American Crisis

by Andrew Cuomo

  The ban was fatally flawed—announced by the president only two days before it was to go into effect. This late notice drove thousands of Europeans and Americans in Europe, many already sick with the virus, to rush to the airports to find seats before they would be locked out, causing crowding in airports in both Europe and New York. Customs and Border Protection checks at New York airports also shuffled thousands of travelers into tight waiting areas, further spreading the virus.

  To be clear, New York’s problem was caused by federal negligence. New York was ambushed by COVID. I believe that this was on par with the greatest failure to detect an enemy attack since Pearl Harbor. The Japanese fleet sailed for twelve days and got to within two hundred miles of Pearl Harbor without being discovered. The U.S. Pacific Fleet was all gathered in a dense configuration totally unaware. COVID attacked from Europe, landing at the crowded JFK and Newark airports, infecting the dense Northeast. The historical echoes continue. The morning of Pearl Harbor the Americans had detected and captured a Japanese submarine just off the coast. Despite the submarine capture, the U.S. commander, Husband Kimmel, did not react quickly to the imminent threat. Likewise, the federal government knew in December 2019 that COVID was in China but did not react and did not realize that the virus had traveled to Europe and then took flight for America. By the time the European travel ban was put in place, the virus had been coming to New York for more than a month. After Pearl Harbor, FDR marshaled and mobilized Americans for the war effort; we would now need New Yorkers to mobilize to take on this challenge. The failure to detect the enemy in Pearl Harbor cost 2,400 lives. The failure to detect COVID in the northeast United States would cost ten times as many lives.

  * * *

  —

  THEY SAY PRESIDENT Trump is a voracious consumer of television news. From my interactions with him, they are right. He knew what I had said on television news shows better than I did; that became the medium for engagement. The only thing he responded to was public pressure, so that’s what I would use. I’d been pushing for federal assistance, including for two items on the top of my agenda: increasing testing capacity and the creation of additional hospital beds. We were also asking for ventilators. A substantial percentage of COVID patients required ventilators, and just providing a bed and staff would be useless without them. But there was another immediate challenge to address: the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gowns, and face shields. The increasing volume of patients at hospitals and the new testing facilities were consuming large quantities of PPE. We were facing both a national and a global shortage. I had personally contacted a number of suppliers across the country, and they all had the same story: They were merely distributors of the product; American companies were not major manufacturers of PPE. The main manufacturing was all done in China, and China was worried about China.

  I talked to the White House about possible assistance from the national stockpile or assistance in organizing the supply chain. I asked the president to invoke the Defense Production Act, which would allow the government to mandate that private manufacturers produce the reagents needed for tests as well as masks, gowns, and other PPE. Trump thought it was too heavy-handed to force the private sector to do something, that it would look like “big government,” which was anathema to conservatives. He insisted that this was not their responsibility, and he considered my request an intrusion.

  The White House was still making every effort to further distance itself from any operational responsibility. President Trump’s abdication exacerbated states’ capacity to address the crisis, and this was a battle states could not win on our own. This left me no other option but to go public. Traditional discussion and negotiation never worked with Trump; nothing mattered to him other than the conversation in the media.

  I’ve worked with government on every level for many years. Dealing with the Trump administration was a new experience. For all the interchange, there were very few policy or program discussions. In fact, the most relevant and effective conversations were those conducted in the press. For them, every issue was just another public relations issue.

  So as the old saying goes, “When in Rome.” My briefings were garnering tremendous attention. They were broadcast live on national networks for up to two hours per day. We had tens of millions of viewers. I would then do one-on-one interviews with up to ten shows per day. This would get not only the president’s attention but also that of the people around him.

  I was getting much more press attention in recent weeks—obviously because New York was a hot spot, but also because of the practical realities of COVID. Because the news shows were doing everything remotely, there was no need to travel to the studios, which was a major intrusion in the day. This meant that from my own office I could just do a digital connection with network after network. During COVID, we could book the interviews in an hour. And COVID was such an all-consuming topic that news stations were open for comment virtually twenty-four hours per day. So if the best way to communicate with the federal government was through the media, I would do just that.

  Donald Trump did not have the only microphone. I had one too. And I had something else: credibility.

  I had started by publishing an op-ed in The New York Times on March 15 that was a direct appeal to President Trump asking for a modicum of federal assistance. I argued for a national strategy, the deployment of the Army Corps of Engineers, assistance in increasing the nation’s testing capacity, and the institution of federal standards for cities and states to shut down. “The scarcity [of hospital beds in America] portends a greater failing and a worse situation than what we are seeing in Italy, where lives are being lost because the country doesn’t have the health care capacity,” I wrote. “States cannot build more hospitals, acquire ventilators or modify facilities quickly enough. At this point, our best hope is to utilize the Army Corps of Engineers to leverage its expertise, equipment and people power to retrofit and equip existing facilities—like military bases or college dormitories—to serve as temporary medical centers. Then we can designate existing hospital beds for the acutely ill. We believe the use of active duty Army Corps personnel would not violate federal law because this is a national disaster. Doing so still won’t provide enough intensive care beds, but it is our best hope.” The article was widely covered, but the White House did not respond. They were clearly trying to let it pass. I had to make sure it didn’t.

