Inside The Leftist Propaganda Machine That Cemented Andrew Cuomo’s Status As ‘Hero Of COVID-19’
In recent days, Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has faced sudden bipartisan calls for “accountability,” after the New York Post reported that Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, admitted that “they hid nursing home data so feds wouldn’t find out.”
On Friday, “more than a dozen Democrat state senators in New York issued a statement calling for Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pandemic emergency powers to be stripped.” New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio also called for a “full accounting of what happened” following the supposed “revelation” that Cuomo’s administration — in a bid to hide the undeniable failure of their COVID-19 policies — “stalled the release of data on Covid-19 related deaths in nursing homes.”
In reality, this is far from the overnight realization it appears to be. Instead, it stands as proof that Gov. Cuomo was selected as the Left’s favored anti-Trump figure, with the full weight of the legacy media rallying behind the Democrat’s propaganda call. Despite evidence throughout 2020 that Cuomo’s administration was failing to protect its citizens, repeatedly resulting in the worst COVID-19 death rates in the country, the entire Left engaged in an act of unforgivable deceit to tell us just how marvelous Cuomo’s leadership was. With this falsehood cemented into the national psyche, the converse argument was simple to promote: Cuomo good, Trump bad.
This lie was only made possible by the combined efforts of four figures and organizations.
Governor Andrew Cuomo
There was no one on the planet who promoted Gov. Cuomo’s status as America’s hero with more enthusiasm, sincerity, or veracity than the man himself, Andrew Cuomo. Perhaps most absurdly, he released a book titled “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” three weeks before Election Day.
The book included leadership advice, offering “personal reflections and the decision-making that shaped his policy, and offers his frank accounting and assessment of his interactions with the federal government and the White House, as well as other state and local political and health officials,” according to Crown.
One excerpt reads, “The questions are what do you do with the fear and would you succumb to it. I would not allow the fear to control me. The fear kept my adrenaline high and that was a positive. But I would not let the fear be a negative, and I would not spread it. Fear is a virus also.”
These words raise retrospective eyebrows, given the New York Post’s report that Cuomo’s top aide DrRosa admitted that they “froze” out of fear of federal prosecutors.
Chris Cuomo and the adoring media
Gov. Cuomo’s propagandizing partner-in-crime was his younger brother and CNN anchor, Chris Cuomo. On an almost daily basis, the Governor appeared on CNN for his brother to prop him up as a hero of COVID-19. CNN delighted in their relationship, posting clips of the brothers “poking fun of each other after a discussion about the coronavirus efforts in New York,” after Gov. Cuomo described Chris as “the meatball of the family,” days after the Governor enacted his disastrous nursing home policy.
In May, after the virus had ravaged New York, Gov. Cuomo descended into giggles as Chris Cuomo delivered a comedy routine based on the size of the Governor’s nostrils.
“First of all, is it true that when you are having the test administered you inhaled, the doctor’s finger went all the way up your nose and got stuck and had to be released with a tool?” asked Chris.
Producing a large swab, the younger Cuomo continued. “Is it true that this was the swab that the nurse was actually using on you, and that at first it went into your nose and disappeared so that in scale this was the actual swab that was being used to fit up that double-barreled shotgun that you have mounted on the front of your pretty face?”
This is one of the most disgusting moments in the history of American media.
While Gov. Cuomo was botching his COVID-19 response, with thousands of seniors dying, he was giggling along with his dimwit of a brother on TV about his nostril size. pic.twitter.com/IUDsiLreJR
— Ian G Haworth (@ighaworth) February 13, 2021
International Emmy Awards and the celebrity class
In November, the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced that they would be honoring Gov. Cuomo. The academy’s president and CEO, Bruce Paisner, released a statement explaining the decision.
“The Governor’s 111 daily briefings worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure. People around the world tuned in to find out what was going on, and New York tough became a symbol of the determination to fight back.”
Cuomo was awarded the “Founders Award,” which recognizes an individual or group that “crosses cultural boundaries to touch our common humanity.”
During the ceremony, multiple celebrities appeared to celebrate Cuomo. Robert DeNiro, who previously stated that he’d “like to punch Trump in the face,” said “Congratulations, Andrew, on your much deserved Founders award.” Rosie Perez said, “Governor Andrew Cuomo. You are the man. What?!” Billy Crystal added “In the darkest days of the pandemic, your daily briefings ‘Live from New York’ gave us hope, gave us clarity, gave us the truth, and gave us something we were not getting from Washington: leadership.”
Joe Biden and the Democratic Party
The final pillar in the monument to Cuomo’s heroic status was provided by Joe Biden and the Democratic Party — the very same people now pivoting to distance themselves from the New York Governor as evidence of his failure mounts.
In August, Joe Biden thanked Gov. Cuomo for his “leadership and the example you’ve set for all Americans during this pandemic.”
.@AndrewCuomo, thank you for your leadership and the example you’ve set for all Americans during this pandemic. #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/Ir11a1vJQs
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 18, 2020
Andrew Cuomo was celebrated for his speech at the Democratic National Convention, using COVID as a metaphor for the issues facing America, and criticizing Trump for the divisions he “created.” He even called COVID-19 the “European virus.” His main focus, however, was to criticize the Federal government for its “failures.”
“The virus had been attacking us for months before they even knew it was here. We saw the failure of a government that tried to deny the virus, then tried to ignore it, and then tried to politicize it. The failed federal government that watched New York get ambushed by their negligence and then watch New York suffer but all through it learned absolutely nothing.”
In December, the Associated Press reported that Gov. Cuomo was even “one of several contenders under consideration by President-elect Joe Biden for the role of attorney general.”
How they worked together
The promotion of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as the hero of COVID-19 — used as an image of success with which to attack Donald Trump as an abject failure — was only made possible by a widespread and coordinated effort of falsehood and propaganda.
Governor Cuomo willingly stood as the “mirror” to Trump, happy to project the narrative demanded by the Left. Those in the media, and in particular his brother at CNN, ignored publicly-available data that stood as damning evidence of his failed policies, instead choosing to repeat his claims as fact. The celebrity class, culminating in an absurd Emmy award, provided their combined weight in support of this cause, and the Democratic Party happily profited from Cuomo’s manufactured popularity.
As Gov. Cuomo rapidly crashes to earth, it’s important to look beyond the unfortunately standard hyperbole of Democratic political adoration and understand the systemic problem beneath. When necessary, the Left have an entire apparatus they wield to construct a narrative. Governor Cuomo stands as a shining example of just how powerful this apparatus has become.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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