CNN hosts Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo pounded on their chests and hummed to get each other pumped up for a vaguely defined anti-Trump cause.
The video: Lemon started the “Wolf of Wall Street”-inspired ritual during the handoff between Cuomo’s show and his own on Tuesday night.
- Footage of the moment was widely shared on social media, with conservatives mocking the duo’s latest inter-show shenanigans.
Cuomo, who had just concluded an interview with New York Times “plagues and pestilences” reporter Don McNeil Jr., told Lemon his guest’s relative optimism about the coronavirus pandemic reminded him of Lemon himself.
- “I’m trying to get people optimistic,” Lemon replied, before beginning to beat his chest and hum. “Are you ready? Just go with me.”
- Cuomo quickly got the reference, saying “Matthew McConaughey,” the name of the actor who famously performed the ritual on-screen.
- “You gotta put your fist higher so [the audience] can see it,” Cuomo advised Lemon, who obliged.
Why?: “We survived six months, eight months [of the coronavirus]. We can survive six hours in line. I don’t care how long it takes [to vote],” Lemon said, seemingly linking the pandemic to his oft-stated desire to end Donald Trump’s presidency.
- “It’s true, although McConaughey had the benefits of two bottles of wine and an 8-ball,” Cuomo quipped of the character’s substance abuse in the 2013 Hollywood blockbuster.
“And then he had that vial at lunch too,” added Lemon.
- “Listen, it’s all on how you look at it. You heard what Mayor Pete says, right? About trusting his life to someone,” Lemon went on, apparently alluding to Pete Buttigieg’s new book on trust and the future of America.
- “It’s all in how you look at it. You heard what your last guest says, optimism and how you look at it.”
Feel-good nation: According to a Gallup poll released last week, many Americans are in fact feeling surprisingly positive.
- Among registered voters, 56% said they are better off now than they were four years ago, despite massive loss of life and livelihood during the pandemic.
Asked during an interview on Monday why voters should vote for him given the Gallup stat, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said, “They probably shouldn’t …”
