American Machiavellian: The Rise and Fall of Andrew Cuomo

Current Affairs

Comedy, Government, News, Culture, Politics

4.4 • 645 Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2021

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ross Barkan, author of The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York, joins Nathan to discuss the career of the infamous ex-New York governor. We talk about: - How an un-charismatic and unpleasant bully made his inspiring journey from humble beginnings as the son of the governor of New York to become the governor of New York - How Cuomo managed to keep a blue state from actually passing progressive legislation - How his Machiavellian ruthlessness, and New York's broken election system, kept him in power for so long - How the media allows politicians like Cuomo to portray themselves as heroes when their actual policies are disastrous Ross' book is an important document of the lies and manipulation of one of our time's shadiest state leaders. It offers an important case study in how centrists govern and the kind of politics we need to overthrow. Edited by Tim Gray

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Good evening, current affairs listeners.
0:14.1	My name is Nathan Robinson, and I am the editor-in-chief of Current Affairs Magazine,
0:19.2	and I am here tonight with the journalist Ross Barkin.
0:22.1	He is the author of the new book, The Prince, Andrew Cuomo Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York.
0:29.5	Available now from O.R. Books. Ross, hello.
0:32.4	Thank you for having me on. Very excited to be here.
0:35.5	Yeah, well, I'm excited to talk to you about this book because, and you've written about
0:40.3	one of the most interesting and notorious and horrifying politicians of our time, Andrew Cuomo.
0:48.5	You've entitled the book The Prince, which is a deliberate nod to Machiavelli.
0:52.7	In fact, if people take a look at the wonderful
0:54.6	cover, they will see just how direct you make the links between Machiavelli's, the Prince,
0:59.6	and Andrew Cuomo. Of course, Machiavelli's, the Prince is a classic guide for the, the ruthless
1:07.2	ruler. And in in this book, I think people may be interested in this book, even if
1:13.8	they're not from New York, they're not interested in New York politics because it is in many
1:18.6	ways a case study of the contemporary Machiavellian politician, Andrew Cuomo, of course, from
1:25.8	a political dynasty, his father, Mario Cuomo,
1:29.0	the governor of New York, of course, his brother, Chris Cuomo, a CNN host. So I'd like to start
1:35.6	by, before we get to coronavirus, which the book mainly centers around Cuomo's response to the
1:43.1	coronavirus crisis.
1:47.8	But I'd like to put it in context by talking about the,
1:52.0	a little bit about the rise of this infamous politician.
1:56.6	And, you know, one of the most successful politicians in some ways in New York history in terms of just amassing power.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Current Affairs, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Current Affairs and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.