Andrew Cuomo’s Star Turn Just Crashed and Burned
He seemed steady as a rock when we needed him—and when the president was a disaster. But now we’re getting a look under the hood, and it isn’t pretty.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty
From the very first days of the pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo was a superstar. He was the “control freak” we needed right now, the face glowering from the covers of national magazines, and a hero to “Cuomosexuals” everywhere. Cuomo merchandise was hawked on Etsy. His favorability rating neared 80 percent. There was idle chatter about making Cuomo the Democratic nominee—and dumping Joe Biden.
All of that, in retrospect, was quite absurd, though the delusions were fed because New York’s governor had the greatest of all foils: Donald Trump. A fellow bruiser from Queens, Trump oversaw a response to coronavirus that was at turns incendiary and idiotic, as his federal government completely abdicated all responsibility in preparing for the worst pandemic in a century.
Each Trump lie—each ludicrous performance at a press briefing—only doomed him more during those painful weeks for America, and guaranteed any Democrat who could utter three consecutive logical sentences in a row would be elevated to the status of political demi-god.
