American Crisis
Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Andrew Cuomo


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

What a difference a year makes. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's diary/memoir, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, covers a time when polls showed he was the second most trusted man on the pandemic, second only to epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci. Much of it was due to his daily briefings from March to June of 2020, where he was a voice of reason and stability. The contrast with President Trump, who was predicting the "China virus" would "disappear" and promoting quack remedies, was striking. People who were hunkered down in their homes during the early months of the crisis tuned in to Cuomo. There was talk of him being Joe Biden's running mate or even running for president himself--talk that Cuomo emphatically put down.

A little more than a year later, Cuomo is on the verge of being impeached over charges of sexual harassment, and there's an investigation as to whether he misused state resources in the writing and release of the book. For those looking for warning signs that they might have missed, Cuomo admits early on to being "aggressive" and having a "controlling personality." [p.13] Divorced and having suffered a bruising defeat in his first run for governor, achieving the office his father Mario once held freed him to be himself. This makes his fall more the stuff of tragedy than incompetence or bad behavior.

Quite apart from that, there's plenty here for the student of politics. Cuomo's accounts of dealing with Trump and his administration are devastating, such as Trump wanting "gratitude" from the country's governors but not being much interested in taking responsibility. When Trump's "remedy" of hydroxychloroquine was being tested in New York hospitals, Cuomo writes that Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows strongly implied that federal funding for the hospitals would be held up unless the tests were completed.

Cuomo also takes shots at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who said that New Yorkers were bringing COVID to his state. Later, in a discussion on the number of deaths in nursing homes. Cuomo defends his actions, denying that anyone was "forced" to take COVID patients, while accusing DeSantis of doing just that. (Cuomo does not address the claim that New York undercounted the number of COVID-related nursing home deaths.)

But perhaps the most surprising passage--revealing just how sharp he was as a political observer--is one where he offers to bet his daughters that Trump would lose the 2020 election, claim it was fraud related to mail-in ballots, would think the Supreme Court will back him because of his appointees, and yet lose the legal battle as well. This was written well before the election (the book was published the month before) and the only thing he got wrong was that the case would be brought by Trump's sycophantic Attorney-General William Barr. In fact, it would prove to be a bridge too far for Barr who resigned the month after the election.

The sad truth is that as clearly as Cuomo was able to forecast the election results and its aftermath, he was blind as to what his own future had in store.

-- Daniel M. Kimmel, OnTheIssues editor, Aug. 9, 2021

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Civil Rights     Donald Trump: OpEd: incapable of seeing Floyd murder as un-American.

Crime     Andrew Cuomo: Supports higher minimum wage for prison industry workers.

Government Reform     Andrew Cuomo: COVID briefings: information, transparency, confidence.

Health Care     Andrew Cuomo: COVID: First governor to issue a mask mandate.     Andrew Cuomo: NY never "demanded" nursing homes take COVID patients.     Donald Trump: OpEd: Trump believed COVID was just public relations matter.     Mark Meadows: Provide hydroxychloroquine drug test or no hospital funding.     Ron DeSantis: New Yorkers were bringing COVID to Florida.     Ron DeSantis: OpEd: FL did nothing to mitigate COVID in nursing homes.

Principles & Values     Andrew Cuomo: Mafia stigma is painful anti-Italian American stereotype.     Andrew Cuomo: Instinct is to be aggressive; I am a controlling personality.     Andrew Cuomo: Predicted Trump would lose, charge fraud, lose in court.     Andrew Cuomo: Divorced; refused to get annulment delegitimizing children.     Bill Clinton: Always take the time to honor and respect the people.

Tax Reform     Andrew Cuomo: Limiting state tax deductibility hurts Democratic states.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Andrew Cuomo New York Democratic Governor Bill Clinton Democrat Donald Trump Republican Presidential incumbent Mark Meadows Republican U.S. Rep North Carolina-11 Ron DeSantis Florida Republican candidate for governor