(ThyBlackMan.com) During the 19th century, the German “Brothers Grimm” together collected folklore, publishing it in the form of children’s fairy tales. During the 21st century, we have witnessed the “Brothers Grim” – Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, and Chris Cuomo, a CNN journalist hosting his own television show – together tell a fairy tale of their own, seeking to hide a grim reality.
Andrew has served as New York’s governor since 2011, indicating his intention to run for a fourth term in 2022. Chris joined CNN in 2013 and five years later began hosting “Cuomo Prime Time” – a liberal haven that sets reason and civility aside to chastise those failing to embrace his leftist views.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Cuomo has boasted about his state’s great success, under his leadership, in fighting it. This message has been fed through various sources. Obviously, his own office promoted it, as did his press briefings. Additionally, he actually took the time during the pandemic to write a book touting his leadership during such a crisis. Furthermore, he received an Emmy for his “masterful” press briefings.
But, with rumors of the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes being under-reported, CNN did something bizarre.
For years, the network followed a policy recognizing an understandable human frailty. Because of concerns over fair and honest reporting – as perceived in the eyes of the public – a ban existed against stories involving employees interviewing family members. But, during the height of a global pandemic claiming millions of victims – i.e., a time the public obviously wanted tough questions asked of and answered by their government officials – the network made an exception to the ban. Casting familial partisanship aside, CNN felt it would be informative to allow Chris to interview brother Andrew to share his “successful” approach.
On Chris’ show, as could be expected, the CNN journalist did nothing to slow down his brother’s self-praising bandwagon, tossing him numerous softball questions. From those questions, Chris appeared never to have even undertaken the kind of in-depth research demanded to verify the accuracy of the death count Andrew’s office reported or to challenge his brother’s coronavirus policies based on those who were critical of them. As it turns out, similar to the 19th century Brothers Grimm, Brothers Cuomo were perpetuating a fairy tale suggesting New York’s pandemic dragon had been severely wounded and that every decision Andrew made to do so was the right one. But this was done only to hide the grim truth about the state’s death statistics.
Earlier concerns about under-reporting nursing home deaths were boosted by the revelation by one of the governor’s top aides, Melissa DeRosa, made during a call with state legislators. She revealed that the real numbers had consciously been withheld due to worries the truth of New York’s coronavirus policies would “be used against us” by the federal government.
But the governor’s sins may go beyond just the reduced number of deaths reported. Dr. Joel Zinberg, a medical doctor and professor has said, “For the past year, Gov. Cuomo has been lauded by this adoring press as someone who was giving a forthright and accurate response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” However, a star-struck media turned a blind eye to the fact, “Cuomo and his associates were making a series of disastrous policy mistakes, not just this nursing home mistake. …” While Zinberg suggests the cover-up may be the worst of it, with the actual number of deaths totaling more than double what was reported, we will have to await the results of a pending federal investigation into the matter.
It is one thing for a government official to “cook the books” in order to hide financial misdealings – it is quite another, however, when it involves hiding issues of life-and-death importance. Cooking the books during a pandemic to purposely mislead the public on COVID-19 deaths in state nursing homes, creating the image a killer ailment is far less deadly, is despicable on two levels. First, New York residents receive a false sense of hope and security that appropriate government action is being taken; second, it causes other states to consider duplicating a falsified program, endangering its citizens as well.
Andrew has long been popular as a liberal poster child but, with the recent cover-up claims coming to light, his dark side is now being exposed. Democrat Assemblyman Ron Kim of New York, who has severely criticized him, even calling for his impeachment, was threatened by the governor directly to support him or be “destroyed.” Other stories of his verbal lashings and threats against those opposing or criticizing him are now coming to light.
CNN’s exception to their familial ban, allowing a Cuomo lovefest to occur, is inexcusable. Back in the days when men were men and journalists were journalists, we could count on a responsible media conducting a thorough investigation either to substantiate or challenge the accuracy of an administration’s success claims. But, as we have seen over the last several years, integrity no longer is a media concern. The media’s central thrust today is promoting a liberal agenda that ignores facts which, undoubtedly, led to the disinterest cited by Dr. Zinberg above.
Unknown at this time is whether Chris played a role in the cover-up or, more likely, he felt no obligation to pursue critics’ claims. Thus, Chris’ actions justified CNN’s ban, resulting in the network owning the fairy tale story about Andrew’s success.
If a federal investigation proves DeRosa’s claims right, two major sins will have been committed. First is Andrew’s touting of his false success for which he, deservedly, should be impeached and criminally prosecuted. Second is CNN’s unconscionable decision to lift a ban on familial interviews without ensuring the very justification for it – integrity – was addressed. Both sins are responsible for an untold number of deaths.
Written by Lt. Col. James Zumwalt
