New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he would be resigning amid controversy surrounding the release of a state probe that found that the governor sexually harassed several women during his time in office.
“New York tough means New York loving, and I love New York and I love you,” Cuomo said, “I would never want to be unhelpful in any way, and I think given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing, and therefore, that’s what I’ll do.”
Combined with his nursing home scandal which led to thousands of avoidable deaths, the Democrat governor’s resignation is humiliating for the dozens of left-wing activists across legacy media that characterized Cuomo as a hero for his botched handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York.
Corporate media pretended to love him for his leadership, but they really loved him for taking shots at Trump. No matter what they may or may not have known about Cuomo’s behavior toward women, their Trump derangement syndrome meant they rooted for Cuomo at all costs.
In a July press conference, he criticized Trump’s handling of the pandemic. “The country is suffering because of you,” he said. “Admit you were wrong.” The media swooned.
1. Jennifer Rubin
During the early onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin tweeted that watching Cuomo’s daily press conferences was “inspiring uplifting, and fascinating.”
2. Ana Navarro
3. Joy Reid
MSNBC’s Joy Reid praised the governor’s leadership as “really good.”
“Just gonna say it: @NYGovCuomo is really good at this,” she said. “His leadership ability in this coronavirus crisis, and the usefulness of these press conferences are just putting Donald Trump to shame.”
“Maybe Trump is just a little bit mad that Governor Cuomo has become a kind of acting president,” she added during a MSNBC segment.
4. Rebecca Fishbein
Left-wing blogger Rebecca Fishbein took her obsession a little bit further, going as far as to write an article for feminist-outlet Jezebel titled “Help, I Think I’m In Love With Andrew Cuomo???”
“And yet, in this time of crisis, with little concrete information available, I need Cuomo’s measured bullying, his love of circumventing the federal government, his sparring with increasingly incompetent city leadership,” she wrote.
“Not only that, but the less contact I have with other humans, the more I start to think of Cuomo as my only friend. I’ve started laughing at his little jokes. I catch myself touching my hair (not my face!) when he talks about an increase in testing capacity. I swooned when he told a reporter he had his own workout routine,” she said.
“I think I have a crush???,” she swooned.
5. Molly Jong-Fast
Not to be outdone, Daily Beast editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast took to the pages of Vogue magazine in March 2020 to explain, “Why We Are Crushing on Andrew Cuomo Right Now.”
“I liked him but I didn’t like him like him,” she wrote. “But what a difference a pandemic makes. All of a sudden, I love Governor Cuomo, his soothing Queens accent, his stories about his dad Mario (himself a three-time governor of New York) and his 88-year-old mother Matilda.”
6. Ben Smith
New York Times reporter Ben Smith decided to join in on the frenzy, attempting to rationalize why “Andrew Cuomo Is The Control Freak We Need Right Now,” during the pandemic’s onset.
“In ordinary times, Mr. Cuomo’s relentlessness and bullying drive New Yorkers crazy,” he writes. “In the age of the coronavirus, they soothe our battered nerves.”
7. Nicole Wallace
During a panel on MSNBC, host Nicole Wallace described Cuomo as “everything Trump isn’t,” pegging the New York governor as “honest, direct, [and] brave.”
“Governor Cuomo I think, is one of the heroes on the front lines,” she added in a separate interview.
8. Chris Hayes
MSNBC host Chris Hayes lavished praise on Cuomo’s leadership, while also taking the time to bash President Donald Trump.
“Governor Cuomo is clearly living in a totally different reality,” he said, “the actual one, than the president of the United States.”
9. Brian Stelter
Host of CNN’s Reliable Sources Brian Stelter also went full fangirl mode, describing Cuomo’s governance as a “remarkable show of leadership.”
“He’s providing hope, but not false hope,” he said.
“Dealing with hardship actually makes you stronger,” he added on a separate occasion, echoing a quote made by Cuomo. “That’s what I’m going to go teach my kids right now at home.”
10. Lester Holt
During an interview with Cuomo, NBC News host Lester Holt couldn’t help but compliment the governor on his leadership, even going as far as to relate it as a military leader sending troops off to war.
“You spoke to National Guard troops today in a stirring speech that, if I wasn’t listening carefully, I’d thought you were sending soldiers off to war,” he said.
11. Joe Scarborough
While fawning over Cuomo’s handling of COVID-19 in New York, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough claimed that lifelong Republicans are even impressed with the governor’s leadership.
“Even lifelong Republicans tell me, they look at Cuomo and they’re like, ‘God, now there’s a leader,” he said.
12. Chris Cuomo
Unsurprisingly, CNN host Chris Cuomo repeatedly praised his brother’s leadership, telling Andrew in an interview that he hopes he is able to “appreciate” what he did for New York.
“I hope you are able to appreciate what you did in your state and what it means for the rest of the country now,” Chris said. “I’m wowed by what you did and more importantly, I’m wowed by how you did it.”
13. Chris Jansing
Chris Jansing was also another MSNBC host to echo her colleagues’ praise of Cuomo, referring to the governor as a true “leader in calling for science-based ways to fight this coronavirus.”
14. Chris Cillizza
CNN’s editor-at-large Chris Cillizza penned an op-ed last year arguing that Cuomo’s leadership throughout the pandemic demonstrates why he shouldn’t rule out a run for president one day.
“But the reality — and trust me, someone who has been in and around politics for as long as Andrew Cuomo knows this — is that a) he is getting extremely high marks not just in New York but nationally for his take-the-bull-by-the-horns approach to the crisis and b) the fight against coronavirus will be the defining moment in not only his governorship but his political career to date,” he wrote. “But there will be, without doubt, a chance in the future for Cuomo to consider running for president.”
Cillizza has also stated that Cuomo is the “single most popular politician in America” and “the most important voice in the coronavirus crisis.”
15. Rachel Maddow
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow hailed Cuomo as a “national leader” throughout the pandemic, who has “incredible strength.”
16 & 17. Sarah Ellison & Ben Terris
Like many of their legacy media cohorts, Washington Post writers Sarah Ellison and Ben Terris decided to pen their own piece on Cuomo, showering the governor with glowing coverage of his “Cuomo Monologues.”
“There are moving stories about New York, his mother, his father and all of humanity,” they write. “The density of the state — its ‘closeness,’ he says — is its vulnerability in this moment. But it is also what will get it through. He is talking to New York but the whole country is listening to the Cuomo Monologues: part briefing, part sermon, part inspirational talk.”
“By the end, viewers at home are getting choked up, and people in California and Colorado are texting about him,” they add.
18. Seth Abramson
Last but not least, PROOF journalist Seth Abramson had more than enough kind remarks for the New York governor.
“I’m watching an @NYGovCuomo coronavirus briefing from start to finish for the first time and I have to say that this is the first time in this whole crisis I’ve felt completely confident that someone in government has the chops to handle this pandemic,” he said. “It is incredibly comforting.”