As, a former journalist and media critic, I’ll bust a gut if I don’t write about the fascinating and bloodless but significant cultural television phenomenon emerging from the coronavirus tragedy.
This post is not about whether President Trump is a good President or a bad one, it’s about the way two reality shows so different from one another are both airing every day and revealing so much about our politics, culture and maybe our future.
It’s not just a question of two different press conferences, it’s really about two different ways of looking at the world.
These two regular daily television conferences about the coronavirus – one starring the President, the other Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York – could help determine who is President in the Fall, and how we as a nation respond to this staggering crisis and the next ones to come.
Part of our President’s genius is that he sees himself – once and forever – as the star of his own long-running, TV centered reality show.
The White House lawn and press room is his daily stage and this idea of being a Tweeting TV Reality Show President blew away a score of gifted competitors. They all saw the Presidency quite differently.
Trump’s vision of being President has upended conventional politics, fusing them with the lessons of mass-market television. He turned out to be the wisest of them all. And many people love him very much.
Donald Trump is the master of the genre.
If you take a couple of hours to watch the best reality TV shows from Dr. Phil to The Real World to Million Dollar Listing and the Bachelor, even Trump’s own Apprentice, you will see his vision played out on the White House lawn or press room every day.
He’s turned the entire Washington political spectrum into actors and wannabees on his own show, the Apprentice, all over again.
Trump is always the story on his show, always on stage from his bluster to his hair to his fancy suits and ungracious responses. He can say or do whatever he wants, his outrageousness and offensiveness is the point, not a side effect.
I have no idea what he’s really like, but his TV persona is shocking and unwavering. His followers wanted a Disrupter, and that’s is what they got. He didn’t run to govern, he ran to destroy our conventional ideas about governing.
The President may or may not understand how a virus spreads, but he understands his television. He knows that on every successful reality show, arrogance, cruelty, boorishness, fighting, over-the-top polarizing, and paranoia, even bigotry as a political philosophy, are considered admirable, not offensive.
In this world, lying and exaggerating, scapegoating and bragging are not bad things, but good things.
You win by flaunting and taunting the conventions of the “elites” and the unknown.
As a former TV producer, I know good TV when I see it, and Trump is perhaps the best I have ever seen at keeping himself in front of the camera, no matter what he says or does while performing.
It is a fascinating fusion of popular culture and politics.
President Trump is a master of the form, he is the star of every room he’s ever in, and everyone must bow before him. In TV, I learned early that fiction soon becomes reality, and many people no longer care about the difference.
Suddenly a new challenge for the President, a spawn of the coronavirus hosted by a different personality, and this show is also red-hot, riveting, watched across the nation and suddenly very influential.
It is transformative, also shaping our society and our understanding of the coronavirus, and of ourselves.
In an indirect but obvious way, it is also challenging the ethos and popularity of President Trump, and his prospects for re-election.
Without ever hardly mentioning him, this new broadcast is creating a devastating portrait of a leader struggling painfully to lead a diverse nation – half of whom he has deliberately and contemptuously alienated – at a critical time.
A lethal Pandemic isn’t really the stuff of good reality TV. It’s too heavy, too real and too frightening. So far, President Trump doesn’t seem to have found another speed.
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York seems to understand something that no other politician or political candidate up against President Trump has yet grasped. You can’t fight a Reality TV Presidency with an argument, you have to fight it with another reality show, a newer and better one.
And you have to fight it by showing a better way, not just promising it or arguing about it.
In essence, you undercut Trump by being the very opposite of him on television every single day when so many people are paying attention. You do not do this by attacking him or quarreling with him. It’s entertainment, stupid, fighting and offending is his specialty, it is most people’s weakness. You try to show what government, at its best, can do.
Governor Cuomo seems to have figured this out. If he’s loud you’re soft, if he is vicious, you are gentle, if he is lying or stretching the truth, you are being painfully honest, if he can’t really show empathy, you are empathizing all the time, even in tears at times.
Cuomo, a blood enemy of most Republican politicians, is not your usual progressive or wooly headed prophet of the left. He is notorious as a tough, take-no-prisoners governor. He has ticked off liberals and conservatives alike.
He talks to the President most days during the crisis, he praises Trump on every single broadcast. His dedication to helping the people in his stricken city seems to have taken precedence over anything else.
Accurately or not, no one in his growing audience ever gets the impression that he is thinking of himself or his future.
Governor Cuomo speaks directly, and in a working-class, every man, Queens accent. Trump is a ruthless billionaire, his father was a ruthless real estate developer and a cold and demanding parent.
Cuomo’s father was also a tough politician who said more than once that campaigning was poetry, governing was prose. His son was his campaign manager.
Mario Cuomo had a Teamster style of leadership and the heart of a lion. He often sounded like a Jesuit poet.
His son Andrew is showing those qualities in every press conference, and he is hitting most of them out of the park. By contrast, Trump seems to struggle with a format constrained by gravity and science.
Suddenly, facts really matter. Facts are not his thing.
His press conferences are long, confusing and awkward.
Andrew Cuomo never takes the bait. How can you be attacked or belittled by Trump’s many supporters when you never attack or criticize their leader? For the first time, the President seems tongue-tied. Can he win on governing? Not this time, it seems, not so far.
Cuomo has also done some fusion – politics, disaster, family, and television. Because of the virus and the havoc it’s wreaking in New York City and much of the rest of the country, he suddenly has a vast audience.
Until now, nobody could compete with President Trump when it came to television and media attention.
