Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Chris Cuomo Says He Doesn’t Think AOC Loves America

Screenshot/YouTube/The Chris Cuomo Project

NewsNation host Chris Cuomo said on “The Chris Cuomo Project” Tuesday that he doubted Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez loves the United States.

Ocasio-Cortez is a Democratic Socialist who has called capitalism “irredeemable” and pushed the U.S. to apologize to Latin America for its interventions. Cuomo said on his podcast that Ocasio-Cortez and other left-wing politicians have conducted themselves as though they disliked their country — unlike his father, former Democratic New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.

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“[M]y father was not considered a white guy. He was considered an ethnic … He was an ‘other,’ and he hated it. And he hated the people who got to decide that and who kept opportunities from him … But he loved the fucking country,” Cuomo told progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen. “That’s the part that you guys, in my opinion, don’t get right. I don’t believe AOC — any of your horses — I have a hard time believing they love the country.”

“I think they hate more about it than they love about it. And that may be unfair,” he added. “But if it is unfair, it’s because of how they’ve made their own case about themselves.”

Cohen replied that there was plenty to criticize about the United States and that criticism does not make a person “unpatriotic.”

“Why are people surprised when they see an American flag on my truck or in front of my house? Why were the Democrats okay with that becoming a party symbol for the GOP?” Cuomo asked. “You are absolutely right, and every political philosopher has only agreed with you that dissent and criticism of your government is one of the strongest forms of patriotism.”

“However, well, what do you balance it with? When’s the last time you heard Democrats say something good about this country? That’s true, too … I can’t think of the last time I heard AOC say something good about the country,” he said.

Ocasio-Cortez is also one of the authors of the “Green New Deal,” a multi-trillion dollar proposal to move the U.S. toward net-zero emissions while guaranteeing jobs. Moreover, she has participated in independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, which started in February.

Only 24% of Democrats under 30 said they were “proud to be American” — while 54% said they were “embarrassed” by it, according to a Spring Harvard Youth Poll.