Andrew Cuomo
Cuomo’s whirlwind tour of cable news
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is spending a lot of time on national channels discussing national issues.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on CNN announcing that New York state and more than a dozen other states are suing the federal government over the separation of families at the border. Screenshot of CNN broadcast
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, with an eponymous primetime show, is usually the TV star of his family. This week, however, he has hardly been on the air more than his brother.
In the seven days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has appeared on TV 11 times, according to his publicly released schedule. These are overwhelmingly appearances on national channels to discuss national issues.
During the past two years, Gov. Cuomo has made challenging President Donald Trump a cornerstone of his governorship and his campaign for reelection. New York has sued the administration over 100 times, including, most recently, a suit filed on Tuesday challenging Trump’s policy of separating children from parents who are caught crossing the border into the United States.
To discuss his opposition to Trump’s policies on a variety of issues, from immigration to the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the administration’s travel ban on residents of mostly Muslim-majority countries, Cuomo often appears on local and cable news.
On June 20, the final day of the state legislative session, lawmakers struggled to reach an agreement over renewing and expanding a program to install speed cameras in school zones in New York City. That same day, Cuomo appeared on television five times, as a guest on NY1, Fox 5, MSNBCtwice, and CNN.
The following day, Cuomo appeared on Anderson Cooper’s “Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN. On June 22, he was a guest on CNN, MSNBC and NY1. On Monday, he appeared on CNN again in the afternoon.
Cuomo isn’t the only politician to go out of his way to criticize Trump over high-profile national issues. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio traveled to Texas last week to visit a detention center where immigrant children were being held. He was turned away from the facility. He spoke about that experience on CNN, NBC and ABC on June 21. There are hundreds of immigrant children detained in New York City, which de Blasio has also discussed with local and national news outlets.
When asked about Cuomo's TV appearances, Cuomo spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays argued that Cuomo's speaking up on national issues that affect New Yorkers is part of his job and she pointed to his tangible policy achievements. She wrote in an email, "Make no mistake, the inhumane and immoral actions by the federal government impact the lives of New Yorkers, and we don’t apologize for using our bully pulpit to speak out forcefully against policies that harm our residents. From passing the strongest anti-sexual harassment laws in the nation to keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers to protecting hardworking New Yorkers from the disastrous tax and anti-union policies coming out of Washington, the Governor built on his eight-year record of moving New York forward this session. This sniping from the sidelines is silly and we'll leave that to others as we fight back for New Yorkers.”