CNN anchors shill for Cuomo as mainstream media attacks Mamdani again

The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.

Taya Graham:

Hello, my name is Taya Graham, and welcome to our Inequality Watch Reaction, the part of our reporting where we break down how our mainstream media brethren shaped the narrative on behalf of their corporate overlords to ensure we the people are screwed. And today we have quite the video to discuss a straight up propaganda piece, or perhaps I should say propaganda piece by a high profile CNN anchor to once again, take down New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Now before we show the clip, I want to introduce my cohost Stephen. Janis. Stephen, thank you for joining me today,

Stephen Janis:

Tay, thank you so much for having me. I think we got a really good clip to break down here. I’m kind excited about it.

Taya Graham:

Absolutely, absolutely.

Stephen Janis:

Now

Taya Graham:

We have both watched the fallout from the surprise win by the progressive candidate z Mond Domini in the Democratic primary. Now, his promise to lower rent grocery prices and make public transportation free have predictably upset the democratic establishment and their elite funders. Now, a few weeks ago, there was a tragic shooting of five people in a downtown Manhattan building the shooter, a Nevada man, Shane, Tamara, got off 50 rounds before he shot himself and innocent people died. And that is absolutely a tragedy. However, the mainstream media couldn’t wait to take advantage of the situation to blast a progressive candidate and shield for the brother of its former anchor. And that would be Chris Cuomo. And in this video, his brother and mayoral candidate and former governor Andrew Cuomo. And the target, of course, was the winner of the Democratic primary for Mayor Mamdani. Now, Mamdani Trounced Cuomo in the New York City, mayoral primary in July. Cuomo says he might run against him again as an independent and still polls show him down in the race. And that’s when it seems CNN came to the rescue. So let’s watch this video exchange between Cuomo and CNN anchor Kasie Hunt and Stephen, right before we show the clip, can you just give a little bit of context about the circumstances and the political calculus that informs the exchange we’re about to watch?

Stephen Janis:

Well tell you while we watch this clip, I want you to think about one simple way the corporate media depicts policing to keep people from criticizing it. And Madami did criticize it in a tweet in 2020, which I think you’re going to read. But just remember while you’re talking about this tweet that you’re either for police or you’re against police. There’s no in between and no nuance, and I think there’s a reason for that.

Taya Graham:

So he actually tweeted in 2020, okay? And this is ami, that we don’t need investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, antique, and a major threat to public safety. What we need to do is hashtag defund the NYPD.

Stephen Janis:

Yeah. And the thing is that there were statistics to prove that the department was racist because their very expansive stop and frisk strategy actually stopped and impress African-American people and Hispanic people and greater proportion of white people, even though they were not arrested in the same proportion. So in other words, it was racist, but of course he brought this criticism up and we watch this clip. Let’s remember how that works with the idea that you were either for or against policing, but you can’t critique it.

Taya Graham:

Now, see, that’s a really good point. You might not like his word choice, but you really can’t argue with those numbers

Kasie Hunt:

Right

Taya Graham:

Now. Casey Hunt, the CNN anchor that we’re talking about today, starts out with a page from the Cop GA Playbook, as you noted. In fact, the title of the YouTube video certainly seems like a campaign pitch. And I quote, Momani doesn’t understand the value of the New York Police Department. Okay, let’s watch the clip and see how this unfolds.

Kasie Hunt:

Do you think your opponent, Zo and Momani, would a Mayor Momani help or hurt the morale of the NYPD?

Andrew Cuomo:

Well, look, if you look at his prior statements, I think it would definitely hurt. Literally, he has said he was part of this defund the police movement. He has said that the police are a threat to public safety, that they are racists, that he would dismantle the police department. So these are all very harsh statements. I think it would be very hard to recruit police who would want to work for a mayor who basically called, not basically did call the police officers racist.

Taya Graham:

Okay, Steven. Now, we have watched highly paid anchors attack Mond for his popular populist policies, calling him a socialist, which I guess in their definition means free public transportation or cheaper groceries. But this whole idea of turning him into an enemy of policing in the middle of a tragedy like this is more than a little bit desperate. And I honestly think it’s unseemly. I mean, on the heels of a tragic shooting in New York where five innocent people were murdered, the anchor is playing the fear card.

