Cuomo Goes on Rant Against Cruz and Asks If He’s ‘Scared’ of Trump

Texas US Senator Ted Cruz appeared on Chris Cuomo’s CNN show last night as part of the continuing tour to promote his book and talk about the Supreme Court nominating battle.

According to The Hill, the interview descended into chaos after Cuomo, who is the younger brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), questioned the response to the coronavirus pandemic by GOP governors in Texas, Florida, and Georgia.

Cuomo went on a rant that featured him asking Cruz if he was “scared” of President Trump and after Cruz misunderstood who Cuomo was referring to, he clarified by saying, “The one who said your wife was ugly. That guy. The guy now who you won’t say anything about.”

From The Hill:

Chris Cuomo and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) got into a shouting match on CNN Wednesday night, with Cruz accusing the CNN anchor of insulting him and Cuomo alleging Cruz is afraid of President Trump.

The interview descended into chaos after Cuomo, who is the younger brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), questioned the response to the coronavirus pandemic by GOP governors in Texas, Florida and Georgia.

“There is something disgusting that Democrats are doing, that Joe Biden does, and that you do, which is you try to blame the people who’ve lost their lives on your political enemies,” Cruz said. “It’s not right at all and it’s particularly not right, Chris, when your brother has presided over the state with the highest death rate in the country.”

“New York’s record will stand for itself,” Cuomo said. 

“I know your brother didn’t want those people to lose their lives but you shouldn’t play politics,” Cruz noted. 

“Oh, that’s good. So you don’t think he intentionally killed them. That’s good. That’s very charitable of you,” Cuomo replied sarcastically. 

“Of course not!” Cruz shot back. “We could have a very reasonable policy discussion about the policy mistakes in New York, New Jersey of sending COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, and I think that was a very serious policy mistake.”

“Uh-huh. Because that didn’t happen all over the country, right?” Cuomo said.

“No, it didn’t happen in Texas. That’s one of the reasons why the death rate in New York is four times the death rate in Texas,” Cruz replied. 

The CNN interview was later laced with personal insults. 

“To watch guys like you stand around and stroke your beard like a wise man instead of telling the president to get on it,” Cuomo said in reference to Cruz’s beard. 

“How about tell your brother to get on it!” Cruz shot back. 

“Why don’t you talk to the president the way you talk to my brother? Are you scared of him? Are you afraid he’ll smack you down?” the anchor retorted. 

“Oh yeah, I’m terrified of the Cuomos,” Cruz sarcastically responded. 

“Not the Cuomos. I’m talking about the president. The one who called you a liar. The one who said your wife was ugly. That guy. The guy now who you won’t say anything about,” Cuomo said

“You wonder why you don’t have a lot of Republicans who want to come on your show,” Cruz noted. 

“I have more than any other show,” Cuomo claimed.

Today, Cruz took to Twitter to slam Chris Wallace for his debate performance as moderator and call for new rules for debates where both liberal and conservative moderators are present.

From The Washington Examiner:

“Everyone agrees Tuesday’s debate was a train wreck. A major contributing fact was the moderator Chris Wallace, a registered Democrat, repeatedly interrupting to try to help Joe Biden. The next debate is set to be moderated by a former intern to…Joe Biden. (And Ted Kennedy.),” Cruz said on Twitter Thursday.

“This is NUTS. And no Republican should allow this bias to continue in future elections.”

He then proposed two new rules for future debates: “(1) GOP primary debates should be moderated by people who actually vote in a GOP primary. (Not Dem journalists who want GOP to lose.) (2) General election debates should be moderated by an equal number of GOP and Dems.”

He said that the populace should “stop pretending obvious bias doesn’t exist. Instead, equalize & counter-balance it.”

The Texas Republican then gave examples of moderation teams that would work in future debates, such as having Rush Limbaugh and Rachel Maddow moderate, Mark Levin and Chris Hayes, or Ben Shapiro and Chris Cuomo.

“Both sides would take incoming & the debates would be real and substantive,” he concluded.