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I’m not going to lie, the past few weeks seeing the spectacular fall of former disgraced governor Andrew Cuomo after being the toast of the town last year has been somewhat satisfying. This time last year, he was writing his acceptance speech to receive his Emmy Award for his amazing performance playing a leader in the middle of a once in a lifetime pandemic. Celebrities like Billy Crystal, Robert De Niro, Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie Perez fawned over their MVP: ‘Most Valuable Politician’. It is quite something to revisit some of their revolting speeches.
‘I was trying to think of something that I could say to you that would be funny, so I called your brother Chris, who could not understand why you were getting an Emmy when he’s the one on television,’ actor Ben Stiller said, referring to the governor’s younger brother Chris on CNN.
‘He also said that now that you’re the Luv Guv, you’ve kind of transcended politics…and you’re now really more like a national sex symbol. You’ll probably get more dates than votes.’
This time last year Cuomo had also just announced his upcoming book: American Crisis Leadership Lesson from the COVID-19 Pandemic. People magazine was doing a glossy profile of the Luv Guv and his family and dog at the governor’s mansion with beautifully lit photos of the family man who had it all.
Fast forward to this week. Cuomo’s resignation came right before midnight when Kathy Hochul took over. Headlines emerged about the governor leaving his dog Captain by himself, the Television Academy announced that they wre taking back the Emmy, and word is that Cuomo the author might have to return the $5.1 million he got for his memoirs if he violated New York laws writing it.
And then there was the bombshell on Wednesday that his replacement Kathy Hochul decided to be ‘transparent’ and add 12,000 COVID deaths to the death toll in New York. Numbers that for over a year Cuomo had never publicized because it didn’t fit the narrative he had lied about, promoted and almost gotten away with.
This is not the leading man of a fairytale story Hollywood so desperately wanted.
I’m pretty confident the ending he (and many democratic voters wanted) was a Cuomo in the White House. But the hero is very quickly turning into a villain.
I have no doubt there will be many more headlines to come about Andrew Cuomo. Suddenly, lawmakers feel safe that they can tell all their Cuomo war stories and not have to worry about being called to the woodshed.
I’ve been trying to raise awareness about Andrew Cuomo’s deadly leadership for a year and a half. I’ve spoken out on behalf of the thousands of elderly that died in New York nursing homes thanks to his death warrant he signed March 25, 2020. For 46 days over 9,000 COVID infected patients were ordered into their residences. The body bags piled up in storage trucks as the governor made victory laps with the help of the mainstream media. He then covered up the death toll so that wouldn’t tarnish his image or his awards. He has not yet been punished for those crimes.
And so although there has been some gratification with Andrew Cuomo’s fall from grace, I will not stop asking for answers and accountability for those we have lost. I’ll give his replacement some time to do the right thing and release all the documents about New York’s nursing homes, but it’s crucial that we understand the full scope of the tragedy that I believe should be one of New York’s biggest stories of the pandemic. I pray that the investigations continue. Andrew Cuomo has a lot to answer for.
I hope the end of this story has a scene in a courtroom. With a judge and a jury. And perhaps a jail sentence at the end.
Janice Dean currently serves as senior meteorologist for Fox News Channel. In addition, she is the morning meteorologist for FNC’s Fox & Friends.
