“With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.” – Dr. Jekyll, Chapter 10.

It’s a horror story, closer to Robert Louis Stevenson than American politics.

As a student of irony, I am caught in the grip of this one: a powerful leader soars to prominence and fame when he stands up for honesty, compassion, and responsibility in a time of great crisis.

His nation (there are two) is grateful and is eager to reward him with more power.

Ahead, it is easier and easier to imagine him as the leader.

All he has to do is nothing, or rather, the same thing.

He stands in vivid contrast to the other powerful leader, his enemy,  who lies and hides from his responsibilities for personal gain. This leader is cast out of power, but cannot accept defeat and becomes traitorous and angry.

His other nation adores him and will do anything, even commit violence and sedition, to return him to power.

Each of them comes to stand for a different way of looking at morality and truth, and the two become symbols for the Two Americas that have emerged to split their one nation in half. Couldn’t the strong and the powerful Andrew Cuomo be the one to lead us back?

He seems to have everything – charm, brains, savvy, courage.

Both of these seemingly different men are geniuses when it comes to using power, and both are known to treat the women in their lives and workplaces harshly. Nobody seemed to mind much, and the women were frightened to talk.

But in one nation, women are rising up. That was the governor’s nation.

Imagine that just one year later,  one of the leaders lives in palaces in exile, determined to seize power again by any means possible, and the other, the anointed one,  is alone and disgraced, his life and future ambitions in flames.

It seems he is a predator, after all, preying on the women over whom he wields absolute power, degrading them, abusing them, harassing them.

It is hard to even count all of the people he hurt, all the victims strewn in his wake.

Everyone knew he was difficult, no one knew he was pathological – it seems both of them are – his loyal aides shielded the governor from the world. His workplace is a nightmare.

The Attorney General’s report blew the lid off of his lies and predations. Suddenly, the emperor’s clothes were gone, he stands naked before his people.

The two nations – each one moving farther and farther apart from the other – are thrown into turmoil and grievance. One accepts their mad leader and believes everything he says, the other, it seems, draws a line and says no more.

Cuomo, like Trump, wants it all. They both always want to be the victim and the sufferer.  They take responsibility for nothing.

New York is a nation all of its own. Nobody, but nobody, is buying it. If Cuomo were Donald Trump, which he is trying to be at the moment, it would be different…a witch hunt, fake news, dirty politics. Imagine his rally in Central Park, if his story was believed.

It’s true, New Yorkers are too smart for pungent bullshit.

(“I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also…” Dr. Jekyll.)

If Cuomo were believed, the conspiracy theorists would be hard at work, cranking out alternate realities – jews, Antifa, Black Lives Matter, those radical socialists, Dr. Fauci.

It seems that Cuomo is still studying his adversary.

But this time he is mimicking him, his big mistake.

We really are two nations, and the two nations really are quite different. The governor took the wrong lessons from the former President.

Had Cuomo stood up in front of those cameras, admitted his wrongdoing, promised never to do it again, and got help for the people he harmed and for himself, I’d be writing a different kind of story.

Trump is a poor role model for Andrew Cuomo, and New York is not Mississippi or Georgia. At those press conferences, Cuomo could fake being humble and empathetic. Under fire, he is just Mr. Hyde, he’s left Dr. Jekyll behind.

So they each, it turns out, were never so different from one another as we thought, a morality play worthy of the Greeks, even if Shakespeare wouldn’t touch it.

In each nation, shock, anger, and sadness.

The people in each wonder if there is a hero out there somewhere on the horizon that they can believe? Or if that was always just more fake news?

A doctor friend tells me some wisdom I needed to hear, as I am struggling to make sense of this: the problem, he insists,  is that powerful men have always had powerful, out-of-control sexual drives, sex, and power have always been tied to one another.

If you look back through history, he has a point. Warriors conquer, to the victor go the spoils.

The problem, he says, is that society doesn’t yet care to see this as a health issue and a potential danger in our time that needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

This is the first thing I’ve heard all week that helps to explain what powerful men do to themselves and to others.

“How many times?” he asked me in wonder, “does this have to happen before we finally get it. Women get it, they have been paying the price all throughout human history.”

I can’t help but think of Charlie Rose, who destroyed a career and a reputation for the chance to show his penis to some women who came by to work.

What are we missing?

