With violent riots sweeping the country in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, CNN’s Chris Cuomo appeared to defend the violence, which has included looting, arson, and physical assaults on police officers and citizens.
“Now too many see the protests as the problem. No, the problem is what forced your fellow citizens to take to the streets: persistent, poisonous inequities and injustice,” Cuomo told his TV audience. “And please, show me where it says protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful. Because I can show you that outraged citizens are what made the country what she is and led to any major milestone. To be honest, this is not a tranquil time.”
Cuomo later added that it is police officers who have to be peaceful, not the demonstrators. “Police are the ones required to be peaceful, to de-escalate, to remain calm.”
Cuomo’s brother is the governor of New York State — Andrew Cuomo — who has actually criticized the tepid response of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to the violence accompanying the protests.
One wonders what Chris Cuomo was taught in law school at Fordham, from which he received his law degree in 1995, because the First Amendment does not protect looting, arson, and physical assault. Rather, it states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” (Emphasis added.) It does not say that anyone has a right to throw bricks at police, smash out store windows, set fire to buildings, and steal as a way to “ask” the government for changes in policy.
National Review editor Rich Lowry rebuffed Cuomo: “Old line: the protests are mostly peaceful. New line: who says protests have to be peaceful?”
Cuomo is not alone in attempting to minimize the violent aspects of some (certainly not all) of the demonstrators. For example, James Davenport, a government instructor at Rose State College in Midwest City (suburb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) posted on Facebook late Friday night while cities across America were enduring violent protests and property destruction, “I find it amusing that the very same people who will be spending July 4th celebrating a violent protest in which people stole and destroyed the property of others are up in arms that others today would follow that example.”
In other words, Davenport compared the looting and property destruction going on now to the actions of the Founding Fathers. This is, of course, absurd. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry certainly supported armed rebellion against the British government, but they did not advocate the random looting of private businesses as a way to stick it to King George III.
But Cuomo has been a consistent apologist for such leftist violence. As Donald Trump, Jr., said, Cuomo is “carrying water for violent criminals.” He added, “Imagine saying that less than a day since Captain David Dorn was killed in cold blood by looters? Truly disgusting.” Trump was referring to a victim of the riots in St. Louis.
Cuomo has actually defended Antifa, the movement that President Donald Trump has declared a terrorist organization. In 2018, Cuomo described Antifa as “counter-protesters.” He even claimed that “all punches are not equal,” in defending violence against racists.
Cuomo said at the time, “If you’re a punk who comes and starts trouble in a mask and hurt people, you’re not about any virtuous cause. You’re just somebody who’s going to be held to the standard of doing something wrong. But when someone comes to call out bigots and it gets hot, even physical, are they equally wrong as the bigot they are fighting? I argue no.”
Last year, when a guest condemned the violence of Antifa on his show, Cuomo Prime Time, Cuomo bristled. “You can talk about Antifa. I’ve watched them in streets protesting in different situations, okay? There are certainly aspects of them that are true to a cause, that is a good cause, they want social justice, they want whatever they want in that context.”
That appears to be saying that the end justifies the means. It is not known if Cuomo would include in his support for violent protests of Antifa their waving of hammer and sickle communist flags, as they did in Oklahoma City demonstrations last weekend (and like they have in other locations). Communism is an ideology that has led to the deaths of millions of people on multiple continents in the last century.
The short of all of this is that we are seeing violence and theft being used not only by violent radicals such as Antifa, but becoming “mainstream,” with certain left-wing commentators, such as Chris Cuomo. They do not believe in restricting demonstrations to peaceful assembly, but rather give aid and comfort to those who would loot, commit arson, and launch physical assaults on their fellow Americans — of course, as long as it’s not aimed at them.
Photo: Marcos Calvo / iStock / Getty Images Plus
