After months of sycophantic worship at the altar of Andrew Cuomo, it’s time to pull back the curtain and reveal New York’s Governor for what he is: the man responsible for his state’s awful response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The first reaction any anti-Trump, pro-Cuomo reader would have is that Trump is ultimately responsible for the country. This is eminently true, and Trump has had his ups and downs regarding reacting to this unprecedented crisis. However, Trump is in charge of 50 states, and no state has been hit as hard as New York. At some point, even a Democrat loyalist has to wonder why one state in particular is such an anomaly.
The federal government has not been ignoring New York; quite the opposite. Trump sent the USNS Comfort, a 1,000-bed hospital ship, to New York City. That ship barely reached ten-percent capacity. Cuomo consistently bashed Trump for not sending a whopping 40,000 requested ventilators to bolster New York’s supply of 12,000. Those 12,000 ventilators were never needed or used, and were given away to other states. New York received emergency help from all over the country, and Cuomo said that those out-of-state workers would have to pay state income tax for their trouble.
Of course, New York City is somewhat unusual, with a high concentration of people in a relatively small area – but it’s not unique. Other densely-populated areas, such as Newark, Miami, and San Francisco, have not had a percentage of the problems that New York has had. One of the primary ways that Cuomo botched the coronavirus response is by not cleaning the subway system during the peak of the virus. While the state was shut down in late March, Cuomo didn’t order a nightly closing and cleaning of the subways until May, leaving New Yorkers vulnerable riding veritable Petri dishes for over six weeks.
Even when the subways were closed, the cleaning crews were not given adequate equipment to clean them. NY1 reported that contract workers were given dirty rags to “clean” the subways. “The mop ends as you see it: black. We started using it since this morning,” said one worker in an undercover video. She also claims that she is not getting enough gloves and masks to clean, and only given a disposable gown when an inspector was due to arrive.
The problems on the subways pale in comparison to the nursing home scandal that is brewing. Cuomo, in March, ordered that nursing homes receive back COVID-positive patients back into nursing facilities, against the pleadings of the nursing home administrators. When nursing homes asked the governor’s help in providing equipment, he said it’s “not our job” to provide privately-owned nursing homes with masks and gowns. He can regulate them to death, but he won’t help when begged.
On May 10, Cuomo finally reversed that fateful March 25 order, after 5,300 deaths in nursing homes, one-fifth of the nation’s total nursing home deaths. However, this is where the cover-up began. The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) admitted that they were not counting the deaths of nursing home residents that occur off premises (like a hospital) in the official tally. This provides a major discrepancy between New York and other states’ numbers. Those numbers, and the accuracy of the demographics, are essential for creating an adequate response in combating the virus. Cuomo’s administration is undermining future planning because they are covering up past failures.
Then, to again cover himself, Cuomo overreached, demanding that every nursing home worker get tested twice per week. That amounts to 205,000 workers around the state, tested twice a week at approximately $100 per test. That’s $41 million per week in testing alone. That doesn’t cover where these tests are going to come from or the labs that are going to process them.
Labs are already feeling the strain, unable to comply with the edict because they cannot process the tests. The New York Post reports that the top testing lab in the state has told counties to stop sending tests, because they are so overwhelmed. Cuomo doesn’t care; he’s threatening to shut down facilities or fine them out of existence if they don’t come up with a testing plan. He writes the executive order and threatens government actions if there isn’t immediate compliance with his will. This is dictatorial behavior at its finest.
This is the governor that the media and Democrats are gushing over. The Washington Post wrote: “Cuomo Could Be the Leader the Democratic Party and Nation Desperately Need.” The New York Times wrote that “Andrew Cuomo Is the Control Freak We Need Right Now.” They are defending Cuomo and attacking Trump for the issues in New York, and if they had any honesty, they’d be doing the exact opposite.
Keep this in mind when Democrats clamor to replace Joe Biden with Andrew Cuomo. If this is Cuomo’s resume, how awful must Joe Biden be?
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Moshe Hill is a political analyst who has written for The Daily Wire, the Queens Jewish Link, The Jewish Link of New Jersey and JNS.org. He is regularly featured on ‘The Josh M Show’ podcast. Subscribe to aHillwithaview.com for more content from Moshe Hill. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/ahillwithaview and follow him on Twitter @TheMoHill.
