During a nine-minute softball interview with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on MSNBC Tuesday morning, anchor Stephanie Ruhle only asked a single nine-second question about the Democrat’s recently-changed policy of forcing COVID-positive patients to return to nursing homes. Nearly 5,000 residents in such facilities across the state have died of the virus since the policy was put in place in late March.
This was the extent to which Ruhle mentioned the controversy: “While I have you, you have been criticized for your comments about nursing homes. Some people say you did not act quickly enough. Too little, too late. What is your response to that criticism?” There was no mention of the death toll in New York nursing homes and she made sure to leave it as open-ended as possible.
As a result, Cuomo was able to easily dismiss any criticism and pretend that “we didn’t lose anyone for want of medical care, precautions, et cetera”:
I’m getting criticized now for doing too much. I have the strongest national provisions in place where staff of nursing homes must be tested twice per week. And the nursing homes are upset that this is too burdensome for them to do it. I understand that it’s burdensome, I understand it’s the most aggressive in the nation. But I also understand that this is the most vulnerable population in the most vulnerable place. We will have lost many Americans in this, Stephanie, but the only solace we’re going to be able to take is we can say we did everything we could. And we didn’t lose anyone for want of medical care, precautions, et cetera. So, yes, they’re unhappy that I’m saying two tests a week for staff. But I want to make sure every one of us can say we did everything that we could.
The anchor allowed Cuomo to make all those claims without challenge or a follow-up.
On Monday, CBS This Morning provided a full report on nursing homes being hard hit by coronavirus, but avoided talking about Cuomo’s policy making the situation worse.
On Tuesday, instead of grilling the Governor about his mishandling of the coronavirus response, most of the interview was focused on teeing him up to slam Republicans for not signing on to Democratic relief legislation. Ruhle referenced an interview she had just concluded with a Republican lawmaker: “Governor, what is the latest on getting aid to your state? Just moments ago, I’m assuming you heard Congressman Kevin Brady from Texas, not necessarily naming you, but saying there are some governors out there that aren’t actually helping their states.”
Cuomo ranted: “You know, Washington, they can get away with dealing in the abstract or dealing in a reality that they create. It has nothing to do with the reality that’s going on in this nation, however.”
Ruhle wondered: “So what is Congressman Brady talking about?” Cuomo seized the chance to rail against the GOP and big business:
I have no idea what they’re talking about, except I know that they are doing what I thought they would do. They’ve given money to business, big business, with few strings, because that’s what they believe. How do you stimulate the economy? Give more money to business....Here’s the crystal ball. They’re going to provide additional money for business bailouts, call them loans, call them PPP, whatever you want to call it. It’s money for business. The business will turn around and lay off American workers and will give bonuses to executives and all on the taxpayer dime....That’s how they’re going to raise their stock price, by laying off workers and increasing their profitability and they’ll do it with the taxpayers’ money and then we’ll have to pay additional unemployed for the laidoff people. And it will be a corporate scam and people will be disgusted with government once again.
As the easy interview concluded, Cuomo praised Ruhle: “And thank you for the good work you’re doing, Stephanie. Thank you very much.” She may have done “good work” at helping Cuomo push his talking points, but certainly not when it came to being a journalist.
Back on May 11, NBC Nightly News actually called out Cuomo for creating “a path to disaster,” so Ruhle had no excuse not to have all the information at her fingertips to press him on the topic.
Here is a full transcript of the May 19 interview:
9:39 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: And we’ve got some breaking news. New York State slowly reopening and Governor Andrew Cuomo is joining me on the phone right now. Governor, what is the latest on getting aid to your state? Just moments ago, I’m assuming you heard Congressman Kevin Brady from Texas, not necessarily naming you, but saying there are some governors out there that aren’t actually helping their states.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO [D-NY]: Good morning, Stephanie. Yes, I did hear the broadcast and thank you for talking to me. You know, Washington, they can get away with dealing in the abstract or dealing in a reality that they create. It has nothing to do with the reality that’s going on in this nation, however. New York State, for example, we have about a $61 billion deficit caused by the coronavirus, period. To date, we’ve received $3 billion from the federal government for costs, et cetera. It’s nickels and dimes compared to what we’re going to need to pay for the COVID expense and it doesn’t even start to address the financial deficit that we’re facing because of COVID.
RUHLE: So what is Congressman Brady talking about?
CUOMO: I have no idea what they’re talking about, except I know that they are doing what I thought they would do. They’ve given money to business, big business, with few strings, because that’s what they believe. How do you stimulate the economy? Give more money to business. Everybody runs commercials and thanks the police and firefighters and the nurses, but they don’t want to fund the police and firefighters and nurses. Stephanie, when you talk about funding a state and local, a city, a town, you’re funding police and fire, school teachers and nurses. That’s who you’re funding. And they don’t want to do it. That’s why they're not funding state and local governments.
