Andrew Cuomo, from Pandemic Hero to Political Pariah
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Last spring, as the federal government seemed unable or unwilling to concoct a national plan to confront the pandemic, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo became something of a hero to people looking for stable leadership. But, recently, Cuomo’s profile has changed. Accusations that his administration misreported the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes were followed by accusations that Cuomo had personally threatened elected officials to cover up those discrepancies in the data. And, in the past four months, six women have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment. Nick Paumgarten, who wrote a profile of Cuomo for The New Yorker, joins guest host Eric Lach to discuss the failures and successes of Cuomo’s administration, and whether he can hold on to power in New York.
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| 1:11.7 | This is the political scene, a weekly conversation with New Yorker writers and guests about |
| 1:16.3 | politics. It's Thursday, March 11th. I'm Eric Latch, a staff writer at The New Yorker, filling |
| 1:22.1 | in for Dorothy Wickenton. On March 2nd, 2020, the day after a health care worker returning from Iran became the first person diagnosed with COVID-19 in New York State, |
| 1:33.9 | Governor Andrew Cuomo gave the first of what would become nearly daily briefings on the state's response to the pandemic. |
| 1:39.5 | There is no doubt that there will be more cases where we find people who test positive. |
| 1:48.4 | We said early on, it wasn't a question of if but when. |
| 1:53.1 | This is New York. We're a gateway to the world. |
| 1:56.3 | You see all these cases around the world, around the country. |
| 1:59.2 | Of course we're going to have it here. |
| 2:02.0 | In the months that followed, Cuomo became a kind of avatar for competent government pandemic |
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