5 hours ago
1
Chris Cuomo declared the Democratic Party “dead” Wednesday night, a day after 33-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated his scandal-plagued ex-governor brother, Andrew.
During his primetime NewsNation program, Cuomo – who was fired from CNN in 2021 after helping the then-governor of New York, Andrew, strategize how to attack his sexual misconduct accusers – groused that Democrats have become too extreme, pointing to his sibling’s loss to an “open socialist.”
Thanking his viewers for “all the kind words about my brother,” Cuomo pointed out that he “didn’t cover the mayoral election or even comment on it here at NewsNation for obvious reasons.”
While he may have refrained from directly discussing the race for mayor, Cuomo did take aim at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Tuesday night, expressing shock that she is viewed favorably in recent polls because “she is a deranged form of Democrat.” Of course, AOC is one of the most prominent Democrats who endorsed Mamdani.
After saying he’s “not worried” about his brother’s personal and professional future following the loss in the mayoral race, which saw the ex-governor leading in most polls, the NewsNation anchor then laid out reasons why his brother was handily defeated by Mamdani.
“I get why many of you were surprised by the Democratic primary results in New York City. I was not. Two reasons. One is that it was a low-turnout race that people did not think could go the way it did,” he asserted.
“The enthusiasm and turnout energy were overweighted for the more extreme candidates, as is often the case, and that’s one of the problems with our binary system and with our closed primaries.”
While Cuomo claimed that “there were several radical choices” in the Democratic primary, he also insisted that “contrary” to how he was painted during the campaign, “Andrew’s no establishment guy” and the “party was not loving that he ran.”
The disgraced ex-governor ultimately secured the endorsement of former President Bill Clinton and was bankrolled by a significant portion of the New York business community, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“The second reason I wasn’t surprised is actually worth talking about here because it affects the entire nation,” Cuomo further noted. “The Democratic Party is now officially in MAGA mode. We are now, on both sides, in a period of extremism.”
The comments came as Republicans have spiraled into ugly Islamophobia and even called for Mamdani’s deportation after his stunning victory.
The ex-CNN star, who recently revealed that he wrote-in his brother’s name on the ballot during the 2024 presidential election rather than vote for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, continued to make his case that the two major political parties are just as extreme now.
According to the 54-year-old TV personality, Democrats have too much sympathy for “extreme” Islamists while demonizing Jewish people.
Mamdani, meanwhile, is a Muslim who has been accused of antisemitism by prominent Jewish lawmakers and organizations for declining to condemn the pro-Palestinian slogan “globalize the intifada.” The mayoral candidate, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel in its war with Gaza, has denied those accusations and vowed to fight antisemitism – all while being defended by a lengthy list of Jewish supporters.
“The same way MAGA played with the prejudices of white nationalism, you’re seeing an identical dynamic on the left with prejudices like tacitly supporting extreme Islamism or targeting Jews,” Cuomo proclaimed. “For the right, it’s migrants. For the left, it’s Jews. It’s fundamentalist Christians dominating the right. It’s fundamentalist Islamists making headway on the left. I know that doesn’t sound like Democrats, but that party is dead. What it will be reborn as, we’ll see.”
Cuomo wrapped up his monologue on Wednesday evening by claiming that “there are many in America who are adopting and adapting to fundamentalism” while rejecting that Mamdani’s victory was due to his policies or New Yorkers’ concerns about the economy.
“The outcome in this election wasn’t about affordability or about real change,” he concluded. “The winner is an open socialist, and the Democratic Party is now just that: socialistic. But be clear, this is a fictional fix for very real frustrations.”