Stephen Janis:

Te, that speaks directly to what I talked about before, either being for or against policing. You don’t want any nuance or any critique that would challenge the law enforcement industrial complex. And one way you do that, one way you make sure that people get in line don’t critique policing, is to make sure that you make them afraid. It’s critical to that fear is always a part of law enforcement. And the underlying reason for that is that law enforcement is a business. So the best way to keep business booming is to keep people afraid and say, you can’t criticize it. You either embrace it fully or you don’t. And if you’re against it, then somehow you’re some sort of crazed liberal or some sort of crazed radical. It’s insane. And it’s, we’ve seen it in our own town in Baltimore, and now they’re trying to play it in New York.

So it’s really, really, I think, very simple for or against policing. And if you’re not, they’d be very, very afraid. A lot of people criticize us on the police accountability report, our show that we do report on policing. And a lot of people say, well, don’t call police when you get robbed or something. Well, newsflash, we’ve had tons of crimes committed against us in many different ways, and police have never been much help. But part and parcel of this not being able to question policing is to use the instrument of fear to make that people accept whatever policing throws at us.

Taya Graham:

I know just because we want crime solved doesn’t mean that when a police officer commits a crime, that they should be beyond the law,

Stephen Janis:

Right?

Taya Graham:

But interestingly enough, instead of anchor hunt pushing back, she continues to let Cuomo just late into Mond, take another look.

Andrew Cuomo:

I think he would aggravate what is already a bad situation, and I don’t think he understands the importance of the NYPD and the importance of public safety and something like this happens. And then it really is a reality check for all this political theory and political hype that we have going on in this country with the extreme left postulating, these theories that have no connection to reality.

Taya Graham:

Okay, let’s unpack what he means by bad situation. And I have to say, this is an argument politicians have leaned on for decades here in my city, Baltimore. If you hold police accountable, all you will get is more crime. And also you can only be for or against police. No questions asked. But I guess CNN doesn’t fact check anymore because according to the NYPD crime hit record lows in the first three months of the year. Check out this press release they posted on their website. Let me read it a bit, because apparently the CNN Research Department can’t, okay, let me read this for you. New York City saw historic reductions in overall crime through the first quarter of 2025 with the fewest shooting incidents in recorded history and the second lowest number of murders in the same period. Okay, Steven, I don’t get it. Crime is down to historic lows, but policing is in crisis. I mean, I thought according to the mainstream media, if police can’t do their jobs, then crime would go up and that less police means more crime in mayhem. They can’t hire officers, but somehow crime goes down. What am I missing here?

Stephen Janis:

You’re missing the fact that policing is the greatest tool of anti-democratic fascist type of politicians. I mean, let’s look at our own nation’s. Capitol. Trump just suddenly said, I’m going to start deploying National Guard on the streets of Washington, dc. What did he use? He used the horrible aesthetics of crime saying crime is up when that crime is down as DC as along with other cities. But it gives them this entree, like we said before, they use fear and then you abandon reason, and then you abandon democracy. And I think that’s the point. But there’s another point too, one other that I think you’ll be well familiar with. Policing is a big freaking business. And the best way to keep business good is to keep people from being irrational. I mean, we’ve seen so many instances where cities like Baltimore have spent every penny they have on policing and totally abandoned accountability.

I actually sat in a hearing about policing when I had written about overtime abuse. And a politician at that time said, how much money do you need? We’ll just throw anything at you. If you keep people fearful, they open their wallets. And I think that’s a part of it. So you have a great combination, right? More business for policing and more fascism for people like Trump who are now trying to take over American cities with his own form of policing. So it’s like just a very simple playbook, and I think what’s most distressing about this is the mainstream meeting is helping them here.

Taya Graham:

You know what? That is such an excellent point. I mean, the police are the tip of the spear, and we all know that policing can be used to essentially erase our democratic civil rights. But I do have to bring up another point. Cuomo’s police pitch is part of a deeper policy crisis that I think explains why Democrats continue to be so unpopular. I mean, let’s remember Cuomo really is a Democrat, and CNN is considered to be a so-called liberal news source. It is. But let’s watch just another segment and see how these so-called liberals set up their next Mond takedown. Just listen,

Andrew Cuomo:

And it’s been a wake up call I think for New Yorkers in general. Policing has become a very politicized topic in this city as it has in many other cities across the country. We went through the whole defund, the police movement and the demonization, if you will, of policing, and the NYPD, and this is a real reality check, and it brings you back to earth that the NYPD, God bless them and God bless the job they do. They are heroes. They put their lives on the line every day. And New York is the big stage for better or for worse, for good or for bad. You have people who come here to make a statement. You had the Mangione case where he came to kill a leader in the health industry because he wanted to make that point. And that is particular to New York. But it happens. It will continue to happen. And if you don’t have a strong police force the best in the country, then you are going to see these types of incidents continue. You can’t stop everything, but you have to do the best that you can.

