Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who at one time was widely discussed as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, took the far left to task for being soft on crime, arguing progressives are hurting the very people they claim to represent with their approach to criminals.
“Democrats: When you ignore crime, you hurt the people you represent,” Cuomo tweeted Thursday, along with a clip from Quake Media, the platform that hosts his podcast “As a Matter of Fact.”
The video, titled “Ignoring Crime: The opposite of progress,” was posted to Cuomo’s YouTube channel.
“The far left doesn’t want to talk about crime,” said Cuomo. “They don’t want to hear the word crime spoken.”
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“There is no crime problem,” the former governor added, using apparent sarcasm. “It’s all Republican propaganda.”
Cuomo then said crime most affects low-income and minority communities — the same people, he argued, Democrats should represent.
“Do you know who are the victims of crime?” he asked. “Over 70% black, brown, and poor. So, tell me, who does the Democratic Party really represent if not the Black, brown, and poor? And when you refuse to address the issue of crime, the people who are paying the price are the Black, brown and poor. They’re paying the price for your far-left politics.”
Cuomo’s comments come as some retail stores across the country are shutting their doors, citing crime as a key reason.
This month, for example, a California beauty store closed after it was robbed or burglarized a dozen times. In Portland, Oregon, a clothing shop permanently shut down last year after facing a string of break-ins that has left the store financially gutted, according to a note posted to the front of the store.
“Our city is in peril,” a printed note posted on Rains PDX store read. “Small businesses (and large) cannot sustain doing business, in our city’s current state. We have no protection, or recourse, against the criminal behavior that goes unpunished. Do not be fooled into thinking that insurance companies cover losses. We have sustained 15 break-ins … we have not received any financial reimbursement since the 3rd.”
Walmart has also closed several locations in Portland and Chicago, in part for financial reasons but also seemingly due to crime. The closures came after Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned last year of rising crime’s devastating impact on retail stores.
“Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” McMillon told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in December. He added that if the crime wave is not halted soon and if prosecutors don’t bring charges against shoplifters, “prices will be higher, and/or stores will close.”
In Philadelphia, convenience store chain Wawa permanently closed locations and shortened the hours at some suburban stores due to crime.
Republicans have been quite critical of progressive prosecutors in Democrat-run blue cities, arguing they’re soft on crime and contributing to high crime rates in major cities.
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In a striking move last year, San Francisco voters ousted progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin in a recall vote focused on his soft-on-crime policies, which included prosecuting significantly fewer felonies and misdemeanors than his predecessors. Boudin had said he wanted to abolish cash bail and end “mass incarceration.”
In St. Louis, city prosecutor Kimberly Gardner currently faces widespread backlash for pursuing similar policies — including an effort by Missouri’s attorney general to remove her from office.
Washington, D.C. also made national headlines recently for unsuccessfully attempting to implement a dramatic overhaul of its criminal code. Republicans and many Democrats complained that the proposal would ease criminal penalties in a city that is already suffering from rising crime rates.
Cuomo saw his political star in the Democratic Party rise as the COVID-19 pandemic raged and lockdowns were in full force in 2020. The governor’s candid daily press briefings and forceful action to shut down New York earned him national acclaim from many in his party, and President Biden even called him the “gold standard” for governors. Members of the media pushed the prospect of Cuomo running for president. Some even called him the “acting president” during former President Trump’s tenure.
Behind the scenes, however, a series of events were taking place that led Cuomo to resign from his office in disgrace.
In March 2020, Cuomo issued a directive for nursing homes to accept elderly patients with COVID-19. Thousands of people subsequently died in New York’s nursing homes.
Cuomo’s administration radically underreported the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in nursing homes. In January 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a damning report showing the extent of the damage.
Months later, James released another report concluding that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women, including current and former employees. The report also found that Cuomo oversaw a workplace culture “rife with fear and intimidation.”
Cuomo resigned in August 2021. On his first full day as the former governor, his successor acknowledged the state had suffered nearly 12,000 more deaths from COVID than Cuomo publicly acknowledged.
Last month, a former Cuomo aide who had accused the ex-governor of sexual harassment in a federal lawsuit filed another lawsuit against New York, alleging the state government is accountable for Cuomo’s harassment and for the actions of other aides who didn’t act on the matter once it was reported.
Cuomo is also currently facing another lawsuit over nursing home deaths in New York during the pandemic, with the plaintiff alleging that Cuomo’s pride and “unmitigated greed” had led to needless deaths.
The lawsuit was filed by Sean Newman in a Brooklyn federal district court. Newman is married to Janice Dean, who works for Fox News Channel as a senior meteorologist. Newman’s parents died in early 2020 at nursing homes in the state amid the COVID-19 outbreak.