Only a few months ago, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York was being touted as the next president of the United States. He would do what his father (former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo) was always expected to do.
Joe Biden, the narrative went, was suffering from early stages of dementia.
Cuomo would replace him at the Democratic National Convention.
Cuomo would go onto defeat Trump.
The leftist media, still high from winning Pulitzer Prizes for claiming that Donald Trump was a Russian spy could be excused for indulging such fantasies. They had already shown that they could pretty much write what they wanted and history would obey.
The New York governor was a rock star. His press conferences were getting prime time coverage. He was so popular, so engaging, that he could even afford to appear gracious toward Donald Trump, the media’s whipping boy. With the Democratic loyalists already impressed he was reaching out to independents and Republicans.
Then — the roof caved in.
The facts of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s disastrous policies dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in New York state caught up with him. Even the incompetence of America’s worst politician, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, could not distract or stave off the disaster.
The party was over.
What did Cuomo do?
His reckless policies sent more than 10,000 nursing home patients to their deaths.
On March 25, 2020, Cuomo’s State Department of Health ordered nursing homes to admit patients with the coronavirus. It impacted between 11,000 to 12,000 nursing home patients who lost their lives and more than 500 nursing home employees and caregivers later dying from the infection.
Like a trapped school boy, Cuomo lashed out at others, trying to pass the buck and escape blame.
It was President Trump’s fault, he said. The media was quick to pick up and carry this refrain. Cuomo pointed out that on March 13, 2020, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) had issued a guideline recommending that nursing homes accept COVID-19 patients.
Cuomo insisted that this was why he had issued his orders. He falsely claimed that he was following a Trump issued edict. Other states correctly understood that the CDC was only trying to make sure that nursing homes were not discriminating against non-coronavirus patients.
New York Journalist Robert Golomb meticulously unpacked the story.
One week before Cuomo’s disastrous decision the CDC announced a clear warning that admitting patients diagnosed with the coronavirus into nursing homes would increase attack rates.
The American Health Care Association labeled Cuomo’s plan "a recipe for disaster."
When desperate health workers at the nursing homes, now filled with infected patients, asked for protective masks Cuomo quipped, "It’s not my job."
Both the private and public sectors had tried to save the lives of these elderly New Yorkers.
When critics complained that there were not enough ventilators, President Donald Trump put manufacturers on a war footing and built so many that they are now an American export.
Our hospitals are overflowing with them.
When Cuomo warned that he might not have enough hospital beds and that was why he needed to shuttle these patients off to nursing homes, Trump sent a military government hospital ship to New York Harbor.
In the end, Cuomo lashed out at everybody within listening distance. "Where were the experts?" he complained? "Where was The New York Times? Where was The Wall Street Journal? Where were all the bugle players who should say ‘be careful, there’s a virus in China that may be in the United States."
It was too late.
Now, the governor can’t get the salt back into the shaker.
The Andrew Cuomo presidential boomlet has come and gone.
His career will forever be haunted by a decision destroying thousands of helpless people.
Worse, historians will find no apology from the New York governor.
Doug Wead is a presidential historian who served as a senior adviser to the Ron Paul presidential campaign. He is a New York Times best-selling author, philanthropist, and adviser to two presidents, including President George H.W. Bush, with whom he co-authored the book "Man of Integrity." Read Doug Wead's Reports — More Here.
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