The moment New York Attorney General Letitia James finished giving her report on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment of various females, Democratic officials in the state were placed into quite a quandary. Their allies in the activist media are experiencing the same dilemma.
At this point, it seems obvious that it would take an act of God for Gov. Cuomo to willingly resign from his position. He seems intent on riding this thing out for as long as possible. Even the myriad of calls to resign coming from other Democrats as high up as President Joe Biden has not shaken his resolve. Indeed, the fact that he is still denying the allegations seems to indicate that he won’t go quietly. This reality has brought up questions about the “I” word.
But does the state’s Democrat-dominated legislature have the political will to move forward with impeachment proceedings if Cuomo remains defiant? That is the question on everyone’s minds. Three Democratic state lawmakers have already signaled that they would be willing to pursue Cuomo’s ouster during interviews with Fox News.
CNN reported that an impeachment investigation into the governor was close to being completed:
A wide-ranging New York state impeachment investigation into various allegations of misconduct against embattled Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is close to concluding, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
In a letter sent Thursday, lawyers working for the New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee’s impeachment probe informed Cuomo’s attorneys that the “Committee’s investigation is nearing completion and the Assembly will soon consider potential articles of impeachment against your client.”
However, none of this means that New York Democrats have the cajones to actually launch impeachment proceedings. Moreover, even if they were to impeach Cuomo, there is still a chance that they could fail to convict, meaning that Cuomo would remain in office.
If Cuomo manages to extricate himself from this situation while still remaining as governor, what will that mean for the #MeToo movement, which began years ago after the revelations about film producer Harvey Weinstein? The anti-sexual harassment movement became quite influential despite criticisms that many were using it as a political weapon. While it has not been front and center in the national conversation, it is still a noteworthy factor. However, the last time it received a significant level of attention was when the Democrats were exploiting it to smear Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
It seems likely that if Cuomo retains his position, it might be a death knell for the #MeToo campaign. If they can’t even remove a politician who has exhibited the superhuman level of sleaze that the governor has, then it is almost impossible to take it seriously.
On the other hand, it is also worth speculating that the movement could be dead even if Cuomo is successfully removed from office. The Attorney General’s report exposed the fact that two of the women who co-founded Time’s Up, an anti-harassment organization created after the #MeToo movement became a thing, actually helped Gov. Cuomo discredit one of the women who accused him of sexual assault. That’s right. Two female leaders in the #MeToo movement didn’t follow the “believe all women” mantra in this particular case.
If high-profile figures in the #MeToo movement were willing to collaborate with an accused sexual harasser to counter a female victim’s allegations, it seems safe to say that the people purporting to oppose sexual harassment are not as serious about the matter as they would have us believe. Indeed, it lends credibility to those who contend that the movement has been hijacked and used for political purposes.
In the end, it is legitimate victims of sexual harassment that lose out in this story, not the people guilty of engaging in this inappropriate behavior.