Also, your point before was exactly right, Stephanie. Here’s the crystal ball. They’re going to provide additional money for business bailouts, call them loans, call them PPP, whatever you want to call it. It’s money for business. The business will turn around and lay off American workers and will give bonuses to executives and all on the taxpayer dime. And then we will have additional unemployed because corporations are going to use this as a time to right size and get lean. They couldn’t lay off workers, but they won’t rehire the workers. It’s what they did in 2008. I was the Attorney General of New York. It’s what AIG did with the bailout funds, it’s what Bank of America did with the bailout funds, because nobody said they couldn’t. And I propose the Americans First law to say if you take a loan or grant from government, you must rehire the same number of workers, period.
RUHLE: I hope our audience heard that. I just want to repeat it again – companies like AIG did that because no one said they couldn’t. Right now, Governor, if our lawmakers don’t step in and put real restrictions and have real significant oversight, ten months from now, what is the country going to look like? Because when people don’t have jobs, when the poor are sicker when they are without income, when they don’t have schools to go, to when they don't have firefighters and police officers, they’re not going to be Democrats or Republicans. They’re just going to be suffering. What will world – what the United States look like?
CUOMO: And this will be the conversation in ten months. First we’ll say, look at the fraud and scams that occurred with all these corporate bailouts. They laid off workers and they gave bonuses to themselves and higher salaries. That’s what happened after 2008. That’s what happened with the T.A.R.P. funds, that whole rush. We could – too big to fail, give them government money, prop them up, and they gave it to themselves. Here they’re going to also lay off a large number of workers. That’s what they’re telling the analysts now. That’s how they’re going to raise their stock price, by laying off workers and increasing their profitability and they’ll do it with the taxpayers’ money and then we’ll have to pay additional unemployed for the laidoff people. And it will be a corporate scam and people will be disgusted with government once again. And your question before was right, Stephanie. You’ll see a further sorting out of corporate power and wealth. The big corporations will do better because they have staying
power and the little corporations will have taken a beating and will be further diminished.RUHLE: Governor, what kind of tightrope are you walking as it relates to your state’s budget? And I think of schools. The longer schools are not open, especially as we look at the summer and the fall without camps, summer programs, schools to go to, our most vulnerable communities that are already suffering, what’s going to happen to them come the fall if you have to cut school budgets and kids don’t even go back to school? That’s when we can really lose our most vulnerable.
CUOMO: Stephanie, I’m not on a tightrope. I fell. I’m falling. I’m just hoping there’s a net before I hit the ground. And the people of the State of New York hit the net. The net would be federal funding for state and local governments. Because you’re right, I would have to cut – if I don’t get funding, what happens? I cut schools. I cut hospitals. I cut aid to local government, local governments, police, fire, et cetera. That’s my – that’s the state’s budget. That’s a locality’s budget. It’s very simple. It’s schools, hospitals. It’s police and it’s fire. Those are the last things that we should cut now. The exact last things. And you talk about wanting to stimulate an economy. How do you stimulate an economy when you are decimating the infrastructure of the economy?
RUHLE: Fair point. While I have you, you have been criticized for your comments about nursing homes. Some people say you did not act quickly enough. Too little, too late. What is your response to that criticism?
CUOMO: I’m getting criticized now for doing too much. I have the strongest national provisions in place where staff of nursing homes must be tested twice per week. And the nursing homes are upset that this is too burdensome for them to do it. I understand that it’s burdensome, I understand it’s the most aggressive in the nation. But I also understand that this is the most vulnerable population in the most vulnerable place. We will have lost many Americans in this, Stephanie, but the only solace we’re going to be able to take is we can say we did everything we could. And we didn’t lose anyone for want of medical care, precautions, et cetera. So, yes, they’re unhappy that I’m saying two tests a week for staff. But I want to make sure every one of us can say we did everything that we could.
RUHLE: And where are you right now? Your most updated timeline around reopening New York? I’m thinking about all those kids who are living in Harlem and the south Bronx who don’t have anywhere to go right now. They’ve got no structure in their life.
CUOMO: Well, you’re right. Kids who have nowhere to go. Also in households that have the highest density of occupancy so the virus spreads faster. And in households where you have increasing levels of domestic violence, mental health stress, et cetera. New York City is a different reality from the rest of the state, right? What we have is a very diverse state in New York. The upstate regions are starting to open, but New York City is going to be awhile. And we do it here on the numbers, Stephanie. There’s no politics, there’s no opinion, no theory. We just look at the metrics, the data on the infection spread, hospitalization rate, et cetera, and when we hit the right numbers, the right metrics, then we’ll open.
RUHLE: We’ve got to look after people’s lives and livelihoods, of course. Governor, thank you so much for calling in. We appreciate your time this morning.
CUOMO: Thank you. And thank you for the good work you’re doing, Stephanie. Thank you very much.
RUHLE: Thank you.