Cuomo is besting him, breaking through the Trump-wall. He is perhaps Trump’s worst nightmare, a potential opponent who understands government, sports, politics, and television. Someone who can take out his human side, polish it like precious silver, and show it off.
He has been waiting for this moment all of his political life. He is telling us – showing us – how the government is supposed to work when there is this much trouble.
President Trump brags about his ratings in one breath, offers deadly statistics in the next. Cuomo is self-effacing, almost shy. He seems to bleed for every sick and dying person.
In a reality television show, producers know that the more outrageous, over-the-top, divisive, or over-the-top the message, the more people will love it and come back for more.
Reality TV is a circus, not a policy. President Trump loves drama, he brags, lies, attacks enemies and reporters at will, he always gets the headlines; he always makes the news.
Cuomo understands that the media is just like the President – they also thrive on drama even as they bemoan it – they are not really his enemy but his very best friends. Each makes the other possible – and rich.
Cuomo also uses them in that way. But his press conferences are never an ugly slugfest. The dance is much quieter.
Cuomo’s daily press briefing about the virus, now broadcast live all over America and on several cable channels live is, in every way, the child of the Trump idea, yet at the same time the very opposite of it.
I don’t kid myself about the governor. Cuomo, like his father and his brother, is a political animal, with all of the instincts of a wolf hiding behind the garb of a noble priest.
He knows what he is doing.
Cuomo has figured out how to make Trump look bad and very different from him.
He does it by never criticizing the President directly, but undermining him constantly – all he has to do is be himself. Trump has to put on his Reality TV mask every time.
I picture Jeb Bush as pulling his hair out.
Whatever his motives and intentions – I can’t know – Cuomo is now the anti-Trump, the dream Democratic candidate.
It never pays to underestimate Donald Trump, but the smart political people are all whispering right now that Cuomo would eat Trump alive in a debate or an election. I imagine that the idea will gain some steam this Spring.
In his press conferences, Cuomo has created his own FDR-style Fireside Chat, calming a nervous and grateful country with compassion and understanding, stories from his personal life, and poetic exhortations to be calm and vigilant and patient.
I’m not sure what the message from Trump is for me, other than that he is doing a terrific job. That doesn’t make me feel better about being closeted in my house for the next few weeks. If there is another message, I am not getting it.
Cuomo surprises me, he is out of the box: He even rounded up nearly 7,000 therapists to counsel people who are freaking out in New York.
And for free.
Cuomo, like his father, understands from the ancient Greeks that the most beloved heroes show their vulnerability and their flaws. He is not afraid to choke up and cry.
Trump insists at every opportunity that he is the smartest person in every room, Cuomo is quick to say he knows little, he listens to the experts and deals in facts. Trump says he takes no responsibility for the way the coronavirus was handled by the federal government.
Cuomo takes full responsibility for telling people to shelter in place.
If you have to blame anyone, he says, blame me. I’m the guy at the top. His strength is contagious. So is his calm.
Rather than try to win over Trump’s devoted followers, Cuomo sidesteps their anger and sense of persecution. He is gathering his own tribe instead. The troll army has no role to play. Trump has no answer for that, the pundits say he watches every minute of Cuomo’s show every day and has even tried to copy his style.
My guess is that Trump will have to go after Cuomo at some point, it’s his nature.
He’ll give Cuomo a Middle School name and try to bait him into a mistake (remember Elizabeth Warren?) That could be the political battle of the century, Godzilla versus the Tyrannosaurus.
Cuomo, a purveyor of high-quality schmaltz, is a politician known for his arrogance and ruthlessness, but this new and warmer leadership style is a huge hit, all over the country.
The governor has also broadened the cast of his show, as good reality shows do.
There is his little brother Chris, a CNN anchor, who loves to banter and defer to his big brother; there are his adult daughters, who have come to live in the Governor’s Mansion to join in the corona battle alongside their pop.
There is even a now-famous mother, Matilda, the storied Italian mom going over to Chris’s house to show him how to make her fabulous pasta sauce. Loving and praising – and protecting – your mother on national TV is a very smart thing to do.
Almost daily, Andrew Cuomo evokes the ghost of his famous father. President Trump seems to do the same thing but in a different way.
The Cuomos won the Reality TV Sweepstakes this week when Brother Chris contracted the coronavirus himself and suffered greatly from, then began to heal, on national television, his “best friend” big brother calling constantly from the Governor’s Mansion in Albany to check in and make sure he’s all right.
Chris, who had a very long and rough night, told the nation that he dreamed his powerful brother was a ballerina dancing in his dream.
The media scarfed it up.
When they do talk, which is often on their respective broadcasts, the brothers kid each other with warmth and love, they paw sweetly at one another like two lion kittens. Brothers for our time.
The vast TV audience looking in on this drama swooned and teared up.
Even Reality shows don’t get more real than that. I took a brief look at President Trump in his dark suit with Brother Pence glowering standing loyally at his side later in the day, he got clobbered today.
And I thought, wow, Cuomo is a master himself. This new show could beat the competition silly.
It makes for wonderful TV, the two brothers who clearly care for one another and have been bantering with each other for years. Keep it rolling, keep it going, I could hear myself shouting in the CBS control room.
There were tears all over the country when Governor Cuomo nearly broke down on the air talking about his brother’s diagnosis.
The governor said he was worried about his little brother, who he loves dearly. His best friend.
Chris in return urged the governor to be careful traveling around the state, he is too important to lose.
