On Wednesday’s episode of “Cuomo Prime Time” on CNN, host Chris Cuomo had a blunt, profane response to a photo Donald Trump posted online earlier in the day that promoted Goya Foods: “You tell me how a president in the middle of a pandemic has got time for this bulls—.”
A quick catch-up: Last week the CEO of Goya Foods, which bills itself as the “largest Hispanic-owned food company” in America, appeared alongside Trump during a White House press conference, where he praised Trump to the stars. “We are truly blessed,” Robert Unanue said, “to have a leader like President Trump who is a builder.”
This didn’t go over well with the brand’s customer base — after all, one thing Trump keeps trying to be a ‘builder’ of is a wall to keep out people of Latin American descent, who make up the vast majority of Goya’s customers. High profile American Latinos who dislike Trump, like Julian Castro and Lin-Manuel Miranda, condemned the remarks and within hours there were widespread calls for a boycott.
This prompted a wave of Republicans who expressed ostentatious support for Goya — including Ted Cruz, who falsely claimed that his Cuban grandparents were customers of Goya for over 90 years. (Learn why this is absolutely impossible here.) On Tuesday night, Ivanka Trump joined them, tweeting out a seriously ethics-violating promo for Goya. And on Wednesday morning, Donald Trump did the same thing on his Instagram page. And that was what set Cuomo off.
“The pandemic is in full effect, it’s feasting on us, especially red states whose governors followed Trump’s trail of denial to their own detriment,” Cuomo said during the opening segment of Wednesday’s show. “More importantly this” — Cuomo was referring to the photo from Trump’s Instagram — “You tell me how a president in the middle of a pandemic has got time for this bulls—. Are you kidding me? Hocking products?”
“That’s Goya, I don’t care who it is. Resolute desk? This is what he’s resolute about. Pandemic priorities. His daughter, Ivanka, top White House adviser. Are you kidding me? Marketing for a brand following calls for boycotts, after Goya’s CEO heaped praise on Trump last week,” Cuomo continued.
“On your dime, in the middle of a pandemic, they’re selling beans? Are you kidding me? Seriously. Seriously,’” Cuomo added. “This is not left and right, this is reasonable my brothers and sisters. They guy is sitting on the Resolute desk with a bunch of Goya products.”
Then Cuomo turned to talk to recent reports that Trump and his administration have been trying to undercut Doctor Anthony Fauci, and how Trump officials have directed states to cut the CDC out of COVID-19 reporting. “I don’t know a good reason” for all of this, Cuomo said, “but I know a bad one. Lie, deny, and divide.”
Watch the whole clip above.