know that that necessarily makes us a more civilized, better society. There's so much vulgarity, there's so much lying, there's so much hate, there's so many attacks. You know, I'm not a big fan of, like, citing Mike Tyson as any kind of standard of anything other than rage. But the guy's done a lot of living and he says things every once in a while that really

do have the ring of truth. Social media and our allowances of speech. And again, I believe in it. I believe in it. I believe in the marketplace of ideas. I'm worried about censorship. But not everything fits into the same bucket, okay? Allowing you to say things that aren't true or are unorthodox or are absurdist in politics. I don't have any problem with that. The way I do when people target other people personally and with insults, you know, Aaron

Burr shot Hamilton, right? People used to take insults. They'd have duels. Do we believe we're more sophisticated than they were? Really? Really? You look at Trump and see a more sophisticated person than Abraham Lincoln?

Do you? I don't. And I wonder about that in this day and age, that it's gotten too far, too much. You shouldn't be able to say just whatever you want because you're anonymous. Mike Tyson said, social media has made people forget that

sometimes what you say will get you punched in the mouth. I don't know that we're better with that now being a death sentence, right? You put hands on somebody who says something to you, unless you're Trump or maybe someone around him, that he feels like protecting in that moment, you're a dead man in politics.

But I don't know that that's necessarily what makes us our best. I do feel like there is more of a need for protection. I think it was a part of what people voted for in Trump, maybe misplaced. That's my opinion. But the idea of someone being tough, man or a woman, by the way, you do not have to be a guy to be a tough guy. I trained so many with so many women who would beat the shit out of me and most of you. I don't believe in that kind of limitation. But there is something to being tough. There is something to be someone that you don't fuck around with.

And you don't say just anything to and think it's gonna go okay. If it's insulting and personal and without value beyond insult. That's the key to me. There's so much shit that we allow to be said now that has no value except to hurt. And I really think about that in any criticism that I level.

Look, Rogan and his bunch come after me, they say terrible shit about me. That is, in my opinion, demonstrably false. I applaud his success. I applaud the forum that he provides people and the conversations that he is sometimes a catalyst of. I just think he dropped the ball with Musk. And it concerns me because I think he knows that Musk wasn't to be trusted about Social

Security because he had said as much a week or so before where he just sat there and let this guy say stupid shit that anybody around him could have helped him fact check. And I think we need that right now. It's an extension of what I'm saying. There's too much bullshit that's allowed to be said that has no value other than just to insult and destroy. Right and wrong are a really tricky thing. And the best guide is almost always your gut. The Democrats find themselves in a paroxysm of pain in their political futures because they're not listening to their gut. What we saw at Trump's address to Congress and before it, and these stupid videos are

all proof of it. They haven't figured out that what got him here won't get him there. My brother's running for mayor. What got us to this point was him getting into a situation that went bad for him. And now he's trying to make it right by finishing up his legacy of service and allowing people to decide it. And I understand that and I respect it even if I'm not crazy about it as someone who cares about him. And I have the right to say whatever I want on my own space about that race, about his campaign, about who he's running against,

about how I like it and how I don't, but I really can't, can I? I didn't even do that in this, although I'm sure many of you learned things about why I feel and think the way I do about him that you didn't know before. And that's okay. But I can't because the rules are not the same for everybody. And if we're anyone else in the media, they'd probably be able to say

whatever the fuck they want here. And then when they're covering whatever they're covering for whatever outlet they work at, they wouldn't do it and you're supposed to somehow accept that they're two different people. I think that it's all bullshit and people should just tell you how it is and how they see it and let you decide. You're so much smarter than the media and your leaders give you credit for. It's been the best part of me being part of this wave of digital media is realizing how many independent critical thinkers there are out there. So many of us are so tired of the noise of social media and what our politics defaults

to and what our media likes to play to cheapens us, diminishes us, makes us less than we really are. And as a result, so many of us disconnect because it is a disconnect. I get it. And my brother's going to have to figure that out now for himself because that's his choice. And I respect it, even if it worries me as someone who loves him and cares about him and owes him and who will always be there for him? I'm just not running this campaign and I'm not going to cover it on News Nation because it's not fair to the other people who work

there and it's Silly for anyone to think that I would be objective. I love my brother. I support him. I'm there for him. Okay, and brother, I support him, I'm there for him. Okay? And that does not make me a Democrat. And I tell you, as true and as deeply as I feel anything, I know the parties are the problem. I know it, especially that it's binary.

If we had five, I might feel differently, but we're not gonna get to five. I don't know, or at least I don't see how. And a third party doesn't work. Why? Because it's the same reason that there's no real room for a three-way race in any media contest. It's always about two.

Why? Because there's too much, they take up too much energy and space. So that's what I have to say about where my brother is and why, and how I feel about it, and the requirement that I say something to you about it without really saying too much because I'm not really allowed and I gotta be careful. Or they're gonna write these pieces and they're gonna say this and they're gonna try to get me pressured by my bosses. Why? Because the media loves negativity as a proxy for insight and taking down big names. They think it makes them powerful.

You know what I think should change in our media? You know what I would back as a law? I don't know that we haven't come at a time that if you're going to go fishing for anything that you can find about somebody, why can't people do that to you as well? That would have a chilling effect. Would it? Would it? I would have no problem going after somebody on something just because someone may come after me for the same. I think it might inculcate a different standard of responsibility about what really matters. Do you know how many journalists I know who have had regrets about shitty stuff they put

out about people because they know it was shitty, but they did it just for that clickbait, just for that headline, just for that dap, but that they would never want that kind of scrutiny applied to them? Is that okay? I don't know. I don't know. What do you think? What do you think about all of this? Let me know because that's what I signed up for. I don't know. What do you think? What do you think about all of this?

Let me know because that's what I signed up for and so did you. Chris Cuomo here. Thank you for subscribing and following The Chris Cuomo Project. Thank you very much for checking me out on News Nation, weeknights 8P and 11P Eastern. And if you are an independent critical thinker and you want to wear that independence, get that free agent gear. We use the money to give away to the sources that we believe are good. And by we, I mean me. There are a lot of challenges.

We're going to live them together. So let's get after it.