New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has had his hands full since 2020 between COVID-19 mandates and working with Jared Kushner and the Trump administration on securing PPE and ventilators for his state. Then came the sexual harassment allegations and a subsequent bombshell report leveled at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
On the latest episode of The New Abnormal, he shares his thoughts on all of the above. As far as the Cuomo situation is concerned, he just has two.
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First, did he see or hear of any inappropriate behavior by Cuomo? No, he tells New Abnormal co-host Molly Jong-Fast, he did not. And second, “appalled probably understates” his feelings on the matter. Molly does manage to get a third thought on the topic from Murphy when she asks if he thinks Cuomo should resign, but that’s the most he’ll say.
Then, the convo pivots to another pressing matter: COVID-19. Murphy, like many Americans who support vaccination, are frustrated with those who don’t. Not so much the truly uneducated camp but the Trump camp.
“It began in the Trump administration and now it’s out of control. I’m not sure we can put the toothpaste back in the tube,” he says.
He also shares the main reason he believes there’s a labor shortage (hint: it has nothing to do with the $300 unemployment checks) and whether he thinks there will be another lockdown.
Then, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), author of the new expanded edition of End Game: Inside the Impeachments of Donald Trump, joins to share his thoughts on his Jan. 6-denying colleagues like Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL). “This is a guy who, his whole career, has been taking any government benefit from any person who needed it, wanted to shrink government as much as possible. But in this instance, in this lawsuit, he’s asking the court for a government lawyer, right?” says Swalwell.
Naturally, Swalwell has 99 feelings about former President Donald Trump, too, but whether the ex-president will actually run for again isn’t one of them. The midterm elections, though, are another story.
Last but not least, Atlantic writer Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy, explains how Hungary’s horrible Trump-y prime minister, Viktor Orbán, paved the way for Tucker Carlson.
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