  I did a round of media appearances and then decided to do an appearance on my brother Christopher’s show on CNN. I knew this would attract attention in and of itself: both positive and negative. Trump allies would criticize us, saying that it wasn’t in keeping with objective journalistic ethics. I have no problem with that criticism because neither Chris nor I ever pretended that this was an objective interview. The conversation was between two brothers—what viewer would be confused?

  I also found it laughable that Fox broadcasters would feign objectivity when the entire network was essentially an apparatus for the Trump campaign. The on-air dynamic between Chris and me was provocative. If other reporters were as direct and obnoxious in their questioning as Chris was, it would be unacceptable. But Chris didn’t have to be especially respectful, which generated a much more honest, candid, and hard-hitting discussion. Likewise, I could have a more forthright tone and be less politically sensitive. It was probably the most straightforward and informative discussion I had in the hundreds of media appearances that I did on COVID.

  The show really did help get good information to people, but it also did something else. It made people smile, and a smile can be the best therapy. Chris is very funny. He’s the baby of the family and naturally irreverent. He could get away with it because by the time he was born, my father was much more tolerant than he had been with me. My father allowed himself to enjoy Chris and even encouraged his humor. My brother has never been in public service nor had to deal with the scrutiny of havi
ng every word and every action examined by a hostile press corps. I am funny. Many people don’t know that I’m funny. But I am. Actually, I am very funny. But you’re not supposed to be too funny as a governor.

  When Chris and I are together, usually, it’s during those few times in my life when I’m not in public and there is no one there to judge. We’re normally on a boat fishing or at a bar having a drink. Although we were on national TV, our natural rhythm came to the forefront. He teased me, as is his way, and I reacted, as is my way. Because it was his show, the odds were in his favor, and I was in a no-win position. He is my little brother: When he attacks me, it’s cute; when I attack him back, it’s not cute. But it worked and provided respite for people overwhelmed with heavy news.

  The president, however, hates CNN and Chris in particular. I don’t think the president hates me as much as he hates Chris, but it depends on the day. Chris has done some tough pieces on the president, but nothing that wasn’t fair. That doesn’t matter; with the president, everything is personal. There are no principled disagreements, only personal disagreements. The president, when he is upset, likes to refer to Christopher as “Fredo,” a character in the Godfather movies. Let’s just say Fredo was not the favored son in the movies. But more, in my opinion, it raises the negative Italian stereotype of the Mafia.

  Fredo is a Mafia reference that strikes many deep chords for me. First, that I should cause the Fredo reference to be repeated bothers me because I am inadvertently causing my brother pain. If the president wants to hit me, then hit me, but don’t hit my brother to cause me pain. In actuality, it is a very effective device because his attacks on my brother caused me more pain than any direct attack on me would cause. To the extent that Trump is aware of this, it is really nasty. As usual, his attacks would then be repeated by the New York Post. I doubt that President Trump and Rupert Murdoch are empathetic enough to appreciate how effective these attacks actually were.

  The Mafia stigma is one of the most painful and vicious of anti–Italian American stereotypes. I fought it all my life as my father had done before me. I speak about it often to the Italian American community. The Godfather movies and The Sopranos all reinforce the stereotype of the Italian as the criminal and the thug. Some people repeat the stereotype out of ignorance. The Times Union in Albany published an insensitive column about Fredo, for which they were unapologetic even after Italian American organizations publicly complained. Some people just don’t appreciate how offensive stereotypes can be. As a New Yorker, I learned at a very young age that different religions and ethnic groups have their own experiences that must be respected. People who did not grow up in a diverse community don’t have the same level of sensitivity. Also, people who never felt the sting don’t appreciate the pain. I thought the Mafia stereotype might have died with my father. But the Fredo incident and its coverage said that it is alive and well.

  I will fight it with all my might every time it raises its ugly head, just as I fight negative stereotypes and discrimination against any American. Any politician will tell you it’s not smart to fight with people who “buy ink by the barrel.” I know it’s not smart, but I also know it’s right. In my place in life, “right” is more important than “smart.” Maybe if I do my job right, the negative Italian stereotype will die with me, and my children won’t have to fight the battle or feel the pain.

  * * *

  —

  BUT PUTTING THE Fredo references aside, it was the plain facts that I laid out on Chris’s show on CNN that evening that were damaging to Trump. No other country’s federal government walked away from the national crisis as ours had. Every other country has been led by its national government. Only the United States would come to adopt this fragmented, every-state-for-itself approach.

  I hit Trump and the federal government with both barrels. At least the federal government could help us with resources. Even if you say the states are responsible for the front-line attack, couldn’t the federal government at least help with supplies? Trump not only watched the news shows but also closely followed their ratings. The show I did with Chris that night got very high ratings. It succeeded in getting Trump’s attention.

