Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on The Howard Stern Show

Howard Stern: Do you think - are you shocked by all this unbelievable outpouring of love for you? The guy just told me you're now on the cover of Rolling Stone, which is reserved for rock stars and in a sense, what they're saying is our governor in New York is a rock star. Are you just blown away by this sudden - now you are the sexiest man in America, my own Robin who works with me is thinking of dating you -

Robin Quivers: Well he's single, Howard.

Howard Stern: Yes, and giving herself to you. You know what it is? Confidence is sexy, is it not?

Robin Quivers: Yes, it's back.

Governor Cuomo: See, Robin - he didn't want to say single because there's an underlying resentment there that people in Howard's position have. They don't want to give up that word - they just don't want to say it. It's very interesting. You could do a whole psychological study on it.

Howard Stern: What do you mean by that, Governor?

Governor Cuomo: I just mean that married men don't like to point out that someone else is single. Have you ever noticed that?

Howard Stern: You know you're absolutely right, I don't know why. I think we're all threatened or something. I don't get it. It's really insane. Oh my god, it's too wild. This whole thing is wild, but people are - how did the whole Rolling Stone thing come about? Were you aware of that? Did you actually have to pose for a picture or did they just throw something together?

Robin Quivers: Did you sit for an interview and all of that?

Governor Cuomo: No, I wouldn't pose for a picture. This is all happening, Howard - look, I don't understand it either, because from my point of view, I am doing the exact thing I have always done -

Howard Stern: I know.

Governor Cuomo: For years. I'm not doing anything different that I've ever done - it's who I am, it's how I operate.

Howard Stern: When I ran into you last summer, I said I wish you had run for President. You know, and I know you're on record as saying you're a Biden guy and I back Biden, too, I think Biden will be terrific but god you seem like just the right choice right now with the way you speak, it's attractive and the competence is attractive. I think you would win in a landslide right now, and you know that too. Is there any regret?

Governor Cuomo: No there's no regret. There's no regret. I'm doing - I'm doing what I said I would do. And when you are doing that and you've been true to yourself and you are true to the relationships around you, you have no regrets and that's the most important thing. I tell my kids who are now with me because of this craziness, but I actually have had a chance to spend some real time with them and actual quality time where they're not running in or running out. No regrets is the most important thing to end the game with, right? And you won't have accomplished everything you wanted, but that's okay. But no regrets that you honored yourself and you honored your word and you honored your commitment and you did the right thing.

Howard Stern: When you were a kid and you saw your father never really ran for President, what age did you know you were going to be a politician and you were going to run for office? How old were you at that point when it really dawned on you as something you wanted to do?

Governor Cuomo: In my late teens. My late teens. You know my father communicated such a passion for his job and such a love and how public service was an art form, you know everybody's talking about politicians and the grubbiness and he elevated it to an art form. And how - the way he communicated it, Howard, everything else was second. You know, he would say literally unless you go into a religious order and dedicate yourself to God, everything else is second to public service because public service is about helping other people in its purest form and when its done right, it makes a significant impact on people. Just think about your other point, quickly, I haven't changed. I'm doing what I'm doing. The public's appetite has changed, and their desires have changed. Politics is no longer a celebrity contest. Who you elect to office is no longer a boutique, white wine drinkers cocktail party discussion. We see real life that this matters - the people who are in charge, who are in office, they make decisions that decide life and death, literally.

Howard Stern: Well I got to tell you, Governor, I was never jaded about politicians. I know some are, who knows what they're in it for, but I always felt they are people who have a genuine calling for public service, you know? And I think about you and I think about, "You know what, if my father had been the governor," and you could have gotten a law degree and gone into corporate law and made a killing, you would have made a fortune, you know what I mean? You'd be sitting there with a pile of dough. I always admired that you chose a life of public service. And I do appreciate it. But you know, everyone is so jaded now, "Everyone's in it for the wrong reasons," I think there are some that are really into it for the right reasons, we've become so jaded.

Governor Cuomo: Yeah but I think there's a second lens also. Okay, you're in it for the right reasons. Second, can you do the job? And what is the job? And the job today is life and death. And wow, we haven't seen that in a longtime. When was the last time government did anything that impacted your life seriously? You'd have to go back to Vietnam War for a generation that was really impacted by government. Well, government matters, and there's something called government competence and professionalism and leadership and that has been reintroduced to the public.

Howard Stern: Yep, no and what I love about this is it's finally driving that point home. These nudniks who go around, we don't want the federal government involved in our lives, we don't want government, we don't want government - they are the first ones to crumble when all of a sudden real government is needed. We need government, we need laws and we need people abiding by these laws and when times in crisis occur everybody wants good government. It's a lot of nonsense some of these maniacs who are out there. We don't want government. What do you mean you don't want government? You need government. That's it. You need good competent people.

