CNN’s Chris Cuomo defended the far-left extremist group Antifa on his show, claiming the group has a “good cause.”
The claim received pushback from Steve Cortes, who appeared on Cuomo’s show on April 29.
Former Vice President Joe Biden smeared President Donald Trump in his campaign announcement video, reigniting spin by left-leaning and openly left media outlets and politicians that the president refused to denounce the white nationalists who appeared in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Biden also praised the groups who opposed the nationalists, including Antifa.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo says Antifa is “a good cause” pic.twitter.com/mCMgoyPszQ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 30, 2019
Cuomo praised Antifa in his Monday night show, responding after Cortes brought up Antifa and compared the group, which openly advocates violence, to modern-day “brown shirts.”
“You can talk about Antifa. I’ve watched them in streets protesting in different situations, okay?” Cuomo said. “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.”
“You tell me when that has ever happened with neo-Nazis, where they have ever been doing the right thing?” Cuomo continued.
Cortes responded quickly, taking issue with Cuomo’s claims.
“Chris, Antifa is not a good cause,” Cortes shot back. “Antifa does not have good aims. Antifa wants political power taken through force. That’s what Antifa is all about. I mean, they are the inheritors of Nazis and brown shirts.”
When Cuomo said he didn’t want to “espouse Antifa,” Cortes noted that it sounded like he was.
“You don’t draw a moral equivalency between the neo-Nazis and the people there who fight against them,” Cuomo added. “You don’t do that in that context because that’s not what we are about.”
Cuomo claimed that Trump has been “so soft” on responding to white nationalist attacks while vehemently decrying radical Islamic attacks.
Cuomo, the brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fierce Trump critic, has in the past tried arguing that Antifa is not as bad as white nationalists.
After Antifa attacked police officers and journalists in 2018, Cuomo claimed that “all punches are not equal morally” even if punches are judged the same “in the eyes of the law.”
“People who show up to fight against bigots are not to be judged the same as the bigots, even if they do resort to the same petty violence,” Cuomo said.
“Fighting against hate matters. I argue to you tonight, all punches are not equal morally. In the eyes of the law, yes. But in the eyes of good and evil, here’s the argument: if you’re a punk that comes to start 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,” he added.
“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. Fighting against hate matters.”
Cuomo’s latest signal of support for Antifa came after the group allegedly plotted to spark an armed conflict at the United States-Mexico border by buying guns from Mexican cartels and staging an armed rebellion.
