Chris Cuomo didn’t hold back. On Wednesday, he called out Democrats for attacking everything Trump and Musk do. He said they haven’t “learned” from their 2024 election losses.
Democrats are still figuring out how to fight the Trump administration. Some, like Sen. Chris Murphy, want to resist everything. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith pointed out that Democrats seem like they’re “still campaigning.” Cuomo agreed. He said they need to focus on “better idea[s]” instead of nonstop attacks.
“I can’t put it any better than that. They’re still in campaign mode. Sounds right,” Cuomo said. “It seems like anything that Trump or Musk does, they have to condemn, and they have to condemn it on the basis of the people personally. Trump is a Nazi. Musk has apartheid roots.”
At a protest on Feb. 5, Rep. Jonathan Jackson pushed the apartheid claim. He said Musk wants to bring apartheid to the U.S. because he was born in South Africa. “We’re not gonna have apartheid in America anymore!” he declared. But records show Musk actually attended anti-apartheid protests as a kid, according to Walter Isaacson’s book.
Cuomo said this proves Democrats still don’t get it. “They should be in the better idea business,” he said. “They’re just defending the establishment. And I don’t think that’s where you want to be right now. You want to be in the business of better, and they seem like they’re still in the business of painting the other side as worse.”
Democrats need to do more than just oppose Republicans, he argued. They need to show they actually want to improve Americans’ lives. “There’s a lot of hand-wringing going on on the left, and to me, that’s almost like masturbatory,” Cuomo said. “You know, it’s not really about getting them to a better place.”
Meanwhile, CNN’s Pamela Brown pressed Rep. Ted Lieu about taxpayer dollars funding controversial programs overseas. She listed “gender-affirming health care in Guatemala, teaching people in Kazakhstan to fight back against internet trolls, voluntary male circumcisions in Mozambique, creating work opportunities for young LGBTQI+ people in Serbia.” Her network confirmed DOGE had cut these programs. Lieu dodged the question. He pivoted to attacking Republican tax breaks.
Rep. Ro Khanna said Democrats can make a comeback—but not with the “same old status quo.” He said they need a fresh vision. Something that actually helps working and middle-class Americans. “A positive vision about what we’re going to do for their economic success and their communities’ economic success.”