Cuomo Vs. Trump: Which One Quit?

Cuomo Vs. Trump: Which One Quit?

By

Leonard Zwelling

Andrew Cuomo resigned finally after having been accused of creating a hostile work environment and harassing eleven women. As far as I know he did pay his taxes and extorted no one although he is known to be quite a bully, so who knows?

Donald Trump served out his entire four years in the White House having been accused of about the same things as Mr. Cuomo along with a whole lot more including not releasing his taxes, not being as successful financially as he let on, violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution, extorting the leader of a foreign country (Ukraine), and inciting a riot on Capitol Hill. He was impeached for the last two but not convicted. How did Cuomo give up the ghost so quickly and Trump remain largely untouched?

There is one clear difference in the manner in which Cuomo was dealt with and in the manner in which Trump was dealt with. In a word, parties.

The Democratic elite in New York State and across the country called for the resignation of Mr. Cuomo once the Attorney General’s report was released. The evidence was overwhelming. The victims clear. The fault obvious. There was no support for Mr. Cuomo among the rank and file of his party in New York or even among his constituents who wanted him gone. He had become a distraction and one with no support.

Contrast that with the way the Republicans dealt with Trump and are still dealing with him. In a word—fear.

Every Republican in Congress with a few exceptions (Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger) love Mr. Trump and are fearful of engendering his wrath despite the fact that his chosen candidates are not faring all that well in the few primaries that have been contested since The Donald’s defeat. Trump is still running the GOP and the GOP is running scared of Trump. Not only that, even if Trump disappeared tomorrow his voters are being courted by the likes of the despicable Ron DeSanctis and Greg Abbott who would just as soon have kids die in the classroom as make them wear masks.

To my conservative readers who always seem to rush to the defense of Mr. Trump on the basis of policy, what about his personal ethics? Is it truly of no consequence that Mr. Trump is an admitted womanizer and harasser and yet suffers no consequences at the voting booth among the Republican base? (His defeat was still close. My guess is that if not for covid, Trump would have won a second term.)

Mr. Cuomo is probably done in American politics. He should be. What he did was awful and that he still doesn’t own up to his bad behavior makes him an unworthy role model for any man.

Mr. Trump, on the other hand, has made it quite clear that he intends to run for President again and may well get the nomination despite the numerous pretenders to his throne. None of them has Trump’s reach, money or power. The only thing that could keep Trump off the ballot in 2024 is a health crisis (not impossible given his degree of fitness and age) or a conviction by a New York State court which is not impossible.

After New York is finished with Cuomo, perhaps they will take on Trump. What is it with these New York politicians? Remember Eliot Spitzer?

The main reason that Donald Trump gets a pass and Andrew Cuomo does not is that in the Democratic Party, behavior like Cuomo’s cannot be tolerated. In the GOP, they don’t seem to care.

In the Democratic Party how you treat women around you matters. In the GOP, how much you reduce taxes matters. Cuomo is gone and Trump is very much with us. Case closed.