CNN’s Chris Cuomo Takes on ‘New Faces With a Hole Burning Through ‘Em’ PAC

I’m no Chris Cuomo fan, but he has appropriately embarrassed
the creator of the New Faces GOP PAC, Elizabeth Heng, the woman behind that contemptible
TV ad depicting a burning
photo of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and comparing socialism to the nightmarish Khmer
Rouge genocide in Cambodia.

The ad never should have been aired, and as Cuomo pointed
out during an interview on CNN on Friday, it clearly incites violence.

In the ad, Heng says: “Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez know
the horror of socialism? My father was minutes from death in Cambodia before a
forced marriage saved his life. That’s socialism. Forced obedience. Starvation.
Mine is a face of freedom. My skin is not white. I’m not outrageous, racist or
socialist. I’m a Republican.”

In one of several tweets in response, Ocasio-Cortez said of Republicans,
ABC, and the Sinclair Broadcast Group, “They profit from burning my likeness on
TV. But who pays for heightened security? Who answers the phones for the
threats resulting from a violent, false ad?”

Cuomo set up his interview with a grinning Heng by saying,
“Uh, you may have to change the name of the PAC to ‘New Faces With a Hole
Burning Through ‘Em PAC,’ because that’s what you did to AOC.”

Corny, yes, but still accurate. Heng’s smile quickly faded.

Heng then awkwardly responded by saying, “Absolutely not. The
only thing, the thing is, is Ms. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the face of
socialism. Throughout history, socialism has killed lives, including those in
my very own family. And so I was merely wanting to force the discussion of
talking about what true socialism is in our country, and to force that debate.”

Cuomo pointed out that Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge weren’t
actually about socialism, but rather “him being an evil human being.” Heng’s
response was mostly rambling nonsense.

Asked for examples of what the hell she’s talking about,
Heng responded with more awkwardness: “If you look at it, they are, they
represent socialism.”

“But socialism doesn’t mean
‘shoot you dead in the streets,’” Cuomo countered.

It was downhill from there.

As Slate noted, Heng was a former
staffer for Republican Rep. Ed Royce of California, the former chairman of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee who retired from Congress this year. And last
year, Trump nominated
Royce’s wife, Marie Royce, to be assistant secretary of Educational and
Cultural Affairs in the State Department.

That nomination occurred after Marie Royce wrote several emails
to Elliott Broidy, a member of Trump’s
inaugural committee, saying that she wanted the job, according
to Newsweek. Note how this works.

For her part, Heng ran for Representative of California’s
16th congressional district in 2018 against the Democratic incumbent, Jim
Costa.

She lost.

And now she appears to be auditioning for the next season of Trump’s reality TV show presidency (or Fox News).