BREAKING: Andrew Cuomo Out!

Cuomo steps down after allegations of sexual harassment.

 

BLACK LIVES MATTER

PROTECT BLACK WOMEN! 

STOP ASIAN HATE!

PROTECT AAPI WOMEN!

FREE PALESTINE🇵🇸!

WEAR A DAMN MASK! SAVE A LIFE! TRUST SCIENCE AND MEDICAL EXPERTS! THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IS FUCKING REAL!

GET VACCINATED! IF THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE VACCINES ARE AVAILABLE, GET IT WHILE IT'S STILL FREE! THE MEDICAL EXPERTS SAY THE VACCINES DO WORK AND IT REDUCES THE RISK OF CORONAVIRUS INFECTION.

HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE NOW! VOTE THESE DUMBASS LAWMAKERS OUT OF OFFICE! STOP SUPPORTING ALL FORMS OF EXTREMISM!

GIVE PUERTO RICO, GUAM, AMERICAN SAMOA, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS! GRANT STATEHOOD TO THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. MAKE IT THE DOUGLASS COMMONWEALTH.

GOOGLE'S BLOGGER IS STRAIGHT UP TRASH! THE BLOGGER INTERFACE IS A TOTAL DISASTER AND IT'S RIDICULOUS!

WHITE PRIVILEGE IS REAL! IT'S "SUIT AND TIE" WHITE SUPREMACY ON TELEVISION, RADIO, THE INTERNET AND AMERICAN POLICY!

WE'RE NOT THE ESTABLISHMENT! WE ARE THE VOTERS WHO SUPPORT CANDIDATES THAT AREN'T THE NOISE! REJECT EXTREMISTS ON THE LEFT AND ESPECIALLY ON THE RIGHT!

YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!

EXPECT MORE!

In two weeks, New York governor Andrew Cuomo resigns. After 11 women claimed that the governor sexually harassed them, the embattled governor was facing a state lunch and federal sandwich. The state legislation was proceeding with impeaching him.

The state Democrats lost faith in him. The President of the United States, Joe Biden lost faith in him.

It appears that the pressure to get him out was effective. 

Democrats appear to hold their own accountable whereas Republicans allow their own to continue regardless of the allegations or incompetence. 

Cuomo's resignation was made live at 12:00pm. In the address, the governor formally apologized to the victims and said that he was "friendly" with both men and women. He believes the allegations are false and stated that he never would do something inappropriate to women. However, the pressure on him and the loss of support from his allies forced his hand. His resignation will take effect in 14 days, ending a decade-long run in the office he dedicated most of his adult life to keeping within his family — first as an adviser to his father, the late Gov. Mario Cuomo, before winning three terms himself.

With Cuomo stepping down, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul of Buffalo will make history as the first woman to serve as New York governor. She will be sworn in after Cuomo's resignation takes effect and is set to fill out the remainder of his term, which runs through 2022.

Cuomo, 63, had defiantly resisted calls for his resignation over the the past five months, a period in which multiple women, including current and former state employees, publicly accused him of inappropriate or harassing behavior in some form.

His administration has also faced extensive criticism for purposefully withholding the true COVID-19 death toll of nursing home residents for months, a decision that has attracted scrutiny from federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. 

The most damaging — and ultimately fatal — blow came Aug. 3, when state Attorney General Letitia James' office released a report that found Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, including nine state employees, violating various state and federal laws along the way.

Among them was an executive assistant who accused Cuomo of reaching under her blouse and groping her breast during a November 2020 encounter at the Executive Mansion, which Cuomo continues to deny despite the attorney general's report finding the woman's claims "credible."

On Tuesday, Cuomo announced his decision in an on-camera address following a lengthy presentation by his outside attorney, Rita Glavin, who sought to cast doubt on many of his accusers' claims and continued to deny Cuomo had ever touched them inappropriately.

Kathy Hochul will finish out the controversial Cuomo term.

In recent months, Cuomo had vehemently vowed to not resign, saying it was the people, not politicians, who elected him to his third term in 2018.

But Cuomo ultimately faced an untenable choice: either step down or face impeachment, which looked increasingly like a fait accompli as more and more state lawmakers called for his ouster.

