‘Why Do We Keep Falling for Boorishness Masquerading as Leadership?’ MSNBC Panel Debates Cuomo’s Fate, America’s ‘Addiction’ for ‘Tough’ Politicians

“Why do we keep falling for boorishness masquerading as leadership?” MSNBC’s Anand Giridharadas, filling in for Mehdi Hasan, asked his panel on Sunday evening, regarding the political fate of embattled Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY).

Joining Giridharadas were Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), one of a growing list of New York Democrats who have called on Cuomo to resign, and the New York Times’ Ginia Bellafante, who wrote a column this week asking, “Are We Finally Done With Tough-Guy Politicians?”

As Bellafante wrote, Cuomo has defended himself by claiming this is just his nature, both as an Italian-American and as part of his personality:

Until now, little has gotten in the way of the governor’s assertions of power. Many of Mr. Cuomo’s victims were afraid to come forward out of fear of retaliation. Their boss was a fan of both “banter” and retribution. “I am the same person in public as I am in private,” the governor said this week, a statement that can seem like the problem more than the exoneration, because in public Mr. Cuomo can be combative and domineering, something New Yorkers have closely observed over the course of eight years as he has regularly submitted Mayor Bill de Blasio to pulverization in his mortar and pestle.

Bellafante told Giridharadas that politicians like Cuomo and former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) who “both have this very combative persona” were able to get the approval of their constituents “because voters like a certain amount of paternalism in a politician and they love politicians who in a moment of crisis can really lay it on and say I’m the guy here to take care of business.”

Voters will overlook a lot, she explained, if a politician can seem “authoritative and tough.”

“I think it’s an addiction among Americans,” she said.

Bellafante also commented how Cuomo had set Italian-Americans “back a couple of decades,” remembering how her father and uncles had “fought against that stereotype which we saw from Rudy Valentino on, of Italian men being very — libidinous, unable to control themselves.”

“We’ve come very far to combat that stereotype and he’s bringing it back in.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.

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