‘When a Conservative does even a fraction of what Chris Cuomo did with his lunatic ranting, raving, & cursing, they get destroyed by the Fake News…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to savagely roast CNN anchor Chris Cuomo for a profanity-laced tirade that threatened violence against a stranger who called him “Fredo.”
Cuomo claimed that the jeer was an anti-Italian slur that was as offensive as the “n-word” would be to African Americans. He threatened to push the heckler down a flight of stairs before his handlers intervened.
Both on his personal account and his “Team Trump” campaign account, in a series of posts throughout the day Trump encouraged followers to use the #FredoCuomo hashtag.
One post included a scene from “The Godfather” with Cuomo’s head superimposed over that of Fredo Corleone, the neglected middle brother of the Mafia dynasty.
Fake News Fredo! #FredoCuomo pic.twitter.com/xb5DfsMlxz
— Team Trump (@TeamTrump) August 13, 2019
Cuomo’s older brother, Andrew, the governor of New York, has routinely been a thorn in Trump’s side.
Although as a CNN host Cuomo typically comes off as a voice of rationality when juxtaposed with the likes of Jim Acosta, Don Lemon, Brian Stelter and other extremists on the network, the potential to rile the elder Cuomo brother by ruffling his sibling likely seemed an enticing prospect.
It wasn’t the first time Trump had tweeted a video to lightly rib the adversarial, left-leaning network, which he frequently characterizes as “fake news.”
In July 2017, Trump scandalized the mainstream media by tweeting an old video of him closelining WWE chairman Vince McMahon during a Wrestlemania event with the CNN logo superimposed on McMahon’s head.
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
Many in the press huffed that Trump’s humorous .gif meme was encouraging violence against journalists.
Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale was also quick to capitalize on the Fredo affair, promoting a T-shirt of the agitated Cuomo.
Get your commemorative #FredoCuomo Unhinged shirt today! We only have a limited supply of the shirt, which was inspired by the epic & historic viral video of @CNN‘s @ChrisCuomo meltdown!https://t.co/Iv8jqnIDIk
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) August 13, 2019
CNN stood behind Cuomo following the episode, claiming his reaction was one of self-defense.
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, often a close ally of Trump’s, also offered words of encouragement and solidarity on Twitter.
Hannity, himself, has previously been subject to similar public harassment by leftist radicals.
However, Trump voiced his frustration at the perceived double-standard.
It always happens! When a Conservative does even a fraction of what Chris Cuomo did with his lunatic ranting, raving, & cursing, they get destroyed by the Fake News. But when a Liberal Democrat like Chris Cuomo does it, Republicans immediately come to his defense. We never learn!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2019