In a Monday morning interview with President Donald Trump surrogate Michael Caputo, CNN "New Day" host Chris Cuomo couldn't help getting a little sarcastic.
Cuomo began with a list of Trump's tweets wondering why "eight out of 10 are personal gripes."
"Even if you want to cut out the 25th Amendment, mental capacity, how healthy his mind and soul are right now, isn't this proof that he's spending too much time on the wrong things now, Michael?" Cuomo asked the Republican strategist.
Caputo tried to claim that Trump is a different president but quickly pivoted to Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury book, saying that the president feels he needs to defend himself.
Cuomo wondered why Trump can't surrender the "me" to the "we" and do the work of the American people.
Why not try "doing what every other big shot does in a situation like this when counseled by people like you?" Cuomo continued. "Which is to ignore it. 'Let me handle it, Mr. President/Governor/Senator/CEO. We'll deal with it. You keep your eyes on the prize and the agenda and the people. You're bigger than this.' What happened to that?"
Caputo again tried to claim that Trump is simply a "different" man.
"But whatever happened to strength being exercised in forbearance?" Cuomo asked. "The biggest man in the room, Michael, as we both know, does not take on every challenge from the little guy. That's what makes you the biggest man in the room. And how can you believe that the people who voted for President Trump, and let's say they're the people that Steven Miller wants them to be in their totality, which are the hard-working families that believe they've been forgotten and they were hoping against hope this man, despite his personal flaws, would deliver them something better?"
Cuomo wondered how it was possible that American voters, and Trump's own fans, could possibly be happy about his last 10 tweets.
"If you voted for this man, which I'm sure you did, is that why you voted for him?" Cuomo asked
Caputo explained that he was tired of Republicans "rolling over" and "taking a beating" from people like Wolff and his book. He went on to even say that many of the people in the White House, including Steve Bannon, were quoted out of context for the book.
"You believe he said it was treasonous for [Paul] Manafort to be treasonous for going to the meeting but not Don Jr. or Jared Kushner?" Cuomo asked with a sarcastic voice. "Does that sound like what someone says when they're on their game?"
Caputo tried to have it both ways, saying that he believed Bannon was misquoted while also being wrong.
"That's not even a rational thought. If someone thinks that going to a meeting was treasonous, then it's treasonous for everybody in the room," Cuomo cut in. "We know what he's doing. He has people like you picking up the phone and saying, 'Steve, you messed up here. You got side ways with the president. You better fix it or you're done.' And he put something out there to make him feel better about his own son. We got where his son is. It is not an explanation of what he originally said?"
"There's no rivalry between a hammer and a nail," Caputo said, trying to explain that there's no fight going on between Bannon and Trump.
"Who's the hammer in that, by the way?" Cuomo asked.
"Of course, the president is the hammer," Caputo said.
"OK, so let's use your own metaphor," Cuomo cut in. "Let's end on this. Let's assume the president is a hammer. What's the old saying about a hammer about a hammer? A hammer sees everything as a nail, right? A hammer sees everything as a nail. How does that serve you well as a president of the United States? There's so many big things for him to take on that he could talk about, that he could come on and talk to this show to the exclusion of all the things that he doesn't like. Never talk about the book. Never talk about the 25th Amendment, Hillary Clinton or the Russian investigation. There's so much he could talk about but he chooses not to. The snapshots of his own mind, only two have to do with other things for people in America. Is that a good balance?"
Caputo claimed that as a hammer he really "nailed" the tax cut.
Watch the full clip below:
