During the pandemic, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo became a media darling as he tried to handle being the governor of a state that was the epicenter of the pandemic. For a while there the tough talking New Yorker was poised to become the next Rudy Giuliani, and even a presidential run didn't seem out of the question. What a difference a few months can make.
When the first sexuall assault charges were made against Cuomo, his denials seemed somewhat reasonable. Perhaps he was just an overly affectionate guy from a different era when it was alright for a boss to be so. But now that a through investigation has been made, it's clear that the man went beyond mere friendly affection. Eleven different women detail stories of him making creepy comments and groping them, and there is one clear case that he retaliated against one of the women after she spoke out about it. Add to that reports that he openly lied about his success battling covid, and it's easy to see why President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have both called for him to resign.
Right now the governor is fighting back, releasing an odd video in which he defended himself by showing pictures of him being publicly affectionate with other people in the past, as if that explains the behavior that many of these women claimed happened in private. To me, there's no question that he should step down, both for the good of the state and his political party. But it is possible that he could successfully hang on to office and finish his term. In other words, he could pull a Donald Trump.
In October of twenty sixteen, which seems like a lifetime ago, the infamous Access Hollywood tape hit the Trump presidential campaign like a ton of bricks. Along with the tape, twenty five different women claimed that he had sexaully assaulted them in the exact manner that he had bragged about on the tape. It's so hard to believe now just how finished Trump's political career looked, as numerous Republican party members withdrew their endorsements of him and Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence considered dropping off the ticket. Trump, like Cuomo, just plowed onward, dismissing the words he spoke on the tape as "locker room talk" and shrugging off all the sexual assault charges, claiming that he would eventually sue all the women making them (something he still hasn't gotten around to doing).
It appears that Cuomo, just like Trump, seems to think that blanket denials will work for him. But the Democratic party is not like the Republican party in that they do not just worship power. Even if Cuomo does stay in office, his career as a Democratic leader or spokesperson is over; I can't imagine that the party will ever embrace him again. This stands in sharp contrast to Trump, who's time as a pariah in the Republican party only lasted until election day. Once he somehow eked out a victory, everything was forgiven, and some of his biggest critics, like Senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, became some of his most toadying lackeys. Things like yet another woman coming forward to say that Trump once raped her in a dressing room were completely ignored, as absolute loyalty to him became the standard for nearly every member of the party.
It seems hard to believe that the same Republican party that once forced Senator Bob Packwood to resign because of sexaul assualt charges back in nineteen ninety five could now continue to support Trump even as he is out of office, but those are the depths that the Republican has sank to ever since they turned a TV celebrity into a demagogic cult leader. No, the Democratic party isn't perfect, but they certainly hold the higher moral ground when it comes to punishing deplorable behavior from a party leader.
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