Finding a New Villain

 

     Tucker Carlson’s name has been on the tip of many tongues these past few weeks. His recent comments on President Biden’s announcement of more accommodations for female soldiers in the military, including newly designed maternity flight suites, his defense of Piers Morgan’s criticisms of Meghan Markle, and his attacks on Taylor Lorenz have thrust him to the forefront of political debate. This past week host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter, took particular note of these recent controversies involving Tucker Carlson. On Stelter’s March 14^th show, he posited that Tucker is becoming the new Donald Trump of American politics. Stelter says “Tucker has taken Trump’s place as a right-wing leader, as an outrage generator, as a fire starter.” Stelter continued, likening Tucker’s growing prominence in right-wing media to the Trumps rise in the years before the 2016 election.

     This is quite a position for Stelter to take. His observation of Tucker’s growing popularity, among supporters and critics, is certainly not a revelation, but his comparing of Tucker to Trump is a quite a claim. It also begs the question of why Stelter would even want to speak that into existence. Considering Stelter has been one of the most prominent critics of Trump and his administration, why would he seem like he is almost seeking out a new Trump-like figure. One would think Stelter would be happy that Trump has finally been vanquished out of American politics and media. However, I argue the opposite; while Stelter and other Trump critics have spent the last five years lobbing criticisms and attacks against the former president, they actually miss his oversized presence in American politics. Trump provided the perfect target and constant generator of headline worthy news that pundits like Stelter constantly covered. Furthermore, the constant coverage of everything Trump was great for the most important part of television news media: ratings. Since Trump’s departure from the presidency, this has become very apparent as ratings fall across cable television news networks, especially for CNN. Perhaps Stelter, and other left of center pundits like him, yearn for a replacement of Donald Trump so the new controversies this figure generates can drive their ratings back up. Perhaps, they need a new villain.

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What Took so Long?

 

     As a corollary to my recent post, I wanted to address some questions that come to mind when considering the seeming collapse of a Governor Cuomo’s political career. Why do all these scandals seem to be coming to light now? What was holding them back during the second half of 2020? Perhaps the scandal involving the deliberate under reporting and obscuring of nursing home deaths in New York simply was simply taking time to develop and uncover. Extensive reports like the one issued back in January by New York Attorney General Laticia James take time to research and write. It is reasonable to conclude that the attorney general’s office simply wanted to make sure they had it right before they published such a damning report. However, what is perhaps more questionable is why the allegations of sexual harassment took so long to acquire media attention and attention from other political leaders in New York and around the country. Lindsey Boylan initially made allegations against Governor Cuomo back in December 2020. Her story did not get traction until recent weeks. Furthermore, the events that the other accusers allege took place also occurred in 2020. It is certainly fair to say that victims of sexual harassment and/or assault often have a very difficult time coming forward for a number of reasons, and this is certainly not to say that they should have conducted themselves differently; they are allowed to process their own trauma on their own timeline. However, it is interesting that the media is deciding now is the time to place focus on the sexual harassment scandal which, as mentioned earlier, was originally alleged by Ms. Boylan back in December.

     Brendan Nyhan, a professor at Dartmouth College, published an interesting study in The British Journal of Political Science which might shed some light on this. In the study, Nyhan looked at what makes a scandal against a U.S president more likely to develop and be covered by the media. Nyhan found support for the theories that scandals often develop when there more intense opposition from the opposing party and when there is there is less congestion in the news media. Nyhan suggested that these factors are also applicable to scandal development against other political leaders, especially state governors. Perhaps this is what is taking place with Governor Cuomo. Now that Donald Trump has left office and is no longer taking up a massive amount of media attention, the media has more time to focus on lesser issues and cover “smaller” stories. There was little room for anything outside of Trump for several years and especially in the final days of his presidency - January 6^th comes to mind. With that in the rear-view mirror, the media seems to be taking a more scrutinizing look at political leaders across the country, and unfortunately for Cuomo, he is one of them.

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Cuomo Under Fire as He Battles Two Unfolding Scandals

 

    

     Governor Andrew Cuomo is coming under intensifying scrutiny as two serious scandals involving him and his administration unfold. The first scandal, also covered in an earlier post, was blown into the open back in January when the New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report which detailed the significant under counting of nursing home deaths in the state of New York by the Cuomo administration by as much as 50 percent. That report sparked a flurry of calls for investigation and even Cuomo’s resignation. Further evidence has now emerged that not only was the administration under counting deaths, but top aids to the governor deliberately removed the number of people who died from COVID-19 in nursing homes before the state released its COVID-19 July 2020 report. Melissa DeRosa, one of the governor's top aids, has also now admitted to doing this during a private conference call with Democrat lawmakers. The top aid to Governor Cuomo stated that the administration was concerned that the real number of nursing homes deaths at the time, which was 9,250 and was well exceeding the second highest number of nursing home deaths in New Jersey by 3,100 people, would prompt a federal investigation from Trump’s Justice Department. The governor wanted to avoid this type of inquiry at all costs as he was trying to maintain his image as a strong and competent leader of his state during the COVID-19 crisis.

     On top of the nursing home deaths scandal, Governor Cuomo has also now been accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by two former state employees and another woman who the governor met at a wedding. Charlotte Bennett, former aide to the governor, accused him of inquiring about her sex and life in a one on one meeting in the governor's office last year. She state Cuomo asked her whether she had ever had romantic relationships with older men and whether she cared about large age differences in romantic relationships. Another former aid to the governor from 2015 to 2018, Lindsey Boylan, detailed several instances of inappropriate touching on her legs, back, and arms over several years by the governor. She also detailed an instance when the governor kissed her on the lips as she attempted to leave his office after a one on one meeting. A third woman, Anna Ruch, has also come out accusing the governor of sexual harassment at a 2020 wedding after he touched her low back without consent making her uncomfortable to the point she had to remove his hand with hers. She goes on to say that the governor seemed to take offense to her removal and stated that she was being “aggressive” after which he grabbed her cheeks with his hands and asked her to kiss him as he leaned closer. Ms. Ruch stated she has to pull away to avoid the governor’s advances. This interaction was captured on camera:

     Even with both of these scandals reaching fever pitch and bipartisan calls for Cuomo to resign his governorship, Cuomo seems to be trying to ride it out. He offered an official apology on Wednesday, March 3^rd , but has refused to resign. It will be interesting to see how and if is able to maintain his legitimacy as governor as these scandals continue to unfold and as New York Attorney General Letitia James opens an investigation into the claims of sexual harassment.

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