Fredo and Andrew Cuomo: All Mainstream Media Credibility Has Been Destroyed
Media’s Credibility Crisis Continues with Chris Cuomo Conundrum
In this installment of our weekly conversation, PF Whalen and Parker Beauregard of The Blue State Conservative consider the complete evaporation of the mainstream media’s credibility in the wake of CNN’s handling of Chris Cuomo’s reporting on his brother Andrew’s ongoing scandals.
PF: It’s been years since the mainstream media has had any real credibility, but this latest nonsense involving the Cuomo Brothers has brought the issue to a new level; and the problem isn’t just with CNN. Chris “Fredo” Cuomo was yucking it up with his incompetent brother, Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, when everything seemed to be going well for the governor last spring and summer, but now Chris has announced that he can’t report on scandal-ridden Andrew because of a conflict of interest.
The media was holding up Andrew as the end-all-be-all for governors handling the COVID pandemic while they completely ignored his mishandling of nursing homes and the subsequent cover-up. Now they’re finally reporting on the issue, as they simultaneously report on the accusations of sexual harassment against him. But nothing is new. We knew in May that Cuomo had botched the nursing home situation and had been under-reporting the COVID deaths that resulted. The incidents of sexual harassment all happened months, if not years ago. Yet they’re just getting to their coverage within the last month.
There have been multiple media folks coming out and criticizing Chris Cuomo since he made his announcement, but they’re a day late and a dollar short. New York Times correspondent Annie Karni, for instance, tweeted “That makes sense. What never made sense to me was Chris Cuomo covering him when things were going well for Andrew Cuomo.” What never made sense to me, Annie, is that you and your colleagues never said anything at the time. You work for the New York Times; why didn’t you denounce Chris Cuomo when it was happening?
The incestuous nature of our mainstream media isn’t limited to the obvious example of the Cuomo Brothers, it’s everywhere we look. So-called journalists who aren’t related by blood to radical leftwing Democrats, are nonetheless related by ideology. They’re all brothers and sisters with the common bond of leftism.
Parker: I hope Andrew Cuomo writes a second book while he is in political exile (preferably prison) and the title of it is A Dummy’s Guide For Hiding Behind The Media As a Democrat. I see that “Dummy” series gaining a lot of traction for Democrats. Cuomo was able to scam the general public on not one, but two major scandals.
With Covid, he had his kid brother joking around and hosting him on a near-nightly basis; suddenly, because of the familial connection it wouldn’t be proper for Fredo to cover it at all? Is anyone buying this lame excuse? As far as the governor’s sex scandal, there are a lot of angles to take here as well (that’s not a sex pun, just for the record), but I am really interested in seeing how Fredo again gets wrapped up into this. Tucker Carlson did his best to expose the creepy workings of Kid Brother back in August, providing exclusive video and audio evidence of some of the questionable choices the former was making. Tucker covered it well, but the story never gained traction. Perhaps the new developments in the Cuomo circle will allow more details to come to light.
Fredo and Andrew are both hyped losers. In addition to the Tucker stories about sexual improprieties, we must never forget that Fredo faked his entire Covid ordeal, airing his show from the basement and pretending to reemerge for the first time on air. Of course, this narrative collapsed when a neighbor caught him red handed biking with his family while still within the Fauci-, CDC-, and science-backed quarantine period. After being exposed, instead of owning it Fredo personally went after him. Fredo also got busted for pretending to care about Covid after it was revealed that his apartment complex sent him letters to wear masks as mandated. So, to recap: Fredo violated quarantine rules while sick, lied about it, didn’t follow mask rules, denied it, and then also might be a sexual predator. I understand nepotism and all that, but how does he still have a show?
PF: The current narrative from the media regarding Andrew Cuomo is that he has a scandal on his hands; singular. They’re incorrect of course, and intentionally so, as they try to brush aside his nursing home scandal. Andrew Cuomo is currently dealing with at least two scandals. But in reality, the behavior by Chris and CNN is scandalous as well; let’s call it Fredo-gate.
It’s undeniable now that CNN and Fredo intentionally put their fingers on the scale of the election, ignored proper journalistic protocols, and were probably complicit in helping Andrew Cuomo cover-up his shenanigans. Not only is Fredo-gate a scandal, it’s a damaging one. This continual deterioration in the credibility of the media is bad for our country. According to polls, trust in the media is at an all-time low, and skepticism has resulted in people going elsewhere for news.
