Cuomo, Avenatti, The Lincoln Project: The media's anti-Trump idols who've collapsed in disgrace

A year ago, Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was not only hailed by the media as a hero of the coronavirus pandemic; he was also being floated as a presidential candidate. 

Now, Cuomo is leaving office amid multiple sexual harassment allegations, another figure bolstered by the media as a Trump antagonist who has collapsed in spectacular fashion, following Democratic attorney Michael Avenatti and the scandal-ridden Lincoln Project. 

"Governor Cuomo out there day after day after day- everything Trump isn't; honest, direct, brave," MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace said of Cuomo last year, also referring to him as "one of the heroes on the frontlines." 

"This has been a remarkable show of leadership by Governor Cuomo in recent days," CNN's Brian Stelter said. "He's providing hope, but not false hope."

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"With all of this adulation that you're getting for doing your job, are you thinking about running for president?" CNN anchor Chris Cuomo asked his brother during their 11-part series of chummy interviews.

New York Times media columnist Ben Smith wrote the governor was "the control freak we need right now" and praised CNN's journalistically unethical Cuomo-Cuomo ratings ploy as "riveting," writing "two brothers who share corny jokes and coronavirus fears are turning the ‘Cuomo’ name into its own source of trust."

Cuomo's celebrity status among liberals reached such soaring heights that many of his fans, including Trevor Noah and Ellen DeGeneres, began identifying themselves as "Cuomosexuals."

A year later, Cuomo stunned the nation by announcing his resignation following a state investigation outlining sexual harassment allegations from 11 women. 

However, anyone who wasn't a "Cuomosexual" knew the governor's troubles began long before the AG report. 

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While much of the media fawned over Cuomo's daily press briefings and the Cuomo Brothers comedy hour on CNN, the governor signed a controversial order directing nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients to prevent overwhelming hospitals. Later reversed by Cuomo, it was blamed for upwards of 15,000 elderly patient deaths in nursing homes, and the New York Attorney General later confirmed the Cuomo administration significantly undercounted COVID deaths in a report released in January. 

The nursing home scandal is not the only controversy that has potential criminal implications. Various reports earlier this year revealed Cuomo used government employees to draft his book and his administration allocated state resources for his friends and family to receive prioritized COVID testing – including his CNN star brother – in the early weeks of the pandemic as ordinary New Yorkers struggled for such access. 

Despite all the COVID-related crises that have clouded Cuomo, it was the sexual harassment claims that catapulted his ousting. 

The media was slow to take Cuomo's alleged misconduct seriously. Lindsey Boylan, a former aide, claimed on Twitter in December 2020 she was sexually harassed by the governor and revealed in February the details of what she said transpired. All five major networks, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC, initially skipped Boylan's allegations, only to shed light on Cuomo's alleged predatory behavior as more accusers came forward. 

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Cuomo, now just days from leaving office, is being attacked by the same media that lauded him last year. So what changed? Just the occupant in the White House. 

Much of the praise Cuomo received was framed to disparage former President Donald Trump. As MSNBC's Joy Reid once put it, "Maybe Trump is just a little bit mad that Governor Cuomo has become a kind of acting president." Meanwhile, Cuomo's nursing home scandal, which began brewing in May 2020, was virtually ignored by the press. But now with President Joe Biden in office, the governor's controversies have all become fair game.

That being said, Cuomo was far from the only media-bolstered champion of the #Resistance only to have fallen from grace. 

Michael Avenatti burst onto the political scene in early 2018 as the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels in her litigation against Trump, whom she claimed to have had an affair with in 2006 and then been paid off to stay quiet about it.

While launching a legal battle, Avenatti boldly predicted Trump will not "serve out his term" based on the dirt he was pursuing to publicize. Whether or not he actually believed what he said remains unknown, but his media cheerleaders took him seriously right from the beginning. 

"He's out there saving the country!" Joy Behar of "The View" exclaimed, declaring he's the "only person … Donald Trump fears more than Robert Mueller." 

"No one has talked tougher directly to Donald Trump than Michael Avenatti and Donald Trump is afraid to mention his name," MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell similarly said. 

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Brian Stelter, CNN's leftwing media guru, told Avenatti directly that he was "taking [him] seriously" as a presidential contender because of his cable news savviness.   

Avenatti refused to allow the news cycle to move on without him as he injected himself in the contentious Supreme Court confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He infamously represented Julie Swetnick, the woman who alleged she was gang-raped at parties attended by Kavanaugh. The media was quick to embrace the explosive, unsubstantiated claim and welcomed the anti-Trump lawyer for a new round of TV appearances. 

A study from NewsBusters determined Avenatti made over 200 combined appearances on CNN and MSNBC throughout the year. He was even invited on "The View" as a guest co-host.

