Watch: CNN's Cuomo Fails To Question Brother on Nursing Home Deaths, Plays with Giant Swabs Instead
CNN host Chris Cuomo and his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have a lot in common — as brothers often do.
In addition to being the affluent sons of late New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, the two men are both liberal Democrats, they both criticize President Donald Trump and both have shown themselves to be public health risks amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The younger Cuomo, who we’ll refer to as Fredo in order to avoid confusion between the pair, showed little regard for his fellow New Yorkers when he broke his quarantine last month after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Fredo left his self-isolation to check on one of his upscale properties on Long Island with apparently little concern for spreading the disease to those around him.
While there are no confirmed cases linked directly to Fredo’s behavior, deciding to parade around his community while sick was without a doubt irresponsible.
Andrew Cuomo, on the other hand, can potentially be linked to thousands of cases and deaths in his state as he ordered nursing homes and long-term care facilities in New York to admit people diagnosed with the coronavirus, as the New York Post reported.
The result saw the disease spread like wildfire, and sadly, many of New York’s COVID-19 deaths came from extremely vulnerable people residing in those facilities.
More than 5,600 people have died in New York nursing homes, with nearly 3,000 of those are directly attributed to the coronavirus, while roughly 2,600 are presumed dead from the disease, Fox News reported.
Statewide, more than 22,000 people have died after contracting the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins.
But if you watch CNN and the Cuomos, it would be easy to get the impression that things have gone well for New Yorkers.
CNN has allowed the duo to make a mockery of both journalistic integrity and public health frequently since March by allowing Fredo to interview his governor brother on-air.
The men laugh like boys sharing bunk beds during their interviews, and of course the result is that Gov. Cuomo is portrayed as a likable guy and not the ineffectual leader he has proven himself to be amid his state’s coronavirus disaster.
But it was CNN’s latest on-air meet up between the brothers that displayed not only how little the network cares for holding pubic officials accountable, but also just how callous the Cuomos are with regard to how hard the coronavirus has hit New Yorkers.
In the latest installment of Cuomo vs. Cuomo Tuesday, the duo laughed and traded pleasantries as Fredo played with gigantic prop nasal swabs.
Fredo did not press his brother on the issues concerning health or reopening the economy and did not demand answers for all those nursing home deaths.
“Now, you had video come out — before we go to break — where you wanted to encourage people to get tested and some people are afraid it’s going to hurt. So, you had video of it that I want to show the audience of you actually getting tested. Here it is. There’s you. You were kind of funny, and they were testing you,” Fredo said.
CNN then aired a clip of Gov. Cuomo being tested for the coronavirus.
“First of all, is it true that when you are having the test administered, you inhaled and the doctor’s finger went all the way up your nose and got stuck and it had to be released with a tool? Is that true? Just to deal with the record?” Fredo asked in a less than hard-hitting question.
“No, she wanted to comment that I have a little button nose and she was afraid that the swab would actually hurt because it extended my nasal cavity,” Gov. Cuomo said.
Introducing a standard nasal swab used to test for the coronavirus, Fredo said: “This is the normal swab I’m holding up here now for everybody at home — a very valuable object. There’s only one company in the entire country that makes these, up in Maine. All right?”
Fredo then introduced an oversized cotton swab as he and the governor could barely contain their laughter.
But Fredo wasn’t finished, as he soon introduced an even bigger nasal swab prop.
“This was the actual swab that was being used to fit up that double-barrel shotgun that you have mounted on the front of your pretty face?” he joked.
The pair laughed hysterically, as if more than 22,000 people in the Empire State never died under Cuomo’s watch and all of those vulnerable people in long-term care facilities didn’t die alone due to the governor’s incompetence.
New Yorkers deserve better than to have their governor cut up with his brother on national TV during a statewide emergency that has resulted in thousands of deaths, and frankly, CNN’s viewers deserve better than to have the network waste airtime on such a spectacle — especially as CNN continues to play up every negative story regarding the virus and then spin it as Trump’s fault.
If CNN is going to continually report on the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and then cite the Trump administration’s supposed poor response as a factor, then they don’t get to treat it with levity because one of their hosts is interviewing his Democratic brother.
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