As you and I have discussed, the phenomenon of folks looking for alternative news sources is proving to be a boon for conservative outlets, including www.TheBlueStateConservative.com, but it also poses serious problems. The left and their media frequently lament the rise of misinformation and/or disinformation, as they erroneously use the terms interchangeably, but they themselves are to blame. After the widespread, blatant bias we saw during the last election, and now with Fredo-gate, how can anyone trust CNN, or The New York Times, or even the major news networks? They can’t, and that is a major problem. That is why people are choosing other sources for staying informed.
The solution is for self-policing by the media. Having a handful of journalists launch some half-hearted shots at Chris Cuomo via Twitter isn’t going to cut it. If our mainstream media wants to regain any level of credibility, they need to cover Fredo-gate. They need to call out CNN, Chris Cuomo, and the Democratic Party; and they need to call out the absurd, biased culture that enabled it.
Parker: I want to source my credit accurately; I think Breitbart was the first to comment on the one-two punch that evolved into just a “two” punch. By focusing on the relatively minor and long-known sex scandal, the media is diverting attention from the “one” punch that deserves most, if not all, of the air time.
The logic behind this intentional diversion is that Cuomo was not alone is his handling of aging, infected patients. Governors Whitmer (D-MI), Newsom (D-CA), Walz (D-MN), and Murphy (D-NJ) have all faced implications of following a similar model. It looks the worst on Cuomo, of course, because there was a massive Navy hospital ship that sat empty for weeks before leaving and there are reports that entire makeshift hospitals also sat empty. We can only hope that an intrepid reporter will one day seek out what so many of us first suspected but have now long-known: Covid was weaponized for political gain, and at the direct cost of human life. This amounts to premeditated murder and whoever issued the orders – which is akin to sending smallpox blankets into Native American tribes – should be charged and held accountable accordingly.
PF: The mainstream media has been piling on Gov. Cuomo since the dam broke, and I suppose it’s a situation of “better late than never,” but as usual they’re missing the overriding point. As you mention, they’re focusing on the sexual harassment accusations, and not the governor’s botching of nursing homes during the pandemic. And you’re right, Cuomo’s not alone. Other states screwed the pooch as well, though Cuomo may be the only one guilty of criminally covering up his incompetence. But it wasn’t just all of the governors at fault; our media was enabling them all along.
While old folks were dying in New York nursing homes, due largely to Gov. Cuomo’s stupid policies, he was cavorting on air with Fredo. But it wasn’t just Fredo who was complicit it was the entire media establishment. They were all giving the governor a pass on accountability. They were extolling Cuomo’s job performance while that performance was killing people. The media was more concerned on ensuring Donald Trump would lose the election than on actually doing their jobs and informing the public.
Remember when the media would accuse President Trump of having “blood on his hands” due to his pandemic policies? Well, not only does Governor Cuomo have blood on his hands, so too does the media. Instead of holding up the garbage governor as the gold standard and helping him win a ridiculous Emmy Award, what if the media had been accurately reporting on his policies and results? If they had been more focused on what was actually happening in New York instead of helping the governor sell copies of his moronic book, people would have been more informed. And if New Yorkers had better understood the reality of his mishandling of nursing homes, perhaps they would have taken their loved ones out of those facilities. Perhaps substantially less people would have died if they had simply been journalists instead of cheerleaders.
Parker: In times like these, I always wonder how people that championed eventual losers process their reality check. The Emmy and book deal have been mentioned, but let’s not forget that last summer Anthony Fauci said everyone should be following the lead of Cuomo. He was someone who got hit the worst but turned it around. The same goes for the people that suggested Cuomo be a viable contender to replace Biden on the ticket if Sleepy Joe’s dementia caught up too much prior to November 4th. Why isn’t anyone held accountable for their support? The Emmys, the book publisher, the subway posters, and the likes of Fauci propped up a known lie – a lie that killed tens of thousands. Good job, everyone.
Despite all of this, we are treated to the regular distraction of Fox News. What is Fredo doing? Who cares. It only matters that Fox News recently hired former Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. To no one’s surprise, this is a problem. Does it matter that Jen Psaki worked at CNN in between stints with the Obama and Biden administrations? Of course not.
What else is McEnany supposed to do, not work? Her boss is no longer president, and she can’t simply not be a press secretary anymore, although her coherence and intellect would be a welcome reprieve from the incompetent and lying Jen Psaki. Psaki makes Kamala Harris seem relatable and empathetic.
Content syndicated from TheBlueStateConservative.com with permission.
