One thing you've done as governor
that has been particularly unique amongst leaders is,
you haven't just, um, I think, given people platitudes.
You came out with, um,
really stern warnings very early on.
You were very grim in your forecasts.
You-you just told the people what information you had.
Um, it's a very unique way to handle a press conference.
You've also been very personal
in telling the stories that-that you've told.
Is there a reason you chose to do this, you know?
Because some leaders would go,
"I'm gonna... I'm gonna hide it all
"and not share anything with the public.
I'll just make them feel good."
Um, you've chosen a completely different approach.
Why? Because I-I haven't slept at night, and I feel like
you could have carried some of that burden for me.
But I want to know why you chose to not do that.
We had our first case on March 1.
Uh, I was going to put in
some of the most dramatic
government mandates in history.
No other governor has shut down the economy.
No other governor has ever said,
"You have to stay home."
Uh, if New Yorkers had said,
"No, I'm not doing it,"--
and New Yorkers are a defiant bunch--
uh, I would have been powerless.
I can't enforce a stay-at-home order
for 19 million people.
The-the ability
to have a plan was purely dependent
on New Yorkers buying in.
And they are smart, and they are cynical.
And if they don't believe you,
or you haven't made your argument,
and you haven't laid out the facts,
they're not going to do it.
Especially when you're asking them
to do something they don't want to do.
Especially when you're asking them
to do something they have never done before.
I mean, just think about saying to New Yorkers,
"Everybody must stay home. Lock the door.
"You can't go outside, except to go buy food
and then you have to run right back home."
Uh, no, no.
I'm a native New Yorker.
My first instinct is, "Yeah, I'm not doing that.
That's nice, but I'm not doing it."
So, they had to believe it.
They had to understand it.
And, uh, I am not in the business
of not telling the truth, or trying to manipulate,
or "I'm only going to tell you what you can handle,
because I'm worried about what you can actually absorb."
No. Uh, I am not there to filter.
I am not there to manipulate.
Here's the situation.
Here are the facts.
I'm going to tell you everything I know.
You know everything I know.
And just the way I know it-- no sugar-coating.
There's no lying that everyone has been affected by this.
You know, some days I feel like life is normal.
Some days I feel like this is the craziest thing
we've ever experienced, and it swings wildly.
And I know everyone has a different experience of it.
I don't know what it's like to be a leader,
a governor of a state where thousands of people are dying,
and you are hearing this, you are seeing the stories,
you're responsible for these lives.
Um, you're not responsible for the deaths,
but you're responsible for the lives of the people
and keeping everybody safe, as safe as you can.
What has that done for you as a person?
Like, how, like, how are you doing,
and how are you dealing with this?
On the communication, which, as I said,
is so important because, really, this is all a voluntary program
by New Yorkers, right?
They... they changed their behavior,
they brought down the infection rate.
But I gave them the information.
Part of the information was personal,
because this is... this is traumatic.
This is PTSD,
uh, for an entire generation
that will talk about this.
And it is personal, so I try to communicate
how I feel personally, and my fear
and my anxiety as part of this,
to say to you, you're not alone,
everyone's feeling this, I'm feeling it, too.
The one differentiation is,
I have to deal with the number of deaths
in the state.
15,000 people, Trevor.
9/11-- 2,700 people.
9/11-- 2,700 people. That was supposed to be
the worst experience of my life, I believe.
2,700 people. This is 15,000 people.
474 people yesterday.
That... weighs heavily on me.
Uh, I can sit here and say to you,
I believe that we did everything that could possibly be done.
I don't believe we lost anyone
because we didn't have a bed
and we didn't have doctors and nurses.
We did that.
But we still lost 15,000 people.
And I still am the governor,
and I still hold myself responsible,
and I still say to myself, "What else could I do?
What else could I do? What else could I do?"
Was there anything else that we could be doing right now?
That is a very heavy burden to bear.
You... you've also had an interesting connection
to the coronavirus on a very personal level, um--
and I know we've got to let you go soon.
But... I wanted to chat to you a little about a strange journey
that many of us have gone on, where we got introduced to a...
a love and a friendship that you share with your brother,
who is on CNN.
And... you know, for many people,
I mean, we had never seen this side of you,
we'd never seen you and your brother
and the way you joke with each other,
and then it came out that Chris had coronavirus,
and now all of a sudden his world was turned upside down.
Did-did... did any of that experience
shake you in a different way,
when it became that much closer to you as a... as a person?
Oh, yeah. For sure it did.
Uh, and again, in the same way, the powerlessness, powerless.
This is my brother, uh, and he's my man,
he's my best friend, and, you know,
I don't like to give him any credit,
because that's the whole big brother-little brother thing,
but the guy's a superstar, he really is.
Uh, and he's a beautiful guy. He's just a beauty.
Uh, but he gets sick. He's in his basement.
I can't even go see him.
And then his wife gets sick.
She's quarantined upstairs.
He's quarantined in the basement.
He's got three kids,
a 17-year-old and two younger kids.
And I can't go see him. I can't help the kids.
Uh, I mean, it's this...
terrible nightmare of a science-fiction movie,
where you can have loved ones with this disease,
where nobody knows whether you're gonna live or die.
You know, and I kept saying to him, "Don't worry, you're young,
and it's... you're fine."
Yeah, sure. But who knows, right?
Uh, because yes, it tends to attack seniors,
but you also have younger people who are dying.
And there's nothing I could do.
I'm his big brother.
I love him more than y... than anybody.
I'm the governor of the state.
Nothing that I can do to help.
And that is a humbling situation to be in.
It just shows you how we all try to be in control.
You're in control of nothing.
You're in control of nothing at the end of the day.
Uh, "Men plan and God laughs," right?
So it's, on top of all the disorientation,
on top of the responsibility,
then you just have this real-life situation
where you worry every day,
that is he gonna be the one that, uh...
that could be, uh, that could lose his life,
that could die from this?
So it does bring it home, it does bring...
bring it home, Trevor.
Well, Governor, thank you so much for your time today.
I really appreciate it. Hopefully, we'll be seeing you
on the show on the other side of this.
Look after yourself, mentally, physically,
and thank you so much for joining us
on The Daily Social Distancing Show.
Thank you. I'll keep watching.
Have a good one.