I’m not trying to be cynical or skeptical here, but reporters are reporters, writers are writers, artists are artists, and politicians are politicians. I see what I see.
As a former TV producer, I would have cut off an arm for content like this.
No wonder President Trump seems rattled, reading off of his prepared text in a monotone while Cuomo orates spontaneously, quoting Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln.
Part of Trump’s great success is that he has convinced the very people who need a leader the most that he is their salvation.
And many people now think that Governor Cuomo is their salvation. This crisis will go on for a long time, everyone involved shall be revealed.
Call your mom, Cuomo said during a press conference last week, but don’t let her in your house now, he cautioned in one press conference. Love your mother from a distance. Stay home and cook your family a nice Sunday dinner, he suggested in another.
Cuomo projects the idea that he will do anything, anything – even pull the right levers in government – to go to bat for his citizens, especially the embattled elderly right now. He always talks about the little guy at the bottom of the pile and how to protect them.
We can’t let anybody die, he says, we can’t write anybody off. His eloquent plea to save every life, including the sick and the elderly, shined as one of the high points in the history of great leadership.
The wolves were already beginning to call for the blood of the vulnerable, save the economy first. Most of these people are going to die anyway.
I won’t give up on anybody, Cuomo promised and talked like he meant it. The President said more people died from the flu than the coronavirus that day. It wasn’t true.
As an older person at risk, I might be biased, but apart from that, it was a beautiful message Cuomo gave, leadership at its very best.
There is a lot at stake in these culture wars, as the Corona Reality TV Battle suggests.
What do we want a President to be? What do we want our country to be? What do we want our government to be? We will all have some answers in a few weeks.
I think President Trump ought to be grateful that Andrew Cuomo decided not to run for President this year.
(I was once a political writer also, and I can’t help notice that in every single broadcast, Cuomo says – often repeats – the statement that what is happening in New York City will soon be happening elsewhere, broadening his audience and giving anyone anywhere a good reason to see his broadcasts.
Just sayin’. He insists the crisis in New York is not local, but will soon be heading elsewhere. If anyone helps New York, he says, he will personally return the favor.)
This virus will re-shape our political system in one way or the other, and whatever the outcome, our popular culture may decide those important questions about our country.
But I wonder a bit when Cuomo says he isn’t interested in running. Politics is clearly in his blood. And I found out that the Democratic National Convention can nominate anyone they wish to nominate.
I really can’t tell if this is just another part of the show.
(Note, this is not a left-right political discussion, nor a hate or love President Trump discussion. It’s about the fascinating popular culture that America has created, and that has obsessed and shaped the politics of our country for years. I refuse to crap it up with hoary left-right propaganda.
Here, we think for ourselves. This blog is a search for truth, agree or disagree, but don’t bring mindless propaganda here. I won’t post it.)
News and Junk Food
I am 78 years old and for many reasons I’m worried about the future of my family, town, and country. These are my ideas and thoughts on how we got here.
We are a junk food culture. Though we know that is not the way our bodies should be fed we continue to consume the empty calories of those crispy, crunchy, savory, spicy, sweet, or salty products that give us just a moment of “bliss”. Then we are left hungering for a more solid substantial meal.
A very successful advertising campaign for Lays® potato chips taunted us with the confession, “Bet you can’t eat just one.” While they put the serving size on the bag for us, they don’t tell us how much effort goes into making a product that will entice consumers to keep buying that product, the effort to create brand loyalty. So do we really think they want us to stop at the recommended 1 ounce? They know that many consumers may eat the whole bag and still be left unsatisfied.
The potato chip industry will say that they give us the truth so it is not their fault if someone eats more than recommended serving. They will say that our health is not the responsibility of the potato chip industry.
There is an appetite in the United States for escapism and sensationalism in our entertainment. That should not be the news.
While we suffer a hunger for substantial news we still continue to devour the crisis reports flavored with the political seasoning of competing sources. The sources that win our loyalty give us just the right amount of our favorite seasonings to keep us going to the bag for that one more taste. We ignore sources that are not seasoned to our preferences. Just like that bag of chips, the 24-hour news stations are there to feed our craving.
How do we get the substantial news that is unadulterated with the political seasonings that are so pervasive today? Unbiased delivery of the news is inherently difficult and there are few if any outlets that can consistently achieve that goal.
Thank you for reading my rant,
Mary Lee
Thank you Mary
Watch the BBC.
I do, and I have a link to the BBC site that I use every day: their world news and other coverage helps to keep me mindful, in this crisis, that there’s a whole world out there besides the currently insane USA. We are NOT the world; thank goodness. A good deal of that world is a great deal more mature and intelligent than the US has become in recent decades. It helps me, as an old Liberal, to keep that in mind, and post items about that world on my FB page for readers interested in perspective. This article about the Cuomo Bros is going up there right now, and thanks for it.
Totally agree, BBC. I am so tired of all the news media having their own agendas. Bring back people like Walter Cronkite. He reported the news so we were informed and not swayed by his views.
Cronkite did what you said for years on TV, but remember he was a reporter in London during the blitz, did his best to follow the troops…His broadcasts were telling the story…UNTIL even he could no longer tell the lies about Vietnam.
Ron, correspondents don’t go anywhere any longer, they just sit in studios and yell at people..
I enjoyed the article and the insightful comments that followed.
That is rare these days
Mary, a fine perspective you have, thanks.
I’m 66 and couldn’t agree more. Well said Mary!
