CNN anchor Chris Cuomo set his sights Thursday night on those who offer “thoughts and prayers” in the wakes of deadly shootings across the United States.
In a particularly passionate segment on his show, “Prime Time,” the CNN host claimed those who offer only to pray for the friends and families of people killed during Wednesday’s attack at a bar in Southern California are “mock[ing] those who lost loved ones.”
CNN's Cuomo: "You mock those who lost loved ones" in shootings "when you offer thoughts & prayers…And prayer? You think leaving it to God is the answer?"
Cuomo: "is it ridiculous" to ask if we would act if a "stadium full of children…holding puppies…were all shot & killed? pic.twitter.com/OBXljqfXcy
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 9, 2018
Cuomo’s heated comments came after a 28-year-old gunman opened fire in Borderline Bar & Grill, where he killed 12 people and injured more than a dozen others. Ultimately, the killer turned the gun on himself.
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“The only consensus there is, is in a canard and here it is: First, ‘I would like to offer my thoughts and prayers,’ because that’s what you do when you offer ‘thoughts and prayers,’” Cuomo charged. “You mock those who lost loved ones, because if you gave it any thought at all, you would never walk away from any of these without figuring out a better way to deal with them.”
The liberal anchor then turned to God.
“And prayer? You think leaving it to God is the answer? We pray for strength, we pray for wisdom, for resolve, but we clearly don’t want to act on any of those here,” he said, adding, “So what are you praying for?”
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Cuomo ended the brash segment by suggesting the only way to lead Americans to want stricter gun control laws is for a gunman to open fire on a “stadium full of children of the most influential people in our society all holding puppies.”