At this point, it was only a few days since the first positive test, and no one had died. The president was saying this was a flu, that our concern was a Democratic hoax. There was a lot of skepticism from the public as well as officials. No one was ready to accept that they needed to change how they were living.
I knew we weren’t going to get anywhere if we couldn’t persuade people to accept the situation before we took action. So we scrambled to fly down and meet with the Westchester County local officials in person. The operational gymnastics of my travel and schedule were incredible. Every hour had to count. Jill DesRosiers is my unflappable chief of staff and has been with me for years. Annabel Walsh is my director of scheduling. She has the joy of talking to me twenty-four hours a day. I always try to get done more in a day than twenty-four hours permits. Annabel never fails to make sure it happens.
As we saw in Westchester that day, local parochial concerns would butt up against major, wide-ranging changes that had to occur in order to combat the virus. This pattern would play out over and over again in the coming weeks. Most local politicians seek to make people happy; that’s the business model. If something doesn’t make people happy, they don’t want to do it. As we were instituting this lockdown on New Rochelle, one Democratic assemblywoman who represented Westchester came to my office demanding a meeting; then she simply sat in the second row at a press conference and scowled at me.
I would make my first major communications mistake when I used the words “containment zone.” I also said I would call out the National Guard to help deliver food to students after we closed schools. The combination of the words “containment zone” and “National Guard” frightened people. To be clear, there was no actual “containment” of people; they could come and go as they pleased. The “containment” was of the virus. But the term was misunderstood, and I soon realized that a poorly worded phrase was very dangerous.
The quick escalation from mild concern to high anxiety surprised even me. People were panicking, asking, what if the shelves in the store were emptied and not refilled? What if the grocery store owner, truck driver, gas station attendant, cashier, stayed home because they were afraid of the virus? It is terrifying how quickly society can unravel. Communication was everything in this situation, and I couldn’t make any more mistakes.
And in case you’re wondering, the clubhouse was inside the line, and the wedding was canceled.
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I AM A student of history, and it amazes me how the old adage “past is prologue” still holds true. No matter how the facts change, the fundamental dynamic remains the same. I now live in the Executive Mansion in Albany. It is a great big old house that really should be a museum. Al Smith, TR, FDR, Grover Cleveland, and my father, Mario Cuomo, lived here. I think about them often—what they faced and what they accomplished.
There are two themes that differentiate periods of national accomplishment from periods of national crisis. First, the solidarity and unity of the American people. Second, governmental leadership and competence. Periods of great accomplishment occur when the country is unified behind a goal with inspired leadership and extraordinary government capacity. Problematic periods are a sign of a divided nation, social unrest, failed leadership, and an incompetent or corrupt government. Even with an external threat, the result is determined by the nation’s internal forces.
COVID is in many ways a symptom and not the illness. The human body is attacked by literally dozens of viruses per week. A healthy body with a functioning immune system will fight off and manage the attacks. Science, in and of itself, has never killed a virus in the body, but science has worked with the human body to defend against attacks and managed to resolve them. A viral attack is most damaging when the body is weakened.
COVID attacked this country at a time of extreme weakness on every level. Since 2016, a political strategy of fearmongering and division has been furthered and normalized by President Trump. Behavior long festering underground has been validated and allowed to reach the surface.
In the years following Trump’s election, racial and religious prejudices boiled over; the KKK removed their white hoods and took back to the streets. Unresolved tensions around policing and criminal justice were exacerbated. Inflammatory anti-immigrant policies have divided the nation. Anti-Semitism is increasing. Income inequality is at an all-time high. Discrimination in housing, education, and unemployment has deepened the divide. Hyper-partisanship and demagoguery are destroying democracy and have rendered government institutions paralyzed.
The degradation of our government is both an aggravating cause and a contributing effect of the country’s division. Faith and trust in our government have continued to dissipate for decades. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. People believe in government less, support government less, and thus government produces less.
I do not blame President Trump for creating this situation; that would give him too much credit. I do, however, believe the Trump presidency is the product of this downward trajectory. And, as a master marketer and salesman, he recognized, seized, and exploited it. A unified country that believed in itself and in the strength and capacity of government would never have elected Donald Trump. He is the symptom of an illness untreated.
Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” was a dog whistle recalling a time of white dominance and small government. Trump
