Whether it’s a president accused of 26 different sexual assaults or a congressman accused of covering up a decades-long abuse scandal, Republicans have long been able to brush off these sordid tales. A simple "I didn't do it" is all the GOP needs to ignore a scandal. Perhaps you might recall the latest in the long line of Republican offenders, Matt Gaetz, who has been credibly accused of sex trafficking. I don’t see him being hounded by his colleagues on the right to step down. They're too busy attending his "freedom" rallies, I guess.
As a means of comparison, let's go back to the last time a prominent Democrat was embroiled in a similar scandal. When that news first broke, then-Senator Al Franken was accused of kissing and groping actress Leeann Tweeden. As more accusations came to light, Franken was apologetic but had no intention of stepping down. Finally, as pressure mounted from within a Democratic caucus led by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Franken was abruptly run out of Washington without even a trial or thorough investigation. (To this day, some Democrats regret their decision to force out Franken so quickly. And some attributed the difficulties during Gillibrand's presidential campaign to lingering resentment about Franken.)
Yet across the senate aisle, at the very same time, Roy Moore was in the midst of not only a campaign to represent Alabama in the U.S. Senate, but a sexual scandal of his own. Multiple women accused Moore of sexual misconduct. Yet as so many GOP members had done before, Moore denied the accusations and kept on running. Condemnation from within the party was minimal and largely ineffective, though Moore eventually lost a close election. (A slim majority of voters looked upon Democrat Doug Jones as the lesser of two evils versus an accused sex offender.)
I'm not saying that a defiant Cuomo should remain in office by using the GOP playbook. If even some of the allegations are true, it's clear Cuomo can no longer govern effectively. Unfortunately, doing the right thing is frustrating from a political standpoint. If the other side won’t leave office until they're dragged out in handcuffs, it's very hard to win the game while teams are playing by two sets of rules.
For Cuomo, there is a path where he can maintain deniability -- "I regret that anyone was hurt by my behavior" -- while agreeing to step aside for the greater good of the state and the party. Though in this case a Democratic candidate may still be the favorite in a 2022 election without Cuomo, the message remains the same: Democrats expect accountability from their elected representatives, while Republicans seemingly don't care. Unfortunately, this extends beyond matters of sexual impropriety. Republican voters, still in thrall of the Twice-Impeached Disgraced Former President, will excuse any wrongdoing done in the service of furthering their own agenda.