Thank you Mary! What a great analogy that everyone can relate to and understand. And I couldn’t agree more. As hard as I try to find unbiased news sources it seems to get harder and harder to get just the facts without the “seasonings”. I don’t like politics for politics sake, but it seems you can’t have a conversation today that doesn’t eventually lead to it.
Thank you for these insights. Your comparisons give me hope.
Interesting Mary the way you put your thoughts into context by using a potato chip consumption to describe the minds of most US citizens. Sincerely loved it!!!!!
Awesome allegory…to the point…and beautifully articulated…of the cultural and ideological abyss much of the country has falling into! Thanks!
Your comment is every bit as good as the article. Thank you!
Rant or not, I appreciated it very much. Thank you from the Netherlands. Stay safe!
Well said and a great question.
I’m hoping YOU, wise person, gets the ventilator if needed.. and not the unseasoned, reckless adult that is still socializing with disregard, should a Doctor be forced to choose.
A breath of fresh air; just finished reading Erik Larsen’s The Splendid & The Vile about Churchill and his first year as PM in 1940. Sound Leadership, so vital.
Thank you,
Have you tried The Nation magazine?
PBS
“We ignore sources that are not seasoned to our preferences” Thank-you Mary!!
While I agree with those who say that other Governors are doing a great job and are deserving of public admiration, I don’t see that as the point of this article. The focus was on the two very different styles and the contrast between them. Governor Cuomo is using the spotlight he was given by this crisis wisely and is doing a public service.
I agree wholeheartedly, Jeff!
I agree, Jeff Greco, except that people with minds and hearts are looking for an alternative to Trump, and so far, for me anyway, neither Bernie or Biden fit the bill. We so desperately need an alternative whose message and style work, and it seems this article pinpoints the idea that butting heads with trump does not work, but a new, gentle, honest style just might. This is important. If it takes tv drama to do it, then let’s go with it. And perhaps, without even pushing it, it will take hold among Americans and give us a leader who does care, and who actually can win over more and more people.
As others have already stated, interesting insight into the media circus we witness daily. A great read worthy of being shared. But my big question Jon, how are the dogs?
If it takes a Cuomo and a media hub like New York to get the truth out, then so be it. Political strategy, reality TV, whatever silly context our sad US excuse for “popular culture” and “news” has become the vehicle, let it be what we need to get us to the other side of this crisis. I am grateful to be in a place like Minnesota where Governor Tim Walz does not garner the kind of national capital or spotlight as the multigenerational Cuomo New York dynasty, but where he stepped into his first-term boots and took charge early on. Governor Walz helped negotiate a settlement between one of the state’s largest labor unions and the St. Paul School District three days before shutting down schools in our state on March 15. He has since followed the best, most current public health and medical advice as he has set new restrictions and called upon the people of Minnesota to dig deep and help one another. He re-opened MNSure, so that people without health insurance can get it. We are one of the lucky 11 states and DC, outside of Trump’s cruel decision not to re-open enrollment to the other 39. Governor Walz has vowed to deliver the truth to the people of Minnesota, daily, through a website, and through frequent press conferences from home, as he self-quarantines after one in his security detail tested positive. Our Lieutenant Governor lost her brother to COVID-19. Our Senator (and former presidential candidate) Amy Klobuchar nearly lost her husband to COVID-19. No one is untouchable. Governor Walz is more typical of a MN politician, getting the job done with a little less flash than his coastal counterparts who have “bigger stakes” (more people, Hollywood, Wall Street, etc…) and national media outlets more at their disposal. But he knows we matter as much. In a country where no one (except maybe Dr. Fauci) is piloting the ship, let the leaders emerge how they will, with whatever sense of humanity and compassion can be patched together among politicians who all must sell something of themselves to step into their respective roles. If Cuomo is the anti-Trump (a leader in the storm where our national “leader” is literally and figuratively “out to lunch”), and he can get as much national attention as the one driving us to ruin, then I am with Cuomo. While there are many good things happening in other states in the face of this pandemic, I can’t disagree with this analyis, Cuomo “wins” with the loudest and most consistent (daily) counter narrative to the damaging ill will emitting from our nation’s capitol. I say, keep it coming!
I do not think it is up to tRump to reopen the enrollment in states or to even offer Medicaid; that is up to each state’s government. Many states rejected expanding Medicaid. I would assume those states make up the majority of the 39 that did not re-open enrollment. Because health coverage is considered an intrastate commercial activity, there will not be any Federal rules, only guidance. Perhaps re-casting it as interstate commerce, only then we can truly have the national oversight needed to provide for the mental and physical health of the citizens of the entire US of A. Fingers crossed that the issues brought forth by this pandemic that doesn’t recognize borders, e.g. PPE should be sent from states with abundance to states with need and on and on, will indeed make it obvious that is the right direction for us (US).
No. That is not how this works. That is not how any of this is supposed to work!!
We did not ask Governors to create their own brigades and send them off to Europe to fight WWII or to response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This is a National Catastrophe. We need a national response!! Intelligent, timely, coordinated, effective and resourceful!! A national response from a Federal government that give a sh*t about its citizens!! Wyoming’s Governor doesn’t represent Florida’s needs or constituents — the President does (or rather, is supposed to!!)
It very much is up to the federal government to open the FEDERAL exchange, which serves people who live under state governments that chose not to open their own health insurance exchange.
Our NV Governor is quite the same as yours – he is working very hard to keep us safe (and has been for weeks). Telling the TRUTH and shutting things down to protect “the people of NV.” We are grateful to you Gov. Sisolak!