"(It) is abundantly clear to me that the Governor has lost the confidence of the Assembly Democratic majority and that he can no longer remain in office," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, said in a statement Aug. 3 after refraining for months to call for Cuomo's ouster.

Since taking office in 2011, Cuomo used his unyielding aggression and distaste for bureaucracy to mold himself into the most consequential and powerful figure in New York government, flexing his muscle to push through major projects like the $4 billion Tappan Zee Bridge replacement and policy like the legalization of same-sex marriage.

He teetered between staying true to his moderate Democratic roots and moving more to the left as the party became more progressive, shepherding through a $15 minimum wage law in 2015 and paid-family leave a year later.

Most of his tenure was with Republicans in control of the Senate, though he was able to cajole enough of them to support portions of his agenda, including stronger gun-rights laws in 2013 and the same-sex marriage law two years earlier, which at the time made New York the largest state to do so.

In 2020, he rose to his highest level of national fame when his daily, PowerPoint-driven briefings gained an international audience amid the coronavirus pandemic, with many supporters coming to view Cuomo's hands-on approach as counterprogramming to a timid federal response led by Washed Up 45.

The televised briefings even won him an International Emmy award, and his popularity soared to a record 70% in polls. In October, he released a book, American Crisis, that recounted his response in the early days of the pandemic and landed on The New York Times Best Sellers List.

The book deal netted him an astounding $5 million from The Crown Publishing Group. But it has since become the subject of an investigation by James, who is examining whether he illegally used state resources to complete the project.

Cuomo's hard-charging style and penchant for threats helped contribute to his demise, alienating state lawmakers who may otherwise have been more willing to stave off potential impeachment proceedings had they viewed the governor as an ally instead of an enemy.

In the end, his downfall was as swift as his rise was long: Cuomo resigned just five months after former aide Lindsey Boylan published an essay detailing his alleged harassing behavior, including a 2018 meeting in which he kissed her on the lips without consent as she left.

Boylan was followed by a number of other women who publicly shared similar stories of a governor who made inappropriate remarks and unwanted advances.

Among them was Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old former aide who said Cuomo asked repeated, invasive questions about her romantic live during one-on-one meetings last May and June, as the state was responding to COVID.

In interviews with the attorney general's investigators, Bennett said the governor asked whether she practiced monogamy and if she had ever been with an older man. Cuomo remarked that he would be comfortable being with a woman in her 20s, she said.

Taken together, Bennett believed Cuomo was propositioning her for sex.

"Without explicitly saying it, he implied to me that I was old enough for him and he was lonely," Bennett, a Westchester County native and Hamilton College graduate, said in an interview with CBS Evening News.

The attorney general's report corroborated the victims' accounts with contemporaneous text messages, notes and interviews with those familiar with the encounters.

Cuomo continued to deny any misbehavior, saying he never touched anyone inappropriately while acknowledging he makes jokes and sometimes asks his staff about their personal lives.

Cuomo accuser speaks to CBS about the governor groping her.

Following the attorney general's report, Cuomo rejected the most serious of claims, saying he did not grope the executive assistant and suggesting some of his aides misinterpreted his remarks as flirtations.

During a direct-to-the-camera address on Aug. 3, he went so far as to play a slideshow of photos of him and other famous politicians kissing and hugging various people, suggesting his behavior was normal.

"I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances," Cuomo said. "I am 63 years old. I have lived my entire adult life in public view. That is just not who I am and that's not who I have ever been."

Kathy Hochul, 62, will become New York's 57th governor, breaking a 244-year streak of males holding the state's highest office.

Republicans see blood in the water and are hoping to capitalize off Cuomo's resignation. Trust me, Cuomo would have won a fourth term despite the controversy.

But Cuomo caved to pressure. He goes down like Eliot Spitzer. The former New York governor was forced out after he admitted to paying for prostitutes during his time as attorney general and later governor.

Now the race to fill the seat will not only include Hochul, but three Karens who are considered white supremacists. 

Karen Paladino, Karen Giuliani, Karen Zeldin and possibly Washed Up 45 are in the running to become the next governor of New York. Who knows?