It was just about a year ago that I wrote several columns that focused on the contrast between the brilliant and wildly popular daily press briefings that Andrew Cuomo, was holding on the Corona Virus, complete with graphics and homespun stories about Mom.

This was a blessed relief for people all over the country from the tortured, dishonest and incoherent rantings of then-President Trump on the same subject.

I remember those poor sick people who drank all that Chlorox, they ought never to be forgotten.

My columns were the most popular pieces I had ever written, got the most shares on the Internet, and drew hundreds, if not thousands, of people to my humble blog.

Andrew Cuomo was the man, our Covid superhero, our Captain America of responsibility.

It was all right there for him to take. All he had to do was keep his hands to himself and his mouth shut.

That was way too much to ask a powerful man at his peak.

To me, this was the story of two Americas, a seasoned and seemingly moral political leader rising above himself and the times, to tell the truth, calm a frightened city and nation and become a hero and a leader overnight, at least to his half of the two nations.

Surely this would be the end of his evil doppelganger spewing lies and more venom in exile.

Donald Trump, the leader of the other half of the country, was the perfect Mr. Hyde to Cuomo’s Dr. Jekll, one leader embodying honesty and responsibility, the other wantonly embracing lies and cruelty over honor.

And getting away with it.

I didn’t realize at the time that one person could embody both and that Andrew Cuomo was the Jekyll and Hyde for the Two Americas that we now live in.

In one man, our best and worst. What a mess that turned out to be.

I will be forever grateful to Andrew Cuomo, who was my governor during the worst of the pandemic, for telling me the truth during those scary days and helping me protect myself, my family, and the people around me.

Cuomo had a Sgt. Friday way of just giving me the facts, and telling me what I needed to do, something that kept me calm and well informed. I had the sense he was watching his opposite closely and simply doing the opposite of everything he was doing.

He acknowledged the crisis, wept for the victims, gave firm guidance, told the hard truth. He was our Winston Churchill, calling us to arms, warning of the sacrifices.

Watching him, you just knew it would turn out all right. Watching his nemesis, you just knew it wouldn’t.

By then, I had given up on President Trump, who could barely open his mouth without lying. I can try to understand liars, but I doubt I will ever be able to abide by them.

Cuomo seemed to fight for every life in New York City, Trump was sacrificing thousands of people to benefit himself politically. It was the perfect opportunity for America’s Governor to cement his place in history.

Yesterday, instead of being grateful to my governor for the great job he did, I was reading every word of the devastating report by the New York State Attorney General. It was shattering and credible.

Even in the midst of his soaring popularity, or perhaps because of it, Cuomo was demeaning, abusing, groping, humiliating, harassing, and threatening women and co-workers, including close aides and a State Trooper assigned to his security detail.

I’m not sure I can recall any time when a hero was shattered so quickly and thoroughly. The Attorney General’s report is a classic: direct, unsparing utterly convincing. This isn’t a grumpy man. This is an awful man.

Devastating is the right word for this report. It is not refutable.

I believe every single word of the Attorney General’s report and pray that every one of these women is believed, respected, honored, and rewarded for their courage in telling the truth in a world that seems more shameless every day.

The last thing we needed is another Trump. I may never vote for a man again. In fact, I promise.

The best I can say for my Governor is that he is a very sick man, but whatever he is, he is finished in politics. The rest is not my business.

He, like the man he tormented during the pandemic, is not fit for office. President Biden gracefully and bluntly sealed his fate. Every powerful politician in the Democrat Party is abandoning him and calling for his blood.

Like Donald Trump, he is overflowing with grievance. Nothing is his fault, he takes responsibility for nothing other than being heroic.

Otherwise, everything is everyone else’s fault. Perhaps we can summon Sir Gawain to bring honor back.

I knew when I wrote about Andrew Cuomo last year that nobody close to him – nobody – liked him. He didn’t care and it didn’t seem to matter. It matters now. He doesn’t have a friend in the world, except for his brother Chris, and he may be gone soon as well.

He is so isolated I am feeling sorry for him. Almost.

He will soon be gone.

Some people seem unable to help themselves. Doesn’t that make them sick?

I am glad that New York State is not Arizona, and lies are still looked upon up here. They wouldn’t go for Jewish lasers here.  Cuomo made a pathetic attempt to lie his way out it. There are no cable conspiracy theories, no Fox News, to lie for him.

