Perhaps I'm too much of a cynic these days, but count me among those who still can't quite bring themselves to believe that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in serious danger or losing his job over his nursing home deaths scandal and subsequent cover-up. My deeply-rooted suspicion has been that he'll somehow manage to endure a red hot firestorm for a short period of time, relying on his trademark shamelessness, then strong-arm his way to his re-election fight. In 2022, he'll blitz his Republican challenger mercilessly and cling to power in his deep blue state. After months of the nursing homes issue plaguing him, and even after his own Attorney General confirmed the massive undercount of COVID deaths in long term elder care facilities, his approval rating among New Yorkers barely dipped. My expectations for meaningful accountability are set extremely low.
However. That same poll showed Cuomo's re-elect at an underwhelming (46/45), and it would be genuinely surprising if his ratings didn't take a hit in the wake of this mess taking a drastic negative turn within the last week, after the latest survey was in the field. Cuomo is now at war with members of his own party, following a top aide's admission -- on tape -- that the governor's administration had stonewalled the legislature and others on nursing home deaths for entirely political and self-interested reasons. We now know that there's a federal investigation into this whole matter. Cuomo's arrogant, bullying, gaslighting lies feeding a downward spiral. One of the Democratic New York lawmakers going toe-to-toe with Cuomo is Assemblyman Ron Kim, who says he was directly threatened and harassed by the governor:
??NY Dem: “Gov. Cuomo called me directly on Thursday to threaten my career if I did not cover up for Melissa [DeRosa] and what she said. He tried to pressure me to issue a statement...he said I hadn't seen his wrath and that he can destroy me.”
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 17, 2021
Trying to cover up the cover up. https://t.co/a9t8XqiaRr
My god https://t.co/dgrMQRdgXE pic.twitter.com/N7AI66gfCd
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) February 17, 2021
Cuomo's team promptly denounced Kim as a liar, putting out a statement that trashed Kim in a such a way that appeared designed to wound him politically -- which, as it happens, aligns with the original alleged threat. For his part, Kim is defiantly doubling down. More importantly, he appears to have the receipts to back up his account:
Recommended
Facts matter. pic.twitter.com/HNqs6bXpAr
— Ron T. Kim (@rontkim) February 17, 2021
On @fox5ny, @rosannascotto asks @rontkim to prove Cuomo and Co called him multiple times... he pulls out his phone and reveals “Cuomo” followed by several No IDs and staff text messages contacted him. pic.twitter.com/o9qaqjCHcX
— Joe Borelli (@JoeBorelliNYC) February 18, 2021
It's impossible to know what was said on the call, but it very much looks like it happened. And it sounds a lot like what we've learned is Cuomo's standard operating procedure. With multiple New York Democratic legislators publicly accusing Cuomo of committing crimes, New York City's awful mayor (who has sometimes shown better judgment than Cuomo on COVID, which is an incredible statement) is eagerly twisting the knife. Cuomo has dumped on and scapegoated him so many times, and the two men famously despise each other. So what did Bill do with his big moment? Adopting a pitch-perfect politician's 'faux-regretful' tone, Bill thoroughly backed up Kim and plunged the rhetorical dagger into his nemesis:
Roll the tape: pic.twitter.com/fg71H2wWDF
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) February 18, 2021
Ouch. The best part is you know De Blasio probably wanted to high-five everyone in sight after the segment ended. By the way, during Cuomo's breathtakingly dishonest press conference on Monday, he claimed that his administration had paused their cooperation with the legislature's requests for information and documents because they were too focused on cooperating with the feds. I've already questioned if that excuse makes any sense logistically-speaking, as others asked whether it was true if Cuomo had done anything to assist the federal probe (which has apparently been reactivated in some form). I'm not sure we have a great answer to that yet, but this Associated Press story suggests that Cuomo dragged his feet and stonewalled for months, further undermining his garbage excuse to lawmakers in Albany:
This confirms my reporting in December:
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) February 18, 2021
“The Cuomo administration had not been cooperative with prosecutors, especially in the early stages of the probe, and for months had not produced documents and other data the Justice Department had requested.” https://t.co/GssGMEYWdN
Drip, drip, drip. To be candid, I'm still highly skeptical that Cuomo will truly face the justice -- political or legal -- that he deserves. But the last few days have been terrible for him, and the blowback he is finally experiencing is more severe than anything I'd ever expected. I'll leave you with this:
A study in contrasts:
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 18, 2021
Today in Florida — DeSantis oversees home vaccination of 95-year-old WWII veteran as state crosses 2 million seniors inoculated.
Today in NY... pic.twitter.com/CiCulq9a61
Also, to this related point, here's a good question asked on MSNBC -- and an interesting answer from a Biden administration official:
Questions on Florida should be part of every COVID briefing. Why are they succeeding while open while closed states are not? If you don't know, why not have closed states copy their model until you figure it out? https://t.co/1jYLeO6f7V
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) February 17, 2021
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