You might be wondering what happened to Cuomo’s Emmy award-winning daily briefings. For months we were blessed to witness these, as NPR puts it, “masterful” COVID-19″ briefings where like a slightly more handsome John F. Kennedy, he talked about the need for everyone to accept responsibility and accountability for their actions.
From Trump, conservatives, and seemingly everyone without a New York zip code, he demanded everyone take their fair share of the blame for New York’s struggles during the pandemic.
President Trump has actively sought to punish NYC since day one.
He let COVID ambush New York.
He refuses to provide funds that states and cities MUST receive to recover.
He is not a king. He cannot “defund” NYC.
It’s an illegal stunt.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 2, 2020
Thankfully, Governor Andrew Cuomo took a moment away from defending his romantic pursuits to give us another glimpse into that charming personality and tough, bare-knuckle leadership that won him an Emmy award just months ago.
If you missed it, don’t feel bad. For some reason, large news networks where Cuomo’s briefings were prominently displayed in 2020 have taken a hiatus from featuring him in any capacity. Like your favorite candy, too much of a good thing is most likely to be the cause.
Fortunately, NBC’s New York affiliate caught the hour-long news conference and shared it on Youtube.
When asked about what he thought about New York losing one of their house seats while states like Texas had gained two, he reclaimed his pandemic briefing form by graciously giving the blame to everyone else. According to reports, he blamed President Trump’s mean words about illegal immigrants, census workers, census counters, and, interestingly enough, illegal immigrants for why New York’s influence in the House of Representatives was tanking.
The blaming of President Trump is confusing given the fact that it was the Commander-in-Chief himself that attempted to send more illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities, per this report from CNN. This seems wildly ungrateful.
But before we could throw our hands up thinking it was just another “Trump bad, Trump mean” cliche, Cuomo showed us why he’s so good at his job. Like a masterful storyteller, Cuomo reveals another, more sinister player to look at in his roulette wheel of blame; Illegal immigrants.
“Look, you had a lot going on, you had people who were nervous to come forward, you have undocumented people, nervous to come forward, I believe that the federal government had a chilling effect …” – Governor Cuomo
Now, there may be many people who will criticize Governor Cuomo’s statement as stereotypical, out of touch, and insulting to the cultures that make up the illegal immigrant community of New York.
The idea of inferring immigrants are timid, weak, and too fragile in the face of mean rhetoric is troubling. They may even go as far as to say this is further proof of a disturbing pattern of racism and prejudice from Cuomo.
@NYGovCuomo Andrew Cuomo’s racist remarks about a “European virus” are really disgusting. He should be ashamed of himself for stooping that low. The 1918/1919 virus isn’t called the USA Virus! #COVID19 https://t.co/mr9YrDX717
— Troy Stone (@TroyStoneWrites) August 18, 2020
BREAKING: Racist NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo @NYGovCuomo misappropriates Irish Culture by demanding his aide sing along with him to “Danny Boy” ☘️ #CancelCuomo https://t.co/lyz1C32LjY
— Sgt Daniel L McCaughan 🇺🇸 (@DanMcCaughan) March 27, 2021
It will be interesting to see if statements like this one will age quite as well as his “me too” statements from last year, especially with a potential re-election battle with Andrew Yang, himself a parent of immigrants.
We will have to wait and see if this statement will also help galvanize strong illegal immigrant support for his re-election in 2022.
Here’s to hoping for more press briefings from Governor Andrew Cuomo.
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