No important politician in either party in any part of the state is defending the governor for what he did. But if silence could kill, he’d be in the ground.

In his public statements, the greatest irony for me to see is that Cuomo is really only different from Donald  Trump in form, not function. He is cruel, dishonest, arrogant beyond words, and a predator without shame or remorse. I can’t imagine why they would be feuding.

But this is New York, not Washington or Texas, or  Florida. He won’t get away with it, he won’t sleaze his way out of it, his lies won’t work. If I can’t be grateful for my governor every longer, at least I can take some comfort in where I live.

We are tough and nasty people, we are allergic to posturing, we see too much of it.

Monday was for all purposes, the end of Andrew Cuomo’s career. A sad story, I can’t help it. How sad for all of those women, I wish them healing and safety.

In the shameless age, Cuomo is now alone and fighting desperately for his survival. It won’t work. He’s in political Hell now, there is no way back. One can only wish he leaves the stage with a modicum of dignity and self-respect.

I have none for him at the moment.

He was really Mr. Hyde all the time, as vicious, selfish, and dishonest as a politician can be.  Those press conferences were mostly shown.

Trump gets away with it, Cuomo won’t and perhaps that is the silver lining in this story, there is still such a thing as honor and accountability in our country.

What never has happened to Trump is precisely what is happening to Cuomo – he is being held accountable. And if he and Trump turn out to be brothers in abuse, at least their two nations have different ideas about morality.

Governor, since you made so much noise about taking responsibility last year, perhaps it’s time you started taking some, rather than blaming everybody else, including your victims. That actually could be a path to salvation for you.

That is the tragedy and promise of the Two Americas in which we are all living.

One still clings to the idea of truth, honor, and accountability, and the other has embraced a new ideology, one that threatens our democracy: win at all costs by any means.

Never let go and never yield. We are becoming a shameless country, no wrong is bad enough to be punished.

Andrew Cuomo betrayed me, everyone, who voted for him, all the people who listened to him, and all of the people he swore to serve.

It is said he intends to go down fighting, it really doesn’t matter to me as long as he goes down.

On a personal note, I am once again at a loss to understand my fellow man. The story comes to us again and again, every time we come to the end we discover we just started at the beginning.

One day,  men will be paying reparations to every woman and person of color on the earth.

The only thing I can offer is that power affects many men in the most awful and still little-understood of ways. Something about being powerful triggers some hideous release of genes, and permits them to take over the mind.

A man like Cuomo can seem to have everything, to have the brightest prospects, the most interesting work, loyal and devoted aides and followers.

He can be smart and handsome and rich, he can have had every success in the world and yet still be broken inside, and still need to dominate and humiliate women, to abuse and harass and diminish them, and still be ignorant of the changing world around them.

Power seems to make them mad.

Just look around you, Governor. Do you really believe you can put your hand underneath the blouse of a state worker and squeeze her breasts and get away with it? Or ask a state trooper guarding you about her sex life?

And why would you need to?

I remember a respected producer I knew well when I was working at CBS News. We got drunk together one night and he told me that he had a powerful sex drive, and he was worried that he might bring it to the office. Instead, he found a sex worker on the  Upper East Side, he hired her when he felt the powerful urgest that he often felt.

I was shocked by this, but then he explained it to me: “I decided to find a prostitute and pay her well, and treating her well was by far preferable to turning these instincts on the women who work with me and for me. I never want to be one of those men.”

And he wasn’t.

When I thought about what he told me, I remember thinking I admired him for his sensitivity and foresight. The women who worked for him appreciated him and respected him, and felt heard and respected themselves.

They never saw sensed a trace of his impulses. He had a long, good career and retired with honor.

Some things are just beyond me. I like what my doctor friend told me – powerful men often seem to have powerful sex drives.

Some see it as a potential danger to themselves and others, some think they are Gods, beyond the reach or accountability of mortal men. We are learning to beware of them.

Andrew Cuomo will be pondering that for the rest of his life. Some day I will feel sorry for him.

Isn’t that what empathy is all about?

“There’s two kinds of evil that horror fiction always deals with. One kind is the sort of evil that comes from inside people, like in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The other kind of evil is predestined evil. It falls on you like a stroke of lightning. That’s the scary stuff…”

– Stephen King.