  MARCH 17 | 432 NEW CASES | 326 HOSPITALIZED | 5 DEATHS

  “What are we doing? Everything we can.”

  MINUTES BEFORE MY DAILY BRIEFING, I received a phone call from President Trump.

  He was not happy.

  The president had obviously seen the interview I did with Chris.

  I tried to slow him down. “Mr. President, you’re a New Yorker. I’m a New Yorker. I told you what I needed, I asked you to mobilize the Army Corps of Engineers, I asked you before I wrote it in the Times, I talked to you before I went on CNN. This is about the people of New York, this is about saving lives, and I can’t do it alone! I need the resources of the federal government—you have the army, you have the Army Corps of Engineers, you have FEMA, you have the Department of Homeland Security—use them!”

  The president was angry.

  Rather than continue to fight with him, I appealed to him as a president and also appealed to his politics. “Mr. President, I will work with you,” I said. “I’m not running against you; I’m not running for anything. All I care about is getting the people of New York through this crisis.”

  I meant every word. I said, “I’m going to do my briefing in a few minutes. Let someone watch and tell you what I said. I will go first in the spirit of good faith.”

  When I hung up the phone, Melissa was standing in my office looking upset. “I don’t understand why you’re trying to work with him,” she said. “It’s like Lucy with the football. It’s impossible; he’s impossible. We should just go out there and say exactly what this is: The president of the United States won’t help.”

  I understood her frustration, but this was about getting help for our state and saving lives.

  I called for the team to enter the Red Room for the briefing—one I knew the president would be watching. A couple of minutes into my remarks I looked directly into the camera, and I did exactly what I said I would do, intended to reach an audience of one:

  What does government do in this moment? It steps up, it performs, it does what it’s supposed to do. It does it better than it’s ever done it before. What does government not do? It does not engage in politics or partisanship. Even if you are in the midst of an election season. Even if you are at a moment in time and history where you have hyper-partisanship, which we now have. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, it is essential that the federal government works with the state and that this state works with the federal government.

  We cannot do this on our own. I built airports; I built bridges. We have made this government do things that it’s never done before. This government has done somersaults; it’s performed better than ever before. I am telling you, this government cannot meet this crisis without the resources and capacity of the federal government. I spoke to the president this morning again. He is ready, willing, and able to help. I’ve been speaking with members of his staff late last night, early this morning. We need their help, especially on the hospital capacity issue.

  We need FEMA. FEMA has tremendous resources. When I was at HUD, I worked with FEMA; I know what they can do. I know what the Army Corps of Engineers can do. They have a capacity that we simply do not have. I said to the president, who is a New Yorker, who I’ve known for many, many years. I put my hand out in partnership. I want to work together 100 percent. I need your help. I want your help, and New Yorkers will do everything they can to be good partners with the federal government. I think the president was 100 percent sincere in saying that he wanted to work together. In partnership, in the spirit of cooperation, I can tell you the actions he has taken evidence that. His team has been on it.

  Shortly after the briefing, the president called again. He said the Army Corps of Engineers would be contacting me i
mmediately to set up a meeting and that the USNS Comfort would be on its way, too.

  So far, so good. But tomorrow would be another day.

  MARCH 18 | 1,009 NEW CASES | 496 HOSPITALIZED | 4 DEATHS

  “We are responding to science and data. There’s no politics here.”

  SECRETARY OF DEFENSE MARK ESPER went on Fox News and confirmed what he and I had just discussed over the phone. “I had a call with Governor Cuomo, and we had a very good conversation,” Esper said. “What he sees is a deficit in hospital beds in New York State as he looks ahead to what may be coming. I gave him my full commitment that we would get the Corps of Engineers up there to assess the problem and see how we can help out.”

  On Wednesday, March 18, I met with the leadership of the Army Corps of Engineers, including Major General Jeff Milhorn, Lieutenant General Todd Semonite, Colonel Thomas D. Asbery, and Anthony Travia, in my conference room in Albany. We discussed various ideas, including converting dormitory buildings, hotels, and vacant state buildings into field hospitals. My guiding principle was the urgency and scope of what needed to be done. While hospitals were expanding their own capacity by 50 percent, bringing us to nearly seventy-five thousand hospital beds, and elective surgeries were being postponed to free up space, we were still tens of thousands of beds short of what we might need.

  Following the meeting, I assigned the commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Major General Patrick Murphy, a seasoned pro, and Gareth Rhodes to work with the Army Corps of Engineers to make sure they had all they needed to get the job done. A “site inspection team” including members of the Army Corps, led by Colonel Tom Asbery, the head of the Army Corps’s New York office, and state officials from the Department of Health, Dormitory Authority, Office of General Services, and New York Power Authority, was dispatched on Thursday to more than twenty sites around the downstate area to evaluate properties, including the dormitory complexes at SUNY Stony Brook, CUNY Hunter, CUNY City College, and the Fashion Institute of Technology, for their fitness as field hospitals. Thursday night and into the early hours of Friday morning, the team prepared copious reports on the benefits and drawbacks of each facility.