Look up words like smug, arrogant, self-serving, dismissive, condescending, self-important, god-complex, and a host of other synonyms, and all should have photos of Andrew Cuomo next to them by now.
How else to describe the New York governor's transparently kindergarten teacher tone taken throughout his "briefing," during which he dismissed out of hand the allegations of sexual harassment by eleven women, backed up by 179 witnesses interviewed during the independent investigation conducted by NY's attorney general, Tish James? (I put the word "briefing" in quotation marks because it was recorded before it aired, and reporters weren't allowed inside the room to ask questions of him, as opposed to the AG and her investigators who spoke live and answered questions.)
How insulting is his supposition that we will buy his slow-talking manner, his attempts at earnestness, pleas for understanding that he's just affectionate - he kisses EVERYONE on the forehead, silly! This is just a cultural, generational difference! "Look at me and my dad, Mario! I would never make an assault survivor uncomfortable by questioning her about her own experience more than was appropriate!" And, "I was just trying to HELP some young person who'd been sexually assaulted about her experience! I thought I could comfort her because I, too have a rando family member who is a survivor of sexual assault whom I am choosing to exploit for my own political survival!"
No one is buying this bullsh*t. No. One.
He give a fake apology, because it's couched within the framework that he never meant for any of the women to be uncomfortable.
- That's not an apology. Apologies aren't conditional, and they don't come with the implication that the person to whom you're apologizing is the one who made the mistake.
- Impact is always, ALWAYS greater than intention. It matters NOT AT ALL what his intentions were. What was the impact? Care about the impact, and put that ABOVE your intentions.
Here's what the report actually concluded, according to Shimon Prokupecz of CNN.
"What the attorney general did after this months' long investigation, she says was show a pattern of behavior which included toxic behavior inside the work force, the executive chamber where there was intimidation, where there was concern over how some of the claims were being handled," he explained. "This 168-page report detailed many of the claims and the women what they had to say about what happened to them, including a state trooper who was assigned to his security detail. She came forward. She told the attorney general how the governor inappropriately touched her. How it was nonconsensual."
Prokupecz continued, "And the attorney general said there were other instances of similar activity and behavior indicating that the governor violated state and federal law."
But AG James is not moving forward with federal charges. The state could file charges, but we don't know if they will. Cuomo could be impeached by the NY State Assembly, and here there is an interesting difference from the impeachment of a president is that if Cuomo is impeached, he must immediately cede power to his lieutenant governor during the process.
Regardless, the Cuomo governorship remains a sh*tshow, wherein his response to credible allegations of sexual assault and harassment is to assume we are all idiots, everyone else misunderstands him, and successful, highly-trained professional investigators and attorneys who specialize in workplace abuse don't know what they're talking about.
UPDATE:
In his (actual) press briefing, Pres. Joe Biden confirmed that he thinks Cuomo should resign.
