Remember Andrew Cuomo, the best and most handsome governor in all the land? Remember how great he was at handling the pandemic? I mean, there's even a book he wrote about it!
When asked hard questions on little details – like how many grandmas died as a result of him stuffing nursing homes full of sick people – Cuomo did the honorable thing like snap at reporters and shout about how he's "New York tough."
Oh, and he also chatted a lot with his brother over at the very oBjEcTiVe CNN whenever he was feeling blue.
After the NY AG released a report saying nursing home deaths were actually 50% higher than Cuomo reported, that strong-man bravado fell away. All of a sudden, what conservative outlets had been reporting for months started to "gain traction" in the news.
Another crack appeared in the image of St. Cuomo yesterday, when his top aide told Democratic lawmakers that Cuomo hid the true death numbers because he was afraid of Trump investigating him.
Cuomo's secretary, Melissa DeRosa, told the legislators in a video conference that Cuomo and his staff "froze" in the fear that the actual death toll would "be used against us."
Trump did go after Cuomo and other Democratic governors. He criticized their endless lockdown restrictions on healthy people while shuttling the sick into the homes of the most at-risk.
"He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes," said DeRosa. "He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer."
After Trump told "the Department of Justice to do an investigation into" them, DeRosa said "we froze," leading Cuomo's staff to withhold the actual death toll since August, when Democratic state lawmakers had requested the data.
"We were in a position where we weren't sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren't sure if there was going to be an investigation. That played a very large role into this."
DeRosa then asked lawmakers for "a little bit of appreciation of the context."
Yes, that's right! Sure, you shuttled the sick to the most vulnerable population, leading to thousands of deaths. Sure, you hid those numbers and yelled at anyone who criticized you. Sure, you shunned the advice of the health department in favor of lobbyists and big campaign donors from local hospitals. Sure, you pointed the finger at Trump and made it your mission to destroy him and his vaccine efforts.
But this was all about politics, guys! It was all about POWER. Surely that warrants "a little bit of appreciation," right?
I'm happy to say the lawmakers didn't buy what she was selling.
"I don't have enough time today to explain all the reasons why I don't give that any credit at all," said NY Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried (D).
State Senate Aging Committee Chairwoman Rachel May (D) had similar thoughts.
"The issue for me, the biggest issue of all is feeling like I needed to defend — or at least not attack — an administration that was appearing to be covering something up. And in a... pandemic when you want the public to trust the public health officials, and there is this clear feeling that they're not coming, being forthcoming with you, that is really hard and it remains difficult."
Assemblyman Ron Kim (D) said "they admitted that they were trying to dodge having any incriminating evidence."
It was all about protecting Cuomo and his administration from federal investigation.
Cuomo's reported death toll in nursing homes is 8,711 deaths. The actual number as recorded right now is 15,049.
As punishment, Cuomo got on a plane today for D.C., presumably where he will prostrate himself before Emperor Biden and beg him for mercy.
I'm glad we cleared up Cuomo's massive failings and lies.
Now do China.
