Members of the mainstream media have described Senator Ted Cruz’s ill-timed vacation to Cancun amid the weather crisis ravaging his home state of Texas as a similar ‘scandal’ to the growing legal troubles Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo faces over the alleged cover-up of nursing home deaths in his state.
Over the weekend, The New York Times headlined “Cruz and Cuomo Face Scandal. Trump Can’t Save Them,” describing how the news cycle once dominated by the now-former president cannot divert attention from other political controversies. The story lumped together Cruz’s aborted vacation with Cuomo’s nursing home treatment.
For much of the past six years, former President Donald J. Trump has dominated the political conversation, causing days of outrage, finger pointers and general news cycle devastation with nearly every tweet. The daring behavior of other politicians was often lost amidst Mr. Trump’s obsessive desire to dominate news coverage, “the Times wrote on Saturday.” Well, the former president has now almost become silent, leaving a Trump-sized void in our national conversation that President Biden is unwilling to fill. That’s been a rude awakening for some other politicians, who suddenly become entangled in controversies that aren’t quickly plunged into a torrent of Trump news. ”
“Saturday Night Live” teased both Cruz and Cuomo during the show’s cold opening last weekend. The sketch featured the Senator and Governor, played by Aidy Bryant and Pete Davidson, respectively, attempting to limit the damage on a talk show hosted by Britney Spears.
POLITICO DECLARES THAT CRUZ HAS REVIVED ‘THE AGE OF THE POLITICAL SCANDAL’ AS CUOMO NURSING HOME CONTROVERSION START-UP
On Sunday, ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl similarly equated the two “ scandals ” while anchoring “ This Week, ” suggesting that both had just emerged despite criticism of Cuomo’s now-famous warrant for COVID-positive placing patients in nursing homes began last spring. when the warrant was issued.
“This week also had our first post-Trump political scandals, Ted Cruz’s deluded trip to Cancun and the allegations of cover-up and deadly mismanagement against Andrew Cuomo,” Karl told viewers as he teased the upcoming panel discussion.
ABC ‘WORLD NEWS TONIGHT’ GIVES CRUZ CANCUN FIASCO FOUR TIMES MORE COVERAGE THAN CUOMO NURSING HOME SCANDAL
Last Thursday, ABC’s “World News Tonight” spent roughly four times as much airtime on Cruz’s stay than the FBI and DOJ investigations of the Cuomo government, spending nearly four minutes on the GOP senator and just 55 seconds on the controversial democratic governor.
That same night, the primetime coverage of CNN and MSNBC was similarly dominated by the Texan. A whopping 46 minutes were spent on Cruz’s vacation, while less than three minutes were spent reporting on the prominent New Yorker.
On Friday, Politico’s Playbook cited Cruz’s optical fiasco as proof that the “era of political scandal” is alive and well despite the turmoil the Cuomo administration has faced in recent weeks.
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“Many observers wondered if the era of the political scandal was over – if partisans on both sides were so defined by hatred for their rival political tribe that they would let their own leaders get away with just about anything,” it read. “And then a bearded man who appeared to be Cruz was photographed with a roll bag at the United desk at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, ready to board the plane to Cancun.”
A tweet from Politico promoting the Playbook read, “Many political observers wondered if the era of the political scandal was dead. Ted Cruz proved it this week that it wasn’t.”