CNN’s Chris Cuomo devoted his Friday closing argument to furthering the false attacks on Nikki Haley, falsely claiming that she said in interview with The Blaze that white supremacist Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof “hijacked everything that people thought of” in terms of "sacrifice and service and heritage” by “holding the Confederate flag” as he committed the murders.
According to the chyron at the bottom of the screen, Haley’s comment served as proof positive that “Trump’s habit of downplaying bigotry spreads within GOP.” As many have pointed out (including this piece from Hot Air), Friday marked an ugly attack on Haley. In other words, it was fake news.
Cuomo scolded: “Service, sacrifice, and heritage? Service to slavery, the sacrifice of the slaves, and the heritage of slavery. Haley knows one murderer didn’t co-opt that flag. He used it for what it is, like every other bigot and white extremist.” Cuomo proceeded to play a clip of Haley back in 2015 claiming the flag “never should have been” displayed at the South Carolina Capitol before asking “why pump up this flag?”
Cuomo attempted to answer his question by asking rhetorical questions: “Is she falling in line with this Trumpy forgetfulness of what bigotry is, the malignancy of it? Is she trying to curry favor with certain voters like the leader of her party does?”
As he attempted to make the case that President Trump is a racist bigot, Cuomo played a clip of some of the attendees at a Trump rally chanting “send her back” with regard to far-left Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a member of the quartet of Democratic freshmen known as “the Squad.”
When the montage of Trump’s “racist” remarks concluded, Cuomo asked “Is this what Nikki Haley wants to be? Talk like bigotry is benign, nationalism is patriotism, xenophobia is just common-sense suspicion of an entire faith?” Again, she didn’t say that, but it illustrated just how poorly Cuomo thinks of fellow Americans who don’t think like him. Perhaps it’s Cuomo who has a hate problem.
Cuomo briefly strayed from his talking points focusing on Trump’s “bigotry” to slam the GOP for their “collective blindness to the obvious” regarding impeachment and even though congressional Republicans haven't done what CNN wants them to do, “the normalization of evil symbols and words is even more toxic than impeachment.”
As the monologue ended, Cuomo expressed outrage about Haley’s “capitulation” to Trump and pleaded with the former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador: “Nikki Haley, please. Tell us you didn’t mean it. Tell us that you haven’t surrendered the truth for some Trumpy notion of popularity.” For his part, Cuomo appears to have “surrendered” the pretense of objectivity in favor of joining the anti-Trump #Resistance.
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A transcript of the relevant portion of Friday’s Cuomo Prime Time is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CNN's Cuomo Prime Time
12/06/19
09:50 PM
CHRIS CUOMO: All right, you ready? This is a tough one tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(JULY 10, 2015, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA VIDEO OF CROWD CHEERING THE CONFEDERATE FLAG COMING DOWN)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: This moment was a defining moment for then-Governor Nikki Haley, when the Confederate Flag came down at South Carolina State, at the Capitol, after the Charleston Church massacre. It was big. It meant a lot all over the country and for her personally. But now, Haley is floating a new theory about why the flag had to come down. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY: Here is this guy that comes out with his manifesto, holding the Confederate flag, and had just hijacked everything that people thought of. You know, people saw it as service, and sacrifice, and heritage, and…but once he did that, there…there was no way to overcome it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Service, sacrifice, and heritage? Service to slavery, the sacrifice of the slaves, and the heritage of slavery, that’s what it was about. Haley knows one murderer didn’t co-opt that flag. He used it for what it is, like every other bigot and white extremist; these guys, the KKK, neo-Nazis, right-wing nationalists. And again, Haley knows this. This is the worst part. Here’s the proof.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY: It just never should have been there. And these grounds are a place that should be…that belong to the people of South Carolina. And what I realize, now more than ever, is people were driving by, and they felt hurt, and pain. No one should feel pain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: “Never should have been there.” She got it, and she should, because it was, is, and always has been obvious, especially as a family like hers, immigrants who felt the sting of being an “other.” So, the question is, why pump up this flag? Is she falling in line with this Trumpy forgetfulness of what bigotry is, the malignancy of it? Is she trying to curry favor with certain voters like the leader of her party does?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, okay? I’m a nationalist.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: You really want to be like that, playing with ideas and labels that are used by white nationalists, 20th century dictators, and now, apparently the President of the United States? You going to start to wonder about whether Islam is now out to get us because maybe this Saudi murderer is Muslim, and the navy base is proof that she’s got to be like her ex-boss?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: It’s not about Haley. It’s bigger than she is. Standing idly by as supporters chant sending back a member of Congress. Remember this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(TRUMP SUPPORTERS CHANTING “SEND HER BACK” AT RALLY)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Born here, by the way, the person they were talking about. Look, demonizing practically anyone who crosses the southern border, it’s all part of the same idea, this.(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)TRUMP: They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.(END VIDEO CLIP)CUOMO: Is this what Nikki Haley wants to be? Talk like bigotry is benign, nationalism is patriotism, xenophobia is just common-sense suspicion of an entire faith? It is not okay. And we know where Trump got it. He went out early in this process to visit Steve King, as in the king of contempt for Latinos.(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. STEVE KING (R-IA): For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there is another 100 out there that…they weigh 130 pounds, and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Right. You know, he learned from that guy, from Tom Tancredo. He learned that that could be effective with a certain population of his party. But is that who Haley wants to be? She was seen as this party’s, you know, the hope. I’ll get more of that in a second because what the party’s dealing with right now is capitulation to this fetid BS. The biggest indicator of this party’s leaning has become its silence. It is like the malignancy of the ideas from this President will lead nowhere but to more victory, so “Shh!” Well the midterms told you otherwise, but so should this. You don’t sell hate in America. You don’t do that, and get a majority; not now, not ever. Too many of us are just a couple generations removed from being the people you attack or that you just sit quiet in the face of when some big-shot is doing the same. You empower what you ignore. And you are complicit in what you excuse. Silence is not safety. That’s the problem with Nikki Haley, saying what she did about the Confederate flag. She’s ignoring the obvious, and we know that she knows it’s obvious, because she said it before she said what she said now. The latest example of a party that has surrendered principle for…for power, and we see it with impeachment, collective blindness of the obvious. They all know Trump was wrong to do what he did, how he did it, and why he did it. They know. They were more righteous about Clinton’s sexcapades than this obvious escapade to procure foreign help in the election. But the normalization of evil symbols and words is even more toxic than impeachment. Nikki Haley, please, tell us you didn’t mean it, tell us that you haven’t surrendered the truth for some Trumpy notion of popularity. So many saw you as the hope for the future of your party. Don’t stand as proof that hope is lost. That’s the argument tonight.