Taya Graham:

So this is a really interesting premise, which seems to be that when something horrific occurs, immediately, the liberal establishment turns to fear as an instrument power, just like you said. And in other words, you better support police reject Mond and embrace the establishment candidate or what people will continue to shoot up buildings on Park Avenue. I mean, Steven, you’ve actually written about this idea, which you argued is bad policy, and can you talk about it?

Stephen Janis:

Well, the thing is, we wrote a big, big piece, you and I together about how this idea of authoritarianism came out of democratic cities where they used over-policing and pretty much created zones of non constitutional zones in democratic cities and suppressed voters and suppressed sort of the progressive inclinations of cities and turn them into authoritarian zones. And we both witness it here in this city, and they use the same formula, be afraid there’s too much crime. The only way to solve crime is to throw more policing at, well, guess it turned out to be wrong. Baltimore is reduction in policing. It’s come mostly because of social programs, programs that connect the community, that help people get jobs and all sorts of other things. The gunshot violence reduction initiative things and programs that worked with people. And so it was a bad policy, and now it’s coming back to bite Democrats in the ass because basically Trump is using the same formula, be afraid, give up your rights. We’ll throw policing at it, but it’s really an instrument of fascism. So it’s really kind of tragic to think that this started in democratic cities,

Taya Graham:

Steven, that is such a good point. I mean, we’ve got shade plenty for everybody here. The Democrats did this in our city. I remember there were six days, and it was actually after a police officer had been shot. It’s still under debate whether or not this was a homicide or a suicide. That’s a whole other story. That’s the Sean Ser story. But for six days, there was a neighborhood that was locked down where people had to present their id literally had to present their papers to either enter or leave that neighborhood. Just the constitution was suspended. I mean, we’ve talked about this before, but we spent two decades fighting that narrative here in Baltimore. We went from zero tolerance policing, which led to 700,000 arrests, a hundred thousand arrests a year, and we had to go under a federal consent decree. And the entire time the Democratic establishment attacked anyone who pushed back against aggressive policing.

Then of course, the uprising occurred after the death of Freddie Grain police custody. And then we had our federal consent decree. And since then, our police department has shrunk from between 500 to 8,000 officers. And guess what? Crime is down substantially. In fact, just like New York, we’ve actually reached record lows, and yet still the Democrats think police and the fear industrial complex is the best way to sway voters. I mean, recently the Wall Street Journal reported that Democrats are polling at historic lows. And I think that’s not because they don’t have the right message or because they’re spending 20 million to learn how to speak to men. But I think the real truth is, is that they sometimes push bad policies like this, and this kind of framing being a prime example,

Stephen Janis:

I got something for you to think about because you brought up some great points. Think about this. You could literally put Andrew Cuomo and Donald Trump on a split screen talking about policing as being some sort of elixir for the problems of cities that in fact, with the facts show it’s actually dropping. And you have to ask yourself like you brought up, if it’s dropping and there’s less policing, what does that tell you? It tells you the policing was never the solution in the first place. The policing is more about anti-democratic fascist impulses of this country that doesn’t want to have a democracy. So I mean to think about it, you’ve literally could put ’em side by side. And I’m talking just about the same thing, a vowed Democrat and a Republican that Democrats hate. And you could put and say, look, they’re basically giving us the same message. We need more policing, even though the facts don’t call for it. So I don’t know what to say at this point for either side, but obviously there’s a little lack of balance here. And it’s very interesting that all this is coming on a candidate that people seem to like.

Taya Graham:

That is an absolutely amazing point. I think it’s really important to emphasize here, Democrat on one side, Republican on the other, and let’s just say elitism and money might have a little something to do with it, and using policing to control us, the

Andrew Cuomo:

Masses.

