The Man, the Myth, the Manipulation

Notes from America with Kai Wright

WNYC Studios

News Commentary, Politics, History, News

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2021

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why do we equate macho bullying with competent leadership? The cautionary tale of Andrew Cuomo. From sexual harassment to intimating deemed rivals, the list of accusations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have crescendoed into a long awaited resignation. But what kind of leader do we value? What makes a competent leader -- and why are we so often looking for a new hero? Kai explores these questions with Zephyr Teachout, Associate Law Professor at Fordham Law School, who challenged Cuomo in the 2014 primary. She talks with Kai about her essay in The Nation from March 2021. Companion listening for this episode: How to End the Dominion of Men (03/29/2021) Andrew Cuomo’s just the latest. Why is masculinity so often conflated with domination? And how do we separate the two? Kai turns to a historian and to a novelist for answers. What Does the Right Kind of Woman Sound Like? (11/05/2018) Shrill, strident, bossy. These are the misogynistic slurs women often face when they run for elected office. So what should power sound like? “The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC. We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, this is Kai. We've got a bonus episode for you because as of this week, New York State has a new governor.
0:09.4	Kathy Hockel has just been sworn in as the first woman in the governor's office.
0:14.0	Andrew Cuomo resigned after a state attorney general's investigation found he sexually
0:19.5	harassed 11 women, many of them young women who were working for him.
0:24.4	Pomo is a massive figure and personality, but this whole saga in New York politics is about a lot more than him.
0:33.0	And his whole decade long tenure as governor
0:36.0	offers a study in a particular kind of gendered leadership.
0:41.0	So I set down with someone who has long been one of his most vocal critics and who challenged
0:46.4	him in the Democratic primary back in 2014. Zephyr Teachout is a professor at Fordham University
0:52.4	Law School and is actually a specialist in corruption.
0:56.0	She wrote an essay way back in March in the nation magazine calling on Cuomo to resign.
1:01.0	We talked about why. Our conversation is coming right up.
1:05.8	This is the United States of Anxiety, a show about the unfinished business of our history
1:10.9	and its grip on our future.
1:12.3	An entire nation of desperate lives and media figures is throwing themselves at the New
1:16.3	York governor in an embarrassing way.
1:18.1	Cuomo sexual.
1:19.0	Cuomo's on, I'm like, I got to go see my celebrity crush right now sorry you're going to be held
1:25.3	accountable for what happens in ways that your brother just can't do it.
1:28.3	We're out here I'm good I'm fine.
1:31.3	I'm gonna pullo! I'm gonna pull to go and pullo. These women have the courage to speak up, not just for themselves.
1:40.0	I did nothing wrong and period and I'm not resigning and I'm doing my job every day
	...

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