Chris Cuomo Invokes The Godfather II to Mock Trump’s Post-Covid ‘Kiss Everybody’ Rally Shtick: ‘It’s a Kiss Alright… the Kiss of Death’
CNN’s Chris Cuomo invoked the famous “kiss of death” scene from The Godfather, Part II to mock President Donald Trump’s new, post-Covid shtick of promising to kiss everyone at his campaign rallies.
At Trump rally in Sanford, Florida on Monday night, he went on a bizarre riff at one point about how he — now supposedly immune from re-contracting the coronavirus — could walk through the mostly maskless and non-socially distanced crowd and “kiss everyone in the audience.” Trump then reprised his weird digression again at a Tuesday campaign rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Trump’s somewhat creepy hypothetical attracted the attention of Cuomo in his Tuesday night primetime show, where the CNN host slammed the president’s months-long strategy of “lie and deny” when it comes to the pandemic.
“We are on the ropes in this fight thanks to pure trumpery,” Cuomo said. “No, I’m not making fun of the president’s name. That’s his game. Trumpery is a real word from long before Trump. It means worthless nonsense. As in all flash, no cash. All show, no go. It drives from old English — trompery, deceit; French, tromper, to deceive.
“He and his team like to play with mob references, right? Especially when it comes to me,” Cuomo added, alluding to Trump’s frequent use of the demeaning name “Fredo” to refer to the CNN host. “Well, there’s one that applies to him and his last desperate round of antics. When he said he wants to go into the crowd and give everyone the kiss? Remember The Godfather? He’s giving you a kiss alright, it’s y bacio di tutti baci, the kiss of all kisses, the kiss of death.”
Cuomo was referencing the famous “kiss of death” scene from Francis Ford Coppola’s epic The Godfather Part II, in which Michael Corleone kisses his brother, Fredo, on the lips to reveal he knows of his brother’s betrayal, sealing Fredo’s fate.
“Coronavirus is making us sick, killing us, and his reaction, I want to kiss all of you as I dance the night away,” a dismayed Cuomo said of the president.
Watch the video above, via CNN.
