After the outbreak of the new Epidemic in the United States a year ago, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was once seen as a “heroic figure” who respected the facts, believed in science, held daily press conferences and was open and transparent about information, and was said at the Time to be in stark contrast to former U.S. President Donald Trump. Cuomo’s popularity has since soared, and he has not only published a book praising himself for his work against the epidemic, but has even been encouraged by his supporters to run for president of the United States.
Governor Cuomo’s brother, Chris Cuomo, Jr. is credited with making him “famous at Home and abroad. The two have become the talk of the town on CNN’s primetime network.
This Monday on CNN’s prime-time network, Cuomo’s headline story was that the U.S. had achieved its best results since the new pandemic, with record numbers of people vaccinated and climbing. But what Cuomo Jr. didn’t mention in his news was that his brother, Big Cuomo, had held a press conference only hours earlier to try to clear up the New York State senior care center scandal. And that scandal sent Governor Cuomo’s approval rating plummeting by 10 points.
Governor Cuomo concealed the outbreak?
In late January, New York State Attorney General Letitia James released a report that a large number of nursing home residents had died from the new crown, a figure much higher than that released by the New York State Department of health.
After the data was updated, the number of deaths among residents of New York’s long-term care nursing homes shot up from 9,154 to 15,049, a figure that represents one-third of New York’s new crown deaths. Keep in mind that previously, the below-average number of new crown deaths in New York nursing homes was once the highlight of New York State’s epidemic prevention efforts.
And it was only more than two weeks later, at a press conference on Feb. 15, that New York Governor Cuomo first admitted that he was somewhat at fault and that his administration had made a mistake in its lack of transparency regarding the nursing home New Crown death data.
However, Cuomo refused to apologize for the mishandling of the incident and denied that the data was withheld, but rather that the data reporting was delayed. Cuomo’s reason for not getting the data right was that his office had been working on a request from the federal government from late August, thus causing the delay. And New York State had been counting and releasing the death data first, the group of infected deaths had shifted from nursing homes to hospitals and then from hospitals to nursing homes, which only led to a statistical vacuum in the information.
But embarrassingly, on Feb. 11, Cuomo’s secretary, Melissa DeRosa, told state lawmakers in a conference call that she was hiding the real data because she was trying to prevent “political action” by the Trump Administration, which then-President Trump had tweeted angrily at Cuomo for ” The then-President Trump tweeted at Cuomo for “killing people in nursing homes” and tried to hold the governor and his team accountable.
There is also speculation that another reason Cuomo’s office deliberately suppressed nursing home death data was to cover up the irrational policy of allowing nursing home residents with New Crest to be returned to nursing homes in the early days of the New Crest epidemic. Cuomo’s explanation at the time was that New York State had followed strict federal guidelines in order to increase the number of patients admitted to hospitals.
Cuomo’s tactics so ruthless?
When the scandal came to light, it sparked public outrage in New York State politics! In a statement, New York State Democratic State Senator Jessica Ramos noted, “The governor and his team chose to deliberately lie and play politics with the lives of New Yorkers at a time when we most need the people to trust their elected officials.” Fourteen Democratic State Senators also issued a collective statement calling for the revocation of the emergency powers.
The Republican side of the aisle is even more fired up, with New York State Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworth calling for Cuomo’s prosecution and impeachment, and another Republican, Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, saying Cuomo has completely failed the people. Democratic Rep. Antonio Delgado also called for an investigation into Cuomo’s state government.
Cuomo’s top priority now is to seek the understanding and support of these colleagues, but his tactics are not ordinary ah. New York Democratic State Assemblyman Ron Kim, who has been a vocal critic of Cuomo, told CNN that he was at home last week giving his children a bath when Cuomo called and threatened to destroy Kim if he didn’t help Cuomo cover up the mess his secretary, DeRosa, had made!
Kin Tui Sik recalls that the conversation left him completely dumbfounded, and that no one had ever spoken to him like that before in his Life. Kin Tui Sik said he thought he was on the same side as Governor Cuomo, but now he was being threatened like this. And Cuomo’s office, of course, denied the authenticity of the call. But Kim Tui-Sik’s wife has now come forward, saying she heard part of the conversation and that Cuomo was speaking very loudly and angrily. As soon as the call ended, her husband told her that the governor had just threatened to ruin my life.
