Yesterday I predicted CNN wouldn’t fire Chris Cuomo, and so far they haven’t. Maybe “suspended indefinitely” means he’ll be fired, maybe it doesn’t. Seems to me like CNN is just stalling, waiting to see how the public reacts before making a decision. Or maybe I’m wrong and they’re genuinely investigating this. Either way, I’ll believe he’s fired when they say he’s fired. If they do, I’ll be very glad to be wrong.
Some are saying Chris Cuomo made a choice between his job and his family, but the problem is that he didn’t make that choice. If he had, he would’ve quit CNN over the conflict of interest. If he had left “journalism” last year to go advise his brother full-time, maybe I could halfway respect his loyalty, even though I believe the women accusing Andrew of sexual harassment and I think his entire family is a bunch of scumbags. But not only did Chris stay at CNN, he used his position as a “journalist” to help his brother smear those women. Then, when directly confronted about it, he lied. If that’s “loyalty to family,” it’s the sort of family Mario Puzo wrote about.
No, Chris Cuomo just likes being a big shot. He likes power. He enjoys being a brazen hypocrite. He gets a kick out of doing whatever the hell he wants, lying about it, and knowing nobody can stop him.1
In other words, he’s a Cuomo.
There’s nothing laudable about this mook abusing his power to help another powerful man in trouble, whether they’re related or not. He’s like the guy who kills his parents and then pleads for the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan. I can’t deny Chris Cuomo’s chutzpah, but I really hate chutzpah.