Cuomo criticizes media reaction to second Trump assassination attempt

NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo sharply rebuked American media for what he said was a “lack of reaction” to the second apparent assassination attempt against former President Trump in the last few months.

Cuomo opened his monologue during the Monday night broadcast of “Cuomo” by chastising those who have sought to downplay the incident or who have suggested the public not “make too much of it.”

“What if it was your father? Or what if it was Kamala Harris or President Biden? God forbid,” Cuomo said. “Do you think that it would be almost a shoulder shrug and more of talk about the Secret Service and allocation of funds, than just, how crazy it is that this is what’s happening in our country?”

Addressing those who say, “But the guy didn’t even shoot,” Cuomo said, growing increasingly animated, “He had an AK-47 pointed at him.”

“The reaction is unacceptable,” he continued. “And it’s the second time media and political players have gotten away with playing down what should be a cause for panic.”

Cuomo criticized political players from across the political spectrum for their response to the attack.

He slammed tech billionaire Elon Musk, who posted a now-deleted “joke,” which questioned why “no one is even trying” to assassinate Biden or Harris.

“Elon Musk – I’m a believer in this guy’s potential, okay? – Now, he hasn’t learned that erasing the tweet doesn’t make it go away. It only shows that he knows what he said was stupid, and that is what hinting about targeting Harris is: It’s stupid.”

“I know he’s a genius. I don’t care if he’s autistic. What he said is stupid, and it’s a nod to what gets too much energy from all of us. Elon Musk could be leading the way to a better dialog in our society. I don’t know why he’s undercutting his own significance with these cheap shots. I want to work with him. I believe in his platform. I believe in him, but not in what he’s doing.”

Cuomo also said Biden and Harris were not doing enough and laid into their responses, which condemned political violence and expressed relief that Trump was not harmed.

“It is just as troubling to me to hear about fake stories of eating cats and dogs, as it is to hear fake concern by our sitting president and almost nothing from the Democrat who wants to lead us about what happened with Trump. We don’t condone violence? Who says that? What does that even mean.

“We need a lot more than that right now,” he added.

Cuomo, who said he just got off the phone with Trump to check in on his well-being, also had feedback for the former president.

“Look, I hear what Trump is saying. Trump blames the Democrats and their attacks on him as a threat to democracy for the violence directed toward him. He then says that they are the real threats to democracy. So if it’s wrong that they’re threatening him that way by calling him that, why would he call them that?”

The monologue comes the day after former President Trump was targeted in West Palm Beach, Fla. in an apparent assassination attempt as he was playing golf.

Secret Service agents, posted at a few holes nearby, noticed a man with a rifle push the firearm’s muzzle through the perimeter of the course. The rifle was sticking through the bushes 300-500 yards away.  A Secret Service agent fired at the man, who dropped the AK-47-style rifle and fled in a car. Officials subsequently apprehended the suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh.

The suspect was apprehended before he could inflict harm – a marked improvement over the July assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., which prompted fierce scrutiny of the Secret Service’s failure to protect the president from a bullet grazing his ear. But the fact that security failed to detect the suspect before he was in place with a rifle has prompted questions about the level of security surrounding the former president.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

Updated on Sept. 17 at 7:24 a.m. EDT