CNN’s Chris Cuomo Calls Ted Cruz’s Deflection of Trump’s Proud Boys Comment ‘Weak-Ass’ (Video)
CNN’s Chris Cuomo was dumbfounded when guest Ted Cruz deflected to Joe Biden after being asked about President Trump’s failure to denounce white supremacists, and called Cruz’s response a “weak-ass argument.”
The “Cuomo Prime Time” host and Texas senator went back and forth Wednesday night over comments Trump made during the previous night’s debate.
Cruz started off by reiterating his own condemnation of the hate group Proud Boys, saying, “I think white supremacists, Klansmen, Nazis, are ignorant, bigoted morons.”
Cruz then tried to steer the conversation away from hate groups — and thus, away from Trump’s Tuesday-night directive to the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” ahead of the November election — but Cuomo pressed him on the topic by asking if Trump was “wrong to go soft” on them.
*Also Read:* Proud Boys Celebrate Trump's 'Stand Back and Stand By' Comments During Debate
Cruz said he wished the president “had been much clearer,” but pivoted to accusing the media of hypocrisy around the issue: “The press is partisan in this regard. Ten years ago — 2010 — Joe Biden gave a eulogy for Robert Byrd, who was a Grand Cyclops of the KKK. That’s ten years ago.”
“You’re going to go with that weak-ass argument here?” asked Cuomo. Byrd was regretful and apologetic for his role in the KKK later in life, which Cuomo called a “complete enlightenment.” The primetime host pointed out that Byrd, a U.S. senator, “spoke about it” and “changed his ways,” coming to stand for the opposite of what the KKK did at the time of his death.
“Chris, have you ever eulogized a Klansman?” asked Cruz. “I haven’t.”
Their conversation continued to devolve, with Cruz accusing Cuomo of insulting him and said that CNN coverage “is just about how much you hate Trump.”
What Cuomo and Cruz’s CNN exchange below:
"Chris, do you actually want to talk substance?" @TedCruz asks @ChrisCuomo.
"We are talking substance. I just like to call out the hypocrisy…because the audience heads stay on straight that way," replies the host amid an interview ranging from the debate to Covid-19 testing. pic.twitter.com/XOaVrHxVjD
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) October 1, 2020
*Related stories from TheWrap:*
Watch This 'Late Night With Seth Meyers' Supercut of Chris Wallace Yelling 'No!' at Trump (Video)
Tucker Carlson Complains 'Joe Biden Stole Donald Trump's Lines' During Debate (Video)
Shepard Smith Returns to TV With Grim Assessment of Trump's Debate Performance