Las Vegas Mayor’s Interview With Anderson Cooper Was A Spectacular Train Wreck

The mayor of Las Vegas, Carolyn Goodman, appeared on CNN on Wednesday afternoon to discuss with Anderson Cooper how she wants all of her city’s casinos to reopen during the COVID-19 outbreak.

What followed was utter chaos.

The first eyebrow-raising moment came when Cooper asked Goodman how she expects jam-packed casinos that are ripe for infection to maintain social distancing measures to prevent the virus from spreading.

“That’s up to them to figure out,” the mayor replied. “I don’t own a casino.”

But rest assured knowing that if she did, it would be “the cleanest hotel with six feet figured out for every human being that comes in there.”

Anderson Cooper asks the Las Vegas mayor how casinos are supposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 if they reopen.

"That’s up to them to figure out," the mayor replies. pic.twitter.com/FmR9UTNd5e

— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) April 22, 2020

The mayor then asserted that if businesses reopen and then collapse when they become a source of COVID-19 and infect their customers, well, that’s just the free market at work.

“That’s the competition in this country,” she said. “The free enterprise, and to be able to make sure that what you offer the public meets the needs of the public.”

Las Vegas Mayor says time to reopen the city, let private businesses compete for which business can drive the least viral spread. pic.twitter.com/E00wH6Yv74

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 22, 2020

Goodman also implied that testing for the virus was some sort of conspiracy.

“No, that can’t work,” she told Cooper. “We’re not getting the truth, and I know over the years, going back to the 1950s with the atomic bomb, ‘Don’t worry about more testing in Nevada. You’ll all be fine. Take a shower.'”

Asking about testing, Las Vegas Mayor says they trusted the government about testing atomic weapons in the 1950s and look how that worked out. pic.twitter.com/wEiOVomfyN

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 22, 2020

A few minutes later, Cooper pulled up a chart that showed how one person with COVID-19 in a restaurant in China infected multiple people nearby, to which Goodman responded, “This isn’t China, this is Las Vegas, Nevada.”

“Wow, okay, that’s really ignorant,” the CNN anchor retorted.

He tried to explain the chart and the risk of airborne infections to Goodman, but the mayor deflected with a list of other illnesses, such as Legionnaires’ disease, typhoid, and Ebola.

“None of those were as infectious in Las Vegas,” Cooper said. “You didn’t have people with Ebola on a casino floor.”

“Well, we don’t know that,” Goodman replied.

And here's the part of the interview about legionnaires disease, typhoid mary and ebola on the casino floor. pic.twitter.com/t7wg7Z2pvE

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 22, 2020

The discussion took another bizarre turn when Cooper tried to point out to the mayor that it would be the casino workers, not the casino owners, who would be put at serious risk if they were required to go back to work.

“You’re talking disease. I’m talking life,” Goodman said. “I’m talking life and living.”

“Okay, that makes no sense,” Cooper responded.

Anderson Cooper to Mayor: "Okay, that makes no sense." pic.twitter.com/8DUpfvaGVJ

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 22, 2020

Near the end of the interview, Goodman told the CNN reporter that she had tried to offer Las Vegas as a control group for a COVID-19 vaccine trial to health experts, and that she would “love” for her city to be the placebo group.

A baffled Cooper questioned why the mayor wouldn’t want the actual vaccine.

“The group that gets the placebo usually gets the short end of the stick,” he told her.

“Well, you don’t know,” Goodman said with a laugh. “How do you know when you’re a part of that group?”

Las Vegas Mayor offers city as "control group", "we offer to be a control group" to see how many people die without social distancing. pic.twitter.com/NESE2hActE

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 22, 2020