Susan,
I appreciate your perspective and the background information on your Gov. Walz. I live in the Michigan Hot Zone and am very pleased with “That Woman from Michigan”‘s daily fact based responses to COVID-19. I have family that live in Minnesota so it’s really helpful to hear how your Gov. Walz is handling the situation there. I’m really impressed that he reopened MNSure, for people w/out health insurance. For the most part, we are learning about how the nation’s Governors are handling things as well as learning who they are and where our leadership really resides. I agree with the author Jon Katz, as I also have children who live in NYC. I am glued to Gov. Cuomo’s daily briefings. The White House briefings are a joke that need constant fact checking as so many lies are spewed from the President’s mouth. It’s intolerable how the President questions the ‘need’ for equipment from the different governors and expects them to ‘kiss his ring’ for assistance as he sits on stockpiles of ventilators etc.. Our tax dollars paid for that equipment. He ransacked the pandemic team out of spite for Obama. We are in a very sad state in this country. So if these two battle it out as “reality tv” so be it. I’d have much more faith in Gov. Cuomo any day than the current President.
Susan,
Well said. You are fortunate to have an effective governor, as am I.
What is you governor doing about your Somalian refugee threat to public safety??
What exactly does this have to do with the virus?
Appreciate your professional perspective and your insightful remarks. I donʻt know whether Gov. Cuomoʻs approach is a conscious foil to our current prevaricator in chief, but it is having an impact. I think Chris also helps his brotherʻs visibility.
Your points are clearly stated and thoughtfully expressed. In these days of propaganda, it is refreshing to read a balanced analysis. Mahalo nui loa.
I can only refer back to Joseph Campbell and the Hero of a Thousand Faces, or the Power of Myth. Trump and Cuomo seem to me the final ending on the myth of Pegasus and Bellerophontes,
Pegasus’ warrior rider (Trump). Because of Bellerophontes’ (Trump’s) hubris, on the way to Mt. Olympus believing he would win praise, Zeus sends fly to bite the back of Pegasus, and Bellerophontes is bucked off and falls to earth to become crippled, homeless and a lonely bigger, basically a useless nobody. Pegasus wins praise from Zeus and is made a constellation, to be a cluster of stars to light our way.
One can only dream such wonderous things.
Very good analogy!
* a lonely BEGGAR, ….
and when Pegasus becomes a constellation, he is no longer physically able to help — other than being told to stay on the sidelines and don’t move. Let things happen as they must….
Fantastic reference and interpretation, nonetheless. And I appreciated the focus on “basically a useless nobody.” Thanks for sharing. (for what it’s worth, I’m a Trump supporter but not a blindfolded minion.)
Cheers!
This is the column I’ve been waiting for! Every television/media writer in the country should be writing similar stories linking the current American condition to a brilliantly produced reality TV show, one in which many of us are unwilling contestants.
I love Joe Biden, but I wonder if Cuomo isn’t a better choice. Let’s think about this, fellow Democrats!!!!!
Yes!
I don’t even have to think, it’s so obvious!
Agree!
Great analysis The best I have seen since Trump was elected.
I could not agree more, Edna. This analysis gives us all a little breathing room.
Great
I have to accept that the nation should unite to fight this crisis. By passing the 2 T economic package they have shown they can.
By repeatedly and publicly insulting and alienating a large part of the population, and indeed the world, this caricature of a leader has painted himself, and the nation itself, into a corner.
Let him step down today and see how the nation comes together tomorrow. He is the main hurdle that prevents a unified action against the Corona virus.
I know this egomaniac will never let go, but he is the problem that prevents an immediate solution.
Thank you for your insight. I appreciate the analysis based on your experience with the medium used to communicate this real time “drama”.
Your analysis does not hide your personal love for the Cuomos. They will not, however, beat Trump. The Democrats will loose in 2020. Write and analyze to your heart’s cpontent, but Trump will be reelected in a land slide. The Dems have no viable vandidate and no viable platform. It is that simeple. And if you look around the country, every big city that is run by the Dems is a mess. That takes no extensive and verbal analysis to see and know. The Dems will also loose many African American voters. They have finally caught on that the Plantation Overseers — the Democratic Party–are really not their friend. Big talk–little performance oin the past. Trump will win in 2020. A Republican and Trump supporter. What say you? Richard E. Hart
I don’t know any Cuomos, Richard, and try not to label people because you disagree with them..you may actually learn something..
Long, but analytically right on target
Well said, Jon Katz. Richard hart, *that* is what I say.
Richard, you are a classic Trump supporter as evidenced by your inability to spell.
God help us if you’re right.
Obviously uneducated, can’t spell , typical of the stereo type trumper…ignorant of reality and a senseless sheep among many.
I don’t think the Dems will loose. I think they could lose. Yes. For me, this article explains why people support Trump. I live overseas; we don’t get the same tv news so our idea of what he has done as President is based on what he has done that is reported and affects us. For most of us overseas, he has made our lives worse. The tax changes mean we now have to file more paperwork, pay higher taxes and get less help (he’s refused to open any IRS offices overseas) AND what is the worst insult: We still have to file taxes in the US even if we earn nothing there while a corporation doesn’t. So from our perspective, he has not helped us.
