Governor Cuomo

The other Governor Cuomo

The other Governor Cuomo emerged during the past three months during the COVID19 pandemic. In a recent article, the NY Daily News profiled the Governor. His daily Coronavirus briefings unveiled a seldom-seen side of Mr. Cuomo, and his approval ratings have soared.

From the moment the Coronavirus was first mentioned to the American public, politicians around the country have handled it differently. President Trump assembled a ‘task force’ led by Vice President Pence, and began daily briefings.

That seemed like a good idea, at first. But all too quickly President Trump couldn’t resist using the spotlight to kick-start his re-election campaign instead of letting the experts speak, and sticking to the facts. he touted imaginary accomplishments and gave the public continued false and/or misleading information. Some of it was dangerous, such as playing down the threat. Other information was just false and served no apparent reason to be said except to inflate his ego.

For example, he continuously insists that he was the first to impose China flight restrictions to pushback on critics that attacked him for waiting months to take the virus seriously.  This simply is not true.  33 nations imposed China flight restrictions before or on the same day as the United States.

Fact-checkers were kept busy as the president spat out lie after lie, day after day. For example, when he told the world how ‘he’ created the greatest economy in the world, the U.S. did have a strong economy it wasn’t a lie. It was the entire truth either, unemployment was at its lowest rate. But the China trade war was still raging, with the trade balance worsening, not improving. The national debt had skyrocketed, and GDP growth had only increased from 1.9% Jan 2017 to 2.1%. Nonetheless, had he stopped with a broad sweeping comment, he could have gotten away with. Yet he didn’t stop and went on to insist that because of him, the U.S. had the strongest currency in the world. This is categorically false. In fact, the U.S. is 10th.

The other Governor Cuomo

There were several governors that gained national attention during this national health crisis as well. None more so than Governor Cuomo of New York.  This past Friday the Governor gave his last briefing, and as noted in the NY Daily News, he noted:

“Today, we have done a full 180, from worst to first,” he said, opting to deliver his 111th straight address from the formal confines of his office. “We are controlling the virus better than any state in the country and any nation on the globe.”

Political psychologist Dr. Bart Rossi, Ph.D. was interviewed by the NY Daily News for this article and in it assesses why Governor Cuomo’s approval ratings have soared in recent months.

Other political observers noted that Cuomo, known as a meticulously detailed manger, who some consider being a control freak, was in a way actually made for this moment.

You can read the full article HERE

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