Remember that line from former president, Bill Clinton, “I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky?” Remember how emphatic he was that this was an absolute truth while looking America directly in the eyes and telling a lie
Well, history has a habit of repeating itself. As in the matter of Andrew Cuomo, who has repeatedly uttered that he did not touch, grope, sexually harass, or exhibit any inappropriate behavior towards the six female accusers or anyone during his tenure as Governor of New York.
While I’ve chosen former president Bill Clinton’s statement to remind us that a lie is a lie, is a lie; I would not classify that history is repeating itself in exactly the same manner. I still have the utmost respect for former president Bill Clinton. He was an outstanding president and it saddened me that his personal indiscretions gained more media attention than all the good he did as the leader of the free world. While I would never condone cheating on your spouse; I believe that when caught, the matter should have been managed privately, which would never be the case when one or both parties are public figures.
The comparison is the lie, the public announcement made to convince people that neither of them were guilty of any wrongdoing. That is where the similarity ends. Bill Clinton knew that he was telling a lie and was simply trying to hide that he was having an affair. Governor Andrew Cuomo isn’t denying, he’s in denial. I also admired the Governor whom I saw as being a devoted father to his daughters and for being a person of action when representing the state of New York. What I did not see until he emphatically denied the allegations of the six accusers was that his denial is a classic trademark of narcissistic behavior. Cuomo is not admitting to the allegations because in his mind, he has not done anything wrong. The same is true of a former president who clearly lost an election, but to this day, still believes he won.
A narcissist does not view their behavior as wrong. If anything, in their mind, they are always right. Even when caught red handed a narcissist will justify what they did. In the mind of a narcissist, those accusing him/her of wrongdoing are too stupid to know right from wrong. A narcissist, if given a few moments of your time, will manipulate you into thinking that you are wrong for making false accusations against him/her even if you have proof of their guilt.
Governor Cuomo further justifies his misconduct by showing photos of his public displays of affection, hugging, kissing women, men, and children in public, but there aren’t any photos of his hand on the breast of a female assistant or any audio of his inappropriate comments to female co-workers. Which is why I am not trying this matter based on public opinion without factual evidence. There is always the matter of the truth, the lie and what happened somewhere in between. There is truth in numbers, along with factual evidence that men in power feel entitled and have little to no regard for anything other than themselves. Even in my own experience, I can say emphatically that based on years of researching narcissistic behavior, seventeen years of working with a narcissist, years of listening to and writing about stories from my own experience and survivors of narcissistic abuse, it was immediately apparent to me the difference between the look in Bill Clinton’s eyes when he was trying to hide the truth and the look on Andrew Cuomo’s face that he didn’t understand what the truth really is; that his behavior is not only inappropriate, it’s wrong and even criminal. The problem is, if he refuses to face and admit the truth, he may end up impeached, and perhaps even imprisoned believing that he did absolutely Nothing Wrong.
