Andrew Cuomo And The Trick Is Not Minding

On Cuomo, Harassment, And 2022

"Once, at a gathering, he put his hand over a candle. And he kept it there. He kept it right in the flame until his flesh seared. A woman who was watching asked, 'What's the trick?' And he replied. 'The trick is not minding.'"

Andrew Cuomo has now been twice credibly accused of sexual harassment in recent days, a number I would wager rises again in the next period of time. That wager isn't based on any knowledge of anything happening with Cuomo specifically, but just a more general distrust for how powerful men act. It is generally the case that someone twice credibly accused of a pattern of behaviour doesn't stop without consequences. And, whatever you think of Cuomo, he has never faced any.

I hate Cuomo - I think he's an idiot and an asshole, a man with deeply unserious priorities who is trying to cosplay his father by being every Democrat's favourite Democrat that isn't currently running for President. He thinks - or tries, desperately, to be as revered as his father, but Mario Cuomo was a once in a generational figure. Andrew? He's just James Dolan, but with better PR, someone who took over the family business and ran it into the ground.

Cuomo's gotten away with his uselessness because the New York left prioritized being Joe Crowley in 2018 (which, I mean, good for them) instead of trying to replace Cuomo with a credible candidate. I'm really sorry to Cynthia Nixon, but a woman best known for being in a shit TV show years before isn't a credible candidate to govern the fourth biggest state in the nation. How there was nobody better to run against Cuomo is a fucking abdication of responsiblity from a whole lot of people who know that Cuomo is manifestly unfit to lead.

The nursing home scandal should have been a big deal, and just because Democratic voters didn't immediately and viscerally flip on him, per the scraps of approval data we get, doesn't mean that he isn't a shitty fucking Governor. Thinking Bill De Blasio is trash might sincerely be the only thing that Cuomo and I agree on, because in terms of his management of COVID, he thinks he did a great job. In reality, he was an incompetent, but everyone wanted to believe that better days were coming, and so in need of fun, that his interviews/back messages with his brother spread like wildfire, catnip for a nation bored and scrolling Facebook.

"We can beat Cuomo" has long been a fantasy of many, because his incompetence is clear. He survives scandal and contempt because he has internalized the lesson of politics in the age of high polarization - just let everyone shoot at you, and wait. How do you survive a subway system that seemingly 0% of people in New York are happy with? How do you shake off a scandal that suggests thousands of New Yorkers died because you fucked up, and then you lied by covering it up? And, how does he intend to survive two (if not more) sexual harassment allegations? By taking the pain, and continuing on. And he can take the pain easily, for one simple reason.

"The trick is not minding."

…

The quote that starts this piece is from the greatest movie of all time - All The President's Men. In an empty parking garage, Deep Throat relays that anecdote to describe a senior Nixon official, and uses the line that best describes Cuomo's approach to his politics. And, as much as it pains me to say it, the trick has worked because no one has made Cuomo sweat. Zephyr Teachout had decent ideas in 2014, but two barely known lawyers with little name ID or money does not represent a serious threat. Neither did Nixon in 2018, and for some reason the New York left has spent more time thinking about getting rid of Chuck Schumer than Andrew Cuomo next year, because that makes a lot of sense.

The GOP also have a version of this problem - it's why Nikki Haley keeps coming back to Trump after criticizing him. Everyone keeps waiting for the event that breaks the connection between the Trump base and Trump, it never happens, and then the politicians scramble back to their supportive position. It's only possible because Trump doesn't mind the pain. He just says whatever he says and does whatever he does and if you don't like it it's your problem, not his.

By not minding the pain, Cuomo and Trump manage to ride out scandals they find personally annoying, and that would have ended the campaigns and careers of men more apt to care. If Al Franken had cared enough, he could have stayed in the Senate for another three years, with the option of maybe even winning his seat again in 2020. That he resigned merely tells us that Franken didn't want to go through the pain of having his dirty laundry aired - a pain so small as to be non-existent compared to the pain he caused, to be clear. If you're willing to endure the pain, by not minding, then you can survive.

Anyone who thinks this will end Cuomo's career of his own volition is sadly mistaken, betraying a fundamental lack of understanding of his nature. The New York left cannot waste their time on fantasy notions of a Schumer primary, and has to work with a serious player in New York to get rid of Cuomo. Otherwise, he'll continue to let his hand burn, because the trick is not minding.