In the past few days, Cuomo tried to call Kim Tui Sik again, and Kim Tui Sik said he received several missed calls on his phone with no phone number displayed, followed by a voice message from Cuomo’s assistant telling him the governor wanted to speak with him again. But instead of returning the calls, Kim Tui-Shi silently hired a lawyer. King has informed Cuomo’s office that any future calls with the governor will go through his attorney.
Kim Tui-Shi is not the only state lawmaker who has been threatened by Cuomo’s office; three Democratic state lawmakers told CNN they have also been threatened in the past week. Cuomo’s office is being very aggressive in asking lawmakers to publicly support Cuomo and his policies on nursing homes. And Cuomo’s office has explicitly threatened the lawmakers with political retribution if they don’t choose to stand with Cuomo.
Mom’s favorite son
Cuomo’s iron-fisted political old fox image today is in stark contrast to his pro-people image last year at the beginning of the New Crown epidemic.
The older brother made more than a dozen appearances on his younger brother’s show. The most famous interview came in March when Cuomo Jr. pulled out a giant, unbelievable cotton swab on the show and mocked his brother’s daily hang-ups about the new crown test. They also began debating who was mom’s favorite son. At the end of the show, Cuomo Jr. thanked his brother for coming on his show, and Cuomo Jr. said, “Well, Mom made me come. Then his brother immediately rolled his eyes.
Restore the interview conversation.
Brother: Thank you for coming back to the show again
Brother: Mom made me have to come
Brother: (blank stare)
Brother: someday when you grow up, you’ll be like me
Brother: I’ve been trying to be like you, and look what I’ve become
Brother: Dad says I’m a better basketball player than you
Brother: Dad didn’t say that! I’m going to call you out and beat your ass
The new crown epidemic, coupled with a personable interview style, made Big Cuomo nationally known and even won an International Emmy Award (International Emmy Founders). His brother Cuomo Jr. later became the “authority” on the New Guinea epidemic because of his own infection.
But by late June, the frequent interviews with his own Family made Cuomo Jr. realize something was wrong. In another interview with his brother, he explained, “It’s unusual for me to interview you, we’ve never done it before, but this is an unusual moment. He then went back into interpellation mode, saying that he was in awe of his brother’s work against the epidemic, while Cuomo Jr. admitted he couldn’t be objective about his brother’s work.
Cuomo Jr.’s segment, a popular CNN anchor, sparked a lot of controversy. Isn’t it more important for media professionals to strictly adhere to journalistic ethics at unusual times? And “unusual times” should include not only his brother leading New York’s fight against the new crown epidemic, but also his controversial management of the new crown epidemic.
So, did Cuomo Jr. cover his brother’s scandal on his prime-time show? The answer is: Not at all. Since Monday, Cuomo’s prime time news topics have included the New Crown vaccine, mutated viruses, conspiracy group QAnon, congressional riots, impeachment and more. And in stark contrast to the rest of CNN, on Sunday’s ace show “State of the Union,” host Jake Tapper came on and said Governor Cuomo had declined his interview to respond to the scandal.
The Washington Post pointed out very pointedly that Cuomo’s prime-time show has always been about “doing justice,” but when the New York governor was praised, the younger brother went crazy; when the older brother was in a scandal, the younger brother was silent, which is against the basic ethics of journalism. The early days of the epidemic were unusual times, and we think the Cuomo brothers’ conversations about the challenges millions of American families are experiencing have sparked tremendous interest. As a result, we broke the rule we’ve had in place since 2013 to allow Cuomo Jr. to interview his brother. But that rule has carried over to this day, and other CNN programs besides Cuomo Gold News have covered Governor Cuomo’s news extensively.
But the problem with CNN’s statement is that it chose to break the rule when the celebrity brother’s traffic soared; but when scandal struck, it brought the rule out as a shield. Isn’t this a time when it’s more important to see the media code that Cuomo Jr. has upheld in the face of conflicts of interest as a professional media personality?
Governor Cuomo is now in even more trouble, as the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have launched investigations into his handling of the nursing home outbreak. Cuomo faces re-election next year, and there are now calls for his impeachment, dismissal and ouster. But Cuomo’s position will be hard to shake, including his family roots in New York (his father was also a three-term New York governor), his high statewide approval ratings and his $17 million in campaign cash. Whether New York’s bipartisan anger will translate into a challenge to Cuomo remains to be seen, but the reality is that Cuomo’s refusal to admit fault, his attempts to cover up the truth, and his tactics of threatening colleagues are making the problem worse.
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