Yes on IRS. In 2011 Congress passed legislation that helped the IRS to go after “overseas Americans.” I grew up in Los Angeles, but in 1970 I came to Canada because of a previous American fiasco, the Vietnam War. I became a Canadian citizen in 1976 and held dual citizenship until 2012, when, to defend myself and my family I voluntarily renounced my USA citizenship, as did, reportedly, many other “offshore Americans.” I still have family and many old friends in the US whom I keep in close touch with. But, I must say, since Trump was elected, I have felt deep gratitude that my life circumstances took me out of a culture that was well on its way to disorder and decay. I grieve now for all people everywhere, including all Americans, but let’s not forget how aggressive and invasive the IRS has been and continues to be. There: I’ve said my piece.
If every Trump supporter votes he will still lose in a landslide, because they are the only ones who will be voting for him. He’s not running against Hillary Clinton this time.
Insightful and thought-provoking commentary. Thank you for taking the time to craft it and to share.
We loved this. Thank you. Here is hoping that somehow we can make changes. Thank you also to the Cuomo brothers.
I haven’t followed Cuomo’s career, but certainly think he is absolutely the leader we need for this time. I did read in another forum that Cuomo and Trump are both bullies, but Cuomo is a “bully for good” and Trump is only a bully for himself.
Thanks so much for this excellent insight. I’ve never run across your writing before, but will definitely be following you now.
Governor Cuomo and family are the real deal. His upbringing shows. Respectful, caring, and grateful. Sense of dedicated duty. Work hard….love hard. Be honest. Believe in God. You can tell his warmth and love for his Mom and Family. Speaks of them. I have listened intently. trump almost never speaks of his Mom or siblings. Was not brought up to respect…only to grab what he wanted. Huge difference. Genuinely hope if the Governor chooses too …..he will run for office next time around. I am very thankful for Governor Cuomo.
He better run this time, there may not be a next time.
I lived in New England for 70 years before I transplanted myself to Ohio. I can tell you the people in the Midwest don’t know who Cuomo is and are paying more attention to what DeWine, our governor, has to say and how it will affect them. We are in a national fight for our lives right now and the 2 party system is also in a fight for its life. . I know you said you did not write your blog as left or right but that is exactly why Cuomo is so popular right now. As soon as Cuomo’s first presser ended, all my New England liberal friends immediately began the comparison between him and Trump and I understood, a rude awakening was taking place. They were in a bind with Biden and today one of those friends posted your blog. Cuomo may be the smoother talker like his father before him and his brother, but he does have a record preceding him and that record means something to some people, like Midwesterners. If Cuomo does abandon his New Yorkers in the middle of their recovery that won’t play well here either. Do Trump and Cuomo a favor. Stop the comparisons and let’s hope they both succeed at their job, as leaders through this pandemic.
Well said. My sentiments exactly. Another we good, they bad commentary. I am tired of this. Dems not happy with Biden and looking for a replacement. Appears they are using the COVID 19 pandemic to push for a Cuomo presidency. Very sad, but not surprised by their desperate actions anymore.
Please. I am a New Yorker. Trump has been nothing but a selfish scam artist since the 80s if not earlier. Never dignify his rants and abi.lity to fully drown our nation with the word “leadership”
Wow! Right out of Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” Brilliant!! Great read.
Excellent exposition of what we are facing. Perhaps this is a bit of an aside, however it is relevant. The WH Press Corps has been complicit in fooling the Nation by not acting with courage [with a few exceptions] when exposed to half truths, full lies and other forms of misinformation and sitting or standing to these extreme forms of propaganda.
It is time that the Press Corps act as a unit in defense of a Impeached Presidential insult or rudeness to one of their own.
It is time that the Press Corps rise as a body and turn their backs at the first lie. It is time that the Press Corps rise as a body and walk out at the second lie — and not return.
Totally Agree. In fact, go one step further–its the ‘enablers’ …all of them in the Senate and Congress..they should be heartily ashamed of themselves
Herbert, I totally agree that the press corps is allowing themselves to be badly treated and should do exactly as you propose. I know the publications they represent are possibly pro-Trump/Far Right and could pull back their reporters who don’t toe the line. If the press corps had the guts to act in unison before this bully as you proposed, maybe the next day he’d end up with NO AUDIENCE. He’d go mad on live TV (not the first time). I wholeheartedly propose this idea. Thanks for sharing.
This is my heart’s dream. Alas….
“And I found out that the Democratic National Convention can nominate anyone they wish to nominate.” This quote gives me hope that the DNC will nominates Andrew Cuomo. Your astute political reflection had me laughing in one paragraph and crying in another. I imagine Andrew Cuomo, if he were president, would have promptly delegated authority to the medical, military and pandemic experts. He would also have put the entire country on lockdown and respected Dr. Fauci’s advice: https://www.newsweek.com/dr-anthony-fauci-says-he-would-like-dramatic-reduction-personal-interactions-social-1492410
In addition, Governor Cuomo, would honor Chuck Schumer’s advice, “to fully enact the DPA and appoint a senior military officer to oversee the federal government’s role in procuring and distributing goods in response to the escalating coronavirus epidemic.” https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/2/chuck-schumer-calls-trump-appoint-coronavirus-supp/
Hi what a refreshing read! As a semi isolated Canadian and a news junky, I go from CBC, BBC, CNN & Fox for my 3 or 4 times a day fix. While I intuitively understood something interesting was going on between Trump & Chumo, a framework to understand this was missing. Thank you for the reality TV perspective!
Brilliant article. Beautifully & poignantly written. Very insightful with excellent political and media analysis. Thank you for writing it.
Stunning writing and commentary. Thank you.
Great article and so true. I have watched Cuomo and believe he is what our country needs.