Like Cuomo, Avenatti managed to skate through nearly every interview he partook in since the media viewed him as "an existential threat to the Trump presidency," as Stephen Colbert introduced him on "The Late Show."

However, like Cuomo, Avenatti's shady behavior caught up to him. 

In 2019, the once outspoken lawyer had the right to remain silent as he was charged with trying to extort $25 million from Nike. He was later found guilty and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Avenatti also will stand trial in Los Angeles this year on charges of defrauding clients out of millions, and next year he will go to court in Manhattan again after Daniels alleged he stole $300,000 from her on a book deal.

The media was certainly put in an awkward spot when they were forced to cover Avenatti's legal woes. A CBS News correspondent admitted on-air, "maybe we went about covering him the wrong way."

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MSNBC, meanwhile, offered the prison sentence less than two minutes of coverage following his steamy love affair with the Peacock network, which had him more than 100 times. As Wallace once said in one of her typically obsequious interviews with a liberal guest, "I'm just dying to hear what you think."

But it wasn't just individuals like Cuomo and Avenatti who were heralded by the media as warriors to slay the orange dragon before their own downfalls. There was a coalition of grift that followed the same trajectory.  

In December 2019, several #NeverTrump icons, including cable news pundits Steve Schmidt and Rick Wilson and lawyer George Conway, founded The Lincoln Project. Framed as a super PAC that fought for classic GOP values, its sole mission was to troll Trump and punish any Republican who dared to support him.  

Its launch was announced prominently on the op-ed pages of The New York Times. 

Throughout the 2020 election cycle, The Lincoln Project would go viral with its ads attacking the president, many of which were given free airtime on MSNBC, and its members were treated like royalty during media appearances.  

The New Yorker praised the group's "edgy tweets" while the Washingtonian declared the PAC as "one of the signature political groups of the 2020 race." The Lincoln Project was even rewarded by CBS News with a glowing report on "60 Minutes."

CNN correspondent Jim Acosta was dubbed the Lincoln Project's "press secretary" for hyping the group's ads on Twitter. CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer wrote The Lincoln Project "has shown the way by directly supporting Biden's candidacy."

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin once fawned, "God bless the folks at @ProjectLincoln." 

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However, despite all the media hype The Lincoln Project's ads received, research showed they had little to no impact on the electorate. A study conducted by the Democratic Super PAC Priorities USA found that battleground state voters were not "persuaded" by some of the group's most viral videos. 

Not only was The Lincoln Project's influence overestimated; its problems were significantly underestimated. 

In late January, following Biden's inauguration, Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver was accused of sexual harassment by over 20 young men, including minors. Despite the denials of his colleagues, who claimed they knew nothing about his alleged predatory behavior, multiple reports said they were made aware of the allegations just weeks after the group was founded. 

Additionally, the founders of the anti-Trump PAC were accused of lining their own pockets with the millions of dollars they raised from donors. The humiliation continued when even Conway called for it to shut down after the Lincoln Project published the private messages of its lone female co-founder Jennifer Horn, who was contacted by a reporter who published a piece on its toxic work environment.

Following months of utter turmoil, The Lincoln Project is hoping to weather the storm, absolving itself of any wrongdoing in the Weaver scandal according to an "independent" probe conducted by a law firm whose lawyers made several donations to the group last year. Its members have been releasing more viral ads aiding the Democratic Party as well as continuing its YouTube show for the PAC's biggest mega fans. 

The damage was done, however, as The Lincoln Project has seen its influence fade without Trump in office and its scandals still fresh.

It remains to be seen whether the media will learn lessons from its coverage of these fallen idols.

MSNBC has invited several former and current Lincoln Project personalities on-air and "11th Hour" anchor Brian Williams even aired one of its ads as recently as July. And if Avenatti weren't in jail, it's possible the network would similarly welcome him back into the fold. 

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"If there was no President Trump, then it’s doubtful the level of this slobbering would have occurred," Fox news contributor Joe Concha said last week. "Cuomo played the role of COVID’s anti-Trump. His PowerPoint presentation — all sizzle and no steak — were lauded in the press to the point he negotiated a $5 million dollar book deal and won an Emmy.

"It’s really no different than the media fawning over Michael Avenatti. Same deal: He was ‘an existential threat to Trump,’ according to sycophants like Stephen Colbert, so he was given tons of airtime and fawning press."

As for Cuomo, Chuck Todd is already predicting a political comeback. 

"His career was either permanently over or almost permanently over, and he chose the path of almost permanently over," Todd said on MSNBC just minutes after the governor announced his resignation. "Look, I expect in my lifetime, Andrew Cuomo, to probably run for office again. What that office is, I don't know. But that's what this resignation tells me today."

The media can only hope. 

Fox News' Brian Flood and David Rutz contributed to this report.