NewsColony

How Andrew Cuomo, New York Governor, Became the Politician of the Moment NewsColony ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo awoke before dawn on Tuesday, emerging after a few hours’ sleep to board a helicopter to New York City for the coronavirus briefing that has become a daily ritual for him and for the millions of people now watching. But this event would be different. The outbreak was moving faster than he had expected, with the number of confirmed cases doubling every three days, and he decided he needed to show people — including the White House — how desperate the situation had become. “You want a pat on the back for sending 400 ventilators?” the governor said, referring to a recent federal government shipment to New York. “What am I going to do with 400 ventilators when I need 30,000?” he said later. “You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die because you only sent 400 ventilators.” The governor repeatedly assailed the federal response as slow, inefficient and i...