Taya Graham:

And it’s amazing to me on top of this, that the Democratic Party is not exactly learning from Mond’s success, but they’re actually trying to strangle it. I mean, how’s this party supposed to fix itself if it can’t listen to its voters and see that what this young man is saying is very popular? And I think part of the fallacy here is that Mond is too left. But to me, that just shows a lack of imagination. I think his campaign was left, but for the people who voted for him, it was affirmative and hopeful. And I think it can be argued. It was led by a charismatic candidate who people just liked. And sometimes that’s all it takes.

Stephen Janis:

Yeah, I mean, a lot of times Democrats discount the idea that someone has to be charismatic and someone has to be able to sway people, and then someone has to offer something tangible. It doesn’t mean that every idea has going to work out, but he offers something definitive, affirmative, and tangible and says, we’re going to do something significantly. We’re going to respond to this problem. We’re not just going to give you focus groups and come up with campaign pitches and really beautiful ads with lots of music and people and stuff like that. Maybe even Taya and Tay would be great at that. You’d be great. But the point is, he offered something tangible, something to hope for. And Democratic Party’s having this stupid conversation they’ve had since Bernie. Well, Bernie was this, and we shouldn’t, he’s too left and center. No, the point was that Bernie was a candidate that motivated people.

You have to have a candidate that people actually like in some sense, or feel passionate about in some sense, learn from the Republicans in this sense, because we both were at the Republican convention and Republicans were as passionate about Trump as some sort of religious leader or some sort of mythical figure. Well learn from that. Democrats seriously, like somebody that people will respond to instead of constantly thinking, you’re going to neoliberal as your way to victory through focus groups and reports, and I’m going to put statistics, but you still need a messenger and there’s no messenger. And if you try to take him now with policing, well, you guys are really, really screwed up because you just played right into Trump’s hands. Trump is now using policing and he’s going to use it. We know he is going to use it in authoritarian manner, and it’s just a prelude of what he’s going to do in other cities. Well, next, any person who wants to take down Democrats and just run Cuomo next to Trump and say they were talking about the same thing, what’s your problem here? What the hell does that mean?

Taya Graham:

You know what? Let me offer you an alternative split screen. Let me put Manami on one side and Chuck Schumer on another. Let’s take a look at that split screen.

Stephen Janis:

Okay? Yeah. Right. Let’s

Taya Graham:

Do that focus group. So Democrats,

Stephen Janis:

If

Taya Graham:

You’re out there listening, maybe pay attention to the charisma and a great authenticity of the person.

Stephen Janis:

And also remember, you’re either for Department of Sanitation or you’re against it, right?

Taya Graham:

Right. You can’t have any critique of the DPW.

Stephen Janis:

No. I mean, I know we respect and we love all our brethren who picks up our garbage. I mean, I really do. I tip ’em every year, but you can’t be against it. You can’t critique them because they’re out there every day.

Taya Graham:

And that is a perfect example of the insanity that you can either belaw or against you can’t ever

Stephen Janis:

Critique. Yeah, that’s incredible. So that’s what they’re trying to take Manami down with, which is just really, as you pointed really well, this was also a democratic playbook at one time to sort of take down liberal or progressive or popular candidates who were a little more progressive than the Democrats then the corporatist Democrats could really afford. Right?

Taya Graham:

Absolutely.

Stephen Janis:

And this has been part of their playbook, so thank you for bringing that up.

Taya Graham:

Oh, sure. And once again, let me just say this. There should be no government agency or politician who’s beyond criticism or reproach.

Stephen Janis:

I agree.

Taya Graham:

So Steven, this again is part of our reporting for our show The Inequality Watch, and it’s part of our reporting that doesn’t just focus on the facts about our country’s growing wealth disparity, but also seeks to expose how the mainstream media and their corporate pay masters sheep a narrative about the working class that preclude any policy that would benefit them. And that’s one of the reasons we have produced a series of videos to push back on their attacks and reveal what they’re really doing. Not because Mond or any other candidates shouldn’t be held accountable, but rather to show how the media, in certain cases, distorts or even warps reality to make the worst cause appear the better.

Stephen Janis:

Yep. We are the mainstream media watchdogs at this point.

Taya Graham:

Absolutely. It is a series we will continue to produce whenever and wherever the corporate chiefs decide to make us think that somehow good public policy can only be good if it benefits the top 1%. As always, my name is Taya Graham, and along with my reporting partner, Steven. Janice, thank you for joining us. As always, we’re reporting for you.