We’re only six days into 2021 and CNN host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo already submitted an early contender for his most Fredo moments of the years (Here’s his most Fredo moments from 2020). Just as he and co-host Don Lemon took the helm of the network’s coverage of the Georgia Senate runoffs in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, he had a bit of a Freudian slip (or Fredian slip) and cheered “we won” as it appeared that both Democratic candidates were set to win their respective contests.
Leaning on a couple of Georgia themed songs, Cuomo yukked it up with Lemon at the bottom of the 12:00 a.m. hour and touted the state going blue:
CHRIS CUOMO: Midnight Train to Georgia.
DON LEMON: Midnight Train to Georgia! And we’re talking about Georgia, usually ruby red.
CUOMO: Um-hm.
LEMON: On the precipice of possibly turning blue and changing the Senate and changing, really, at least, the beginning of the course of the Biden presidency. Who would have thunk that this would have happened in state like Georgia?
CUOMO: It is unusual. It is a sign of the times. The Republicans now hoping that this is not the night that the lights went out in Georgia.
“So, I’ll tell you who won tonight, we already know, you did. Once again a beautiful display of democracy in action,” Cuomo declared. And despite accusing Georgia of being a hotbed of voter suppression just last summer, he went on to declare that “We’re not getting any funny business out of the state of Georgia. The officials are content with how it's going.”
Bringing it back around to confidence in the result, Cuomo boasted: “We know on the numbers that we have, we won.” But Fredo realized what he just blurted out and immediately added: “democracy won.”
Sure, Fredo. That’s totally what you meant. Whatever that means.
Shortly thereafter, the two wagged their fingers at Pennsylvania, where, on Tuesday, the state legislature opted not to seat a Democrat because the race was tight and there were legitimate questions about how ballots were counted in one county as opposed to another.
Of course, there was no context given as Cuomo equated the rowdy session to a former Soviet Bloc country in Eastern Europe:
CUOMO: See what happened in Pennsylvania today?
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: That’s what you could have happen.
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: It could look like –
LEMON: Refusing to sit a Democrat.
CUOMO: -- one of those scenes from Eastern Europe, where all of a sudden it’s like a donnybrook in middle of an official briefing. I'm surprised they didn't start throwing punches at each other today. That's how sad and savage what’s going on is right now.
Leave it to Fredo to immediately fall back on resorting to physical violence to deal with a political disagreement. He does back a domestic terrorist group (Antifa), after all.
This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Election Day in America: Georgia Senate Runoffs
January 6, 2021
12:31:23 a.m. Eastern(…)
CHRIS CUOMO: Midnight Train to Georgia.
DON LEMON: Midnight Train to Georgia! And we’re talking about Georgia, usually ruby red.
CUOMO: Um-hm.
LEMON: On the precipice of possibly turning blue and changing the Senate and changing, really, at least, the beginning of the course of the Biden presidency. Who would have thunk that this would have happened in state like Georgia?
CUOMO: It is unusual. It is a sign of the times. The Republicans now hoping that this is not the night that the lights went out in Georgia.
LEMON: [laughter]
CUOMO: That was two songs.
LEMON: You're full of them.
CUOMO: That’s it, I am done. [John] Berman was going to give you that one. Now, he’s going to have think of something else.
So, I’ll tell you who won tonight, we already know, you did. Once again a beautiful display of democracy in action. We’re not getting any funny business out of the state of Georgia. The officials are content with how it's going. We have a long way to go, counting could take some time. I do not expect it to be called tonight, but we will be going through.
But already, we know on the numbers that we have, we won, democracy won. Usually a special election after a general, you have about 50 percent falloff in who votes. Here, you have 5 million voted in Georgia in November. We're definitely over four-and-a-half million.
LEMON: 4.6 million people voted compared -- for runoff that's really good.
CUOMO: Huge.
LEMON: And let’s not forget Chris, this is happening as we're going into joint session of Congress where Biden's electoral victory will officially be certified. And then you have all these folks, these Republicans who are going to try to stop it. But they can't really, legally. The President have been pressuring the Vice President to stop it, which he can’t really do. He doesn't have the power to do. We're in the middle of a pandemic. What else could we have going on right now, especially when it concerns politics in this country?
CUOMO: See what happened in Pennsylvania today?
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: That’s what you could have happen.
LEMON: Yeah.
CUOMO: It could look like –
LEMON: Refusing to sit a Democrat.
CUOMO: -- one of those scenes from eastern Europe, where all of a sudden it’s like a donnybrook in middle of an official briefing. I'm surprised they didn't start throwing punches at each other today. That's how sad and savage what’s going on is right now.
(…)