You didn’t make one comment correct, the Andrew Como is caring for his city. The rest of the state he doesn’t give a hit about.
Great article. I quit listening to trump long before the virus. And yes Cuomo might make a good President, at this point, the United States needs an FDR and that would be Bernie Sanders 2020.
Oh my!!
I particularly like where it says Cuomo takes responsibility for what he says and does about the virus. It reminds me of Harry Truman’s “The Buck Stops Here”.
What a great analysis! Growing up with four brothers,I have been fascinated with the intimacy of the Cuomo brothers relationship this week. Many more levels and nuances than the daily Trump show!
I think you’ve discovered our next president of United States . Go Cuomo
Great read! I also have enjoyed watching on the sidelines the difference in leading between these two political giants. Although I do find one more entertaining and the other more informative. I’ll let you figure out which one is which. 😉
Your analysis is plausible; however, I am greatly saddened to recognize the degree to which our culture is influenced and under the spell of reality T.V. That it takes this kind of daily drama or, as you say, showmanship, to capture the national attention, is a sad statement on our country. Having said that, Cuomo presents a sharp and welcome contrast to Trump. He definitely has the country’s attention.
Your analysis is plausible; however, I am greatly saddened to recognize the degree to which our culture is influenced and under the spell of reality T.V. That it takes this kind of daily drama or, as you say, showmanship, to capture the national attention, is a sad statement on our country. Having said that, Cuomo presents a sharp and welcome contrast to Trump. He definitely has the country’s attention.
CUOMO for President. Best thing that could happen to this great country. He is the only one that can make America Great Again.
A great analysis. It expresses my feelings and view of the current contenders for the hearts and minds .
It gives me hope that the American people can see the difference between a self obsessed demigod with no sense of responsibility and the leader whose motivating values are love of country , love of family and love of his fellow man. Yes this a.competition between competing reality shows but one of the shows star is real , and speaks to and for our values and our decency and sense of justice .. it is good to see that in one of these stars and also to see it in ourselves.
Thankyou
Brilliant! Thanks so much for this professional and balanced with cogent arguments piece that you offer your readers. You should be a frequent guest on cable news because you demonstrate what the rest if us call normal, intelligent and factual thinking.
Pat in Pasadena, Ca
Don’t kid yourself, Jon. Despite your statement that this rambling, repetitious diatribe does not take sides, every sentence drips your angle and your bias. You should at least be honest about that.
Don’t be silly.
Your words, like those of Governor Cuomo, bring a warmth and hope that we all need now. Thank you for your eloquence.
I would vote for Cuomo in a heartbeat over Joe Biden.
Well thought out and to the point. I have thought the same thing but could not have explained it as well as you did. I hope that many people read this and pass it on. Thank you from Maine.
Honestly, I agree with this article. I watch Cuomo for the entire time he is on. It’s like he makes me feel grounded during this harrowing time. I find that I am watching less and less of Trump because I can’t stand the lies and arrogance and the lack of emotion he exhibits.
Great article about the difference in style and its effectiveness. Trump is a poor/terrible public speaker, no new information there. Cuomo has been very impressive. I don’t subscribe to the cult of personality, I need a leader who will push the policies he stands for. You have to appreciate Trump’s tireless energy and resourcefulness. He has tackled issues other administrations were sleeping through. Importantly, this crisis has clearly revealed the flaws in the globalist view. Legal immigration with protected borders, manufacturing independence, these were all Trump priorities from the get go. Europe is struggling to reverse the affect of the EU in many countries. This crisis will pass, Cuomo has out shown Trump in the briefings, big picture – socialized healthcare and globalist view are the losers.
To summarize: Trump has a reality show while Cuomo is reality.
I emphatically disagree with the framing of this article. It constitutes a terribly narrow and woefully tragic analysis of this historic moment. The differences between Trump and Cuomo from a historical perspective are the same as the differences between Kodos and Kang (two extraterrestrial Simpsons characters that enslave the people of Earth but offer them the illusion of choice with an election to decide which extraterrestrial they want to be their leader). The catastrophic response to this pandemic and its consequences for the working families of America is an indictment on the entire system. Trump and Cuomo are both leeches on the system, who have proven time and again that they will put their own greed and the interests of their wealthy donors ahead of the health and well-being of everyday people. Neither paid any attention to the scientists until it was too late to avert the disaster that we now find ourselves in. All of this could have been avoided and it was avoided in other countries that took the science seriously. Furthermore, this pandemic is not the only catastrophe that we have on the horizon. Neither Trump nor Cuomo are paying any attention right now to the dire warnings about climate change, or the fragility of the American consumer market, which has been so underpaid and overburdened with debt that total collapse is inevitable. I read this article and I’m just struck with the image of orchestral musicians playing beautiful music on the deck of the Titanic to soothe the minds of so many panicked aristocrats right before they were dragged to the bottom of the sea.
