President Donald Trump on Tuesday leaned into a controversy surrounding CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, boosting an expletive-laden video in which the "Cuomo Primetime" host compares being referred to as Fredo from "The Godfather" to "the n-word."
"I thought Chris was Fredo also," Trump said in a tweet, referring to the less intelligent younger sibling of fictional mafia don Vito Corleone in the franchise.
The president, who has made pummeling CNN part of his brand, added: "The truth hurts. Totally lost it! Low ratings @CNN."Cuomo is the younger brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Cuomo's outburst went viral Monday night when it was
The conversation continues to devolve, with Cuomo threatening the heckler and at one point warning that "I'll f--king throw you down these stairs."
The conservative media world was split over the clip, with some coming to his defense and others arguing he should be punished.
The president himself took the latter line of attack, suggesting that under a so-called red flag gun law being mulled by lawmakers, Cuomo might be barred from owning a gun.
"Would Chris Cuomo be given a Red Flag for his recent rant? Filthy language and a total loss of control. He shouldn’t be allowed to have any weapon. He’s nuts!" Trump said.
Donald Trump Jr., the president's son, suggested Monday night that Cuomo was being disingenuous in his offense over the term. Trump Jr. retweeted a statement posted on Twitter attributed to a CNN spokesperson in which the network stood by Cuomo, saying the anchor “defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup. We completely support him.”
The younger Trump included a clip from Cuomo’s show earlier this year in which he shows no reaction when CNN commentator Ana Navarro-Cardenas refers to one of Trump siblings as Fredo.
“Does CNN’s head of PR still think 'Fredo' is an ethnic slur after watching this? Because if it’s the N word for Italians like @ChrisCuomo says, I don’t understand why Chris seems so at ease with someone saying it here,” Trump Jr. said, dismissing the defense as a "fake" excuse.
The same CNN spokesperson, on a personal Twitter account,
Fox News host and frequent CNN basher Sean Hannity backed the anchor up on Tuesday. “I say good for @ChrisCuomo … He’s out with his 9 year old daughter, and his wife, and this guy is being a jackass in front of his family. Imho Chris Cuomo has zero to apologize for,” he argued in a tweet, adding that it was Cuomo who deserved an apology.
Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager, said that “too many of us have seen this happen when we are out with out famIiies [sic]. If this continues someone is going to get hurt. Have some respect. @ChrisCuomo has every right to defend himself and his family.”
“Heckling a public figure and secretly recording their reaction is a punk move. Conservatives applauding it in this case are hypocrites. Good for Cuomo, treating the guy exactly as he deserved to be treated,” wrote conservative blogger Matt Walsh.
Anthony Scaramucci, the flamboyant former White House communications director, also rushed to Cuomo’s defense, writing that he was “very proud” of his fellow Italian. “This happens all the time,” he claimed. “It’s quite racist.”
But Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain and a co-host on ABC's "The View," aruged that as a male, Cuomo was not being held to the same standards a female anchor in his place would be subject to.
"However you feel about Chris Cuomo’s behavior today, there’s not one woman in ALL of media who could be filmed in public on an obscenity filled tirade and be supported by their network and public the way he is right now," she said in a tweet. "Men get to be tough and swear, women are 'unhinged.'"
Cuomo’s show was previously scheduled to be off the air for the rest of the week.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine