Cuomo’s office then released an 85-page report that included photos of other people hugging the governor, including Joe Biden, and one from Cory Booker who greeted Kamala Harris with a kiss – you see, because some people are looking for a comforting one and friendly way of hugging and kissing, Andrew Cuomo cannot have done this in a threatening or harassing way. (Twenty-five of the report’s 85 pages consist of images of people hugging and kissing.) This report is also primarily aimed at one of Cuomo’s accusers finally that “their agenda and motivations are evident.”
Who helped create these ready-to-use audiovisual materials? This remains a mystery for now. But the fact that Cuomo is brewing this elaborate and fancy self-defense behind the scenes tones the final months of his governorship, which largely lacked the lofty rhetoric of Cuomo’s Covid-19 press conferences or the American crisis. The days when Cuomo might have sold himself to President Trump more easily than agile foil have also gone in the rearview mirror. Cuomo is now more like a hardworking student of the Trump playbook. He has vigorously denied the allegations, lit his victims and the public with gas and refused to give in even an inch. He has held his post with a shamelessness seldom seen in American politics – with the exception of the twice-accused former president. He has consistently damaged the Democrats’ credibility regarding sexual harassment and the rest of his own reputation.
Cuomo hangs by a thread, hence his strategy for the kitchen sink. If the State Assembly has the votes to be impeached, he’s almost certainly screwed – the Senate is almost certain to condemn him. Cuomo rebuilt the Democratic Party in New York in his own image and has millions in the bank. He still has some allies, including several powerful interest groups. These shameless representations can ultimately save his political skin.
But they also only underline who Andrew Cuomo really is. For much of the Trump era, Cuomo presented himself as a caring, competent alternative to the madness that emanated from Washington, DC, crises that made other politicians pale. Now we have an inescapable idea of who Cuomo really is, and that’s a far cry from the portrait he projected in the spring of 2020: he’s a little tyrant, a tyrant and ultimately a pathetic figure who can only survive on their own is obsessed.
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