Heavy…
I would say appropriate, given the challenges that we face as a society. I don’t mean to be overly harsh. It’s a wonderful service that you provide with this perspective and I appreciate your response to my comment. To be fair, I do agree with your characterization of Trump as the Prime Time TV President and I do agree that Cuomo, at this moment in time is playing off the dynamic of being his foil. I write to you from Los Angeles, CA, where I currently work in Film and TV production. I have also done my share of Reality TV and I agree that he is obviously a creature of that seedy, hyper-conflict-driven story producing. But just as “reality” content is heavily produced (manipulated by Story Producers to exaggerate conflict), so too was Trump’s 2016 campaign, his entire presidency, and this Cuomo spat that you are choosing to focus on. There is always an editorial process, whereby mega MSM outlets act as the eyes and ears of our society. However, they no longer do journalism in service to truth and the greater good. More than ever, they produce stories to capture viewership and relevance. So they have obliged Trump and his “reality” programming at every turn. Meanwhile, per business as usual, the MSM has continued its coverage of the news by omission of anything that challenges their public influence, or the profits of their corporate advertisers. Thus, there credibility beyond a very superficial level has become null and void. How many prime time stories ran about congress passing the Telecommunications Act in 1996? That mass deregulation led to the media landscape that we currently inhabit, where all of our coverage is either heavily produced or outright censored by either Comcast, Disney, Warner Media, or Fox. Meanwhile, the increasing inequality in America and its dire consequences for the majority of the population continues to be ignored and unabated. Climate devastation, even as we witness its catastrophic impacts, continues to be presented as a controversial topic to be debated by feckless politicians, who are either on the take from the fossil fuel industry or reject science altogether because of religious zealotry. The science has been overwhelmingly clear on this for decades, yet the excuses and obfuscations from our most prominent “journalists” persist. Regarding healthcare, we live in an era where mass legislation has been thwarted and elections have been decided based on the frustrations of a society that exists without the standards of health security enjoyed by our peers in every other developed country. However, these MSM story producers (journalists they are not) still shameless misrepresent the issues regarding healthcare in America, even as the most basic inadequacies of our non-system are laid bare. Even as our system falls apart and people lose their lives due to the austerity politics of Trump and Cuomo alike, the MSM keeps its narrow bearing centered on the same road that got us here in the first place. Examples abound of the austerity agenda of Trump and they are obvious enough. But Cuomo has his own mistakes to account for and I find these conspicuously absent from your article. I find no mention of the Berger Commission, which was responsible for closing public hospitals and taking 20,000 hospital beds out of New York’s healthcare system. Not to mention, Cuomo is currently right now trying to cut 2.5 billion dollars out of New York Medicaid. These are critical public services that Cuomo fundamentally undervalues. Governor Cuomo, son of Governor Cuomo, borther of MSM story producer Cuomo – yes, the perfect foil for the nepotism of Trump. Two sides of the same coin. My read is they are both purveyors of the long con that has become the American Dream, if you work hard enough you can be rich and powerful like me (nevermind the nepotism). They both seem to have the same response to the needs of the poor and working class – let them eat cake. My personal view is that because of FDR’s New Deal and post-WW2 reconstruction, the United States became the wealthiest country in the world with global leaders in science and industry, as well as the strongest consumer market on the planet. The American Dream was about working hard to raise a family with pride and dignity and to thrive within a proud and dignified community. We need to return to those core values of a prosperous America for all and reject the Neoliberal agenda of austerity for the poor and lavish socialism for the wealthy. And let’s reject the sensationalized programming model of politics because this is the root of our decay. Let’s not abandon our critical discourse for cheap misdirection. We must aspire to so much more. We deserve so much more. I would ask you to reconsider your perspective. Let’s not cede this moment to the embedded cynicism of corrupt actors. Let’s use this moment to reflect as a society, strip away all the superficial bs, and remind ourselves of what we really care about as a country. Thanks for reading.
I loved your insight and comparisons. I could not stop reading it. I was stricken with moments of “yes” that is spot on and frustration that his base refuses to see any of it.
Thank you for an accurate analysis of personalities. The best article I have read.
Great job!
Bernie, or burn it down.
The revolution will not be televised.
Thank you so much for this. It shines a light for me in and on the darkness of American culture. The insights are priceless. The other article that completes this realization came from Sirious (unsure of the spelling of her name) article on the Dunning Kruger Effect – another good explanation of DT.
Cuomo has stated that NY is willing to pass on medical supplies to other affected states. Today I heard an interview with the Oregon Governor who said the same thing. Love our governors who are willing to work together to keep us safe. I live in Washington state where he virus first struck and our Governor Inslee has been proactive about implementing safety measures.
Great article, Jon! Thanks so much for making my day, with bringing clarity to what’s ‘been’ happening, and what’s “starting” to emerge! Any way you can stretch this into a book? Such a fun and reassuring read! Keep up the good work.
Look up Rex Murphy, political commentator with the CBC in Canada. You’d enjoy reading him.
I hate to agree with DT, but as you aptly named it a reality show, DT calls it fake news – and it’s not news, it’s a constant barrage of punditry passing itself off as news at the top of the hour. Nonetheless, CNBC or Fox are no different. Up here in the great white north, I enjoy a balanced diet of the CBC or CTV, even if there is a sly smile from time to time. At 10 pm we get news and by 10:35 the political commentary, the panel comes on, and we know what it is.
The culture of journalism chez our southern neighbours is quite fascinating.
And on occasion, CNN hits the mark. During the 2016 election, the panel was prepared to predict that DT would win because they could see ridings, districts where they felt the Dems should have been stronger.
Consequently, I don’t remember who stated it, néanmoins, the Bernie Sanders camp didn’t come out to vote. Subsequently, HC didn’t stand a chance.
In Canada, for the most part, the party heals itself before the election and shows a united front. My quip is that the Dems are totally responsible for the electoral college collapse, electing DT. I still shudder at the thought ?
The electoral college system was the model, inspiration for how Canada chooses its PM – which is essentially the British parliamentary system, with a few garnishments.
Brilliant Analysis!