Fall of Andrew Cuomo exposes Democrat splits
It took a while but, on Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo finally announced his intention to resign, ending months of speculation about his future after eleven women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment. His departure, now expected in late August, will also end simmering arguments inside Democratic ranks, as well as leave hard questions for a party seeking to retain power in the already looming mid-terms. The Democrat left is delighted by the fall of the moderate Cuomo.
In recent days, key figures around Cuomo have sought to create distance between themselves and the governor. Judith L. Mogul, one of Cuomo’s top lawyers, quit last week. That was followed, on Sunday, by the departure of Melissa DeRosa, his chief aide, who said that the past two years have been “emotionally and mentally trying”. While the findings of a report into Cuomo’s behaviour by the New York attorney general’s office has been unequivocal, much of what we’re witnessing is the drama that usually gathers around any fading political power.
New York politics has a form distinct unto itself and mixed into the outrage are political calculations, private grudges, as well as a degree of grandstanding for the cameras. Bill de Blasio, New York’s Mayor, has certainly not turned down many opportunities to appear before TV cameras in recent days. He has appeared ready to discuss even the smallest detail of city governance if it also meant a chance to lay into the governor.
Politics is a hard game, especially on the way down, and Cuomo himself was never an easy politician to like, even if that perhaps gave him his greatest strength. He projected gruff irritability and willingness to play politics in a style that’s not always associated with a liberal mindset. Notably, it was Cuomo, not Biden, who Democrats looked to for resistance to Trump during the early days of the pandemic, leaving many to secretly (and a few not-so-secretly) wonder why he couldn’t be their nomination. His name was certainly muttered a few times around the VP pick, even if those who understood New York politics the best voiced caution.
The allegations of harassment have run for months with Cuomo denying them at every step. Even in his announcement on Tuesday, he only accepted wrongdoing insofar as he “didn’t realise the extent to which the line has been redrawn”. The closest he came to a mea culpa was when he reflected: “There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate. And I should have. No excuses.”
The fall of Cuomo follows similar precipitous moments for those on the progressive side of the political divide. Senator Al Franken, the MSNBC host Chris Matthews and the Democratic representative for Michigan, John Conyers, all quit in disgrace after women came forward alleging inappropriate behaviour. Liberals are proving efficient at cleaning house when there’s even the smallest hint of impropriety, even if that has left some questioning if they’ve been too efficient. Franken has himself admitted that he regretted resigning at a time when he was under pressure from Democratic colleagues eager to be seen on the side of the victim. In his case, he had been seen in a photo from his Saturday Night Live days mock-groping a woman’s breasts as she slept during a flight.
Unlike Franken, who only lasted days before folding to pressure, Cuomo hung on, eventually leaving President Biden no option but to encourage the governor to quit. Yet the truculent nature of Cuomo’s resignation is no surprise, and it is not without some political calculation. It’s intensely difficult to understand where the momentum of #MeToo will eventually settle. Pundits, especially on the Left, tend to oversimplify, whilst those on the Right lean into the ambiguity. But even this partisanship breaks down when it comes to the public who reflect the difficulty of the issues.
Repeated polling tends to reveal more generalisations than profound insight, usually mirroring political allegiances. Democrats overwhelmingly believe #MeToo has been a force for good and has changed attitudes in America. Republicans think it has gone too far. Get into the more nuanced matters of real politics, however, and the broad agreement with the principles of the movement begins to shift and we see more of a pragmatic attitude towards politicians. A poll conducted just days ago suggested that only 51% of New York Democrats believe Cuomo should resign. That’s barely a majority among Democrats at the high point of a scandal. The politics on the ground are not as simple as many in the work of punditry suggests.
Indeed, some Democrats are furious at the double standards at play. Former President Donald Trump faced serious allegations of rape, while Congressman Matt Gaetz has been accused of trafficking minors (he denies it). Neither has suffered any political repercussions. Conversely, a senator like Franken resigns because of a crass joke he made as a young man working as a comedian. Somewhere in the middle sits Cuomo, facing serious allegations but most of a kind that falls short of criminal behaviour, involving inappropriate comments, kissing an aide on her lips, and in the case of one state trooper, he “placed his finger on the top of her neck and ran his finger down the centre of her spine midway down her back”. His most serious accusation is of groping the breast of Brittany Commisso when they were alone in the Executive Mansion. Cuomo has denied all charges.
Much of this is the kind of behaviour that lands him squarely in that ambiguous area where the American public still struggles to balance their own subjective experiences with the rather blunt force of a cultural movement. The progress made towards “listening to victims” has too often blurred with the ideological imperative to “believe victims”. Judging from Cuomo’s resignation statement, it’s the kind of complexity that the soon-to-be-former governor might think offers him a route towards redemption. He has lost considerable political capital in this scandal, making new enemies in his party. Yet he is only 63 years old and represents that kind of pugilistic Democrat the party has in short supply. He is not leaving office quietly and we can be sure his life after the governorship will be equally vocal.
At the very least, based on how these scandals usually go, we should expect him to launch a podcast within weeks.