Governor Cuomo: It's like everything else. They don't want it until they need it and then when they need it then they are desperate for it, which they should be by the way. If government doesn't do its job here this is a situation that is unparalleled and it will change the course of people's lives depending on how this is handled - period.

Howard Stern: Who do you talk to, I mean the pressure on you right now is just astronomical and I don't pretend to even understand what your day is like, so when you're freaking out and you're seeing some real horror scene here and you're up close and you know that New York is depending on you, who do you talk to unstress? You got a shrink?

Governor Cuomo: No. I sort of talk to everyone and people fill different needs for me. There is no one person, Howard. I talk to a number of people and it sort of works for me that way. But also I'm more fundamental as a person, especially the older I get. Who is going to help you with a problem that 700 people died yesterday? No one will. No one can help. There is no one who can help you.

Howard Stern: What about these nudniks? I go out there. They're not wearing masks. I see that they're congregating. What the hell is wrong with them? Why are they not getting the message? I want a mandatory lock these people down. I don't know why, they're nudniks.

Governor Cuomo: You will always have a certain percentage of nudniks, to use your word. But I'll tell you by and large one of the real stories of this, why were all the projections wrong? Remember all the projections so far have said many more people would die and many more people would be hospitalized, starting with the White House projections. We're now entering this revisionist phase where some people say this was a political conspiracy theory, it was never going to be that bad. The White House numbers, McKinsey, Columbia, Cornell University, every study that was done, the Gates funded study, they all said it was going to be much, much worse. The variable was what government policies would be put in place, quote unquote isolation, and the real variable was would people listen, and that's where I was always worried. I can put a policy in place and New Yorkers would say that's a lot of crap. You're not going to disrupt my lifestyle. This is all hyper-blown. This is all political nonsense. I communicated the facts so aggressively because when we put the policies in place, Howard, I wanted people to believe them and follow them and New Yorkers are not going to do it just because you tell them to go in your house and close the door and don't come out for a month. Oh, yeah sure. I'm just going to do that because you tell me to. They had to believe it was necessary and the compliance has actually saved lives and changed all those projection models. So communicating to people besides the small percentage that just is defiant or ignorant frankly, it worked. It really did work. People believed and they acted responsibly.

Howard Stern: Are there things you now about this virus that you haven't told the public because we aren't strong enough to handle it? I always had this vision of a government, as governor you know things that I don't know and there is things that maybe you can't talk about. Are there things that we're just not able to handle or is this 100 percent total transparency?

Governor Cuomo: See I know, or I knew, that you were going to think that because that's what I would be thinking if I were you. So one of the reasons every morning, I go out there every morning since this started and I know that you're sitting there thinking that in your head so I go to great pains to say here is every fact I know and here is the worst construction of it, here is the moderate construction, and here is the most acceptable construction, and it's not me, here are all the experts and here are all the opinions, you decide. You know everything that I know. That's important that you have to believe, Howard, that you have all the facts that I have because if you start distrusting ballgame is over. Then when I stand up and I say, okay Howard, you have to agree to social distancing, you are going to say I don't believe you. It's government come down to credibility. It's credibility first and then competence but if you don't have the credibility you don't get the competence. So everything I know I have told the public.

Howard Stern: What is with you and de Blasio in the sense that he is getting under your skin because he made a decision on these schools closing down and you reminded him that as governor of New York you're the only one who can make that decision about schools closing down. Are you frustrated with him or are you guys getting along?

Governor Cuomo: In this situation, President Trump, other people, getting under your skin is a luxury. Emotion is a luxury. Nobody is getting under my skin. I don't operate on that level now. This is about what I have to do for New York, what's the best thing I can do for New York, and whoever can help me do that I will work with, and whoever is contrary to that I will oppose - period. There is no ego in this. We don't have the luxury of ego. I feel, I feel - who cares how I feel? But I can't have things happen that are mistakes, right? There are local officials all throughout the state and every local official has an opinion when the schools should open, when the schools should close, when businesses should open, when businesses should close, and what happened at the beginning of this is all these local officials started to act on their own and some schools were open, some schools were closed, some businesses were open, some businesses were closed. It doesn't work that way, either the policy has to be in place for the whole state, and ideally, by the way, also the surrounding states, because that's where the workforce comes from.

Howard Stern: That's right.

Governor Cuomo: This virus doesn't operate within city boundaries or county boundaries. So, from day one I've been working with New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York all together operating as one. So the entire regional workforce has one set of rules. New York City, you're New York City Mayor or you're the Nassau County Executive, you say, I just want to put a policy in place for Nassau. I say, I know that's nice, but I need a statewide policy and we're working with the other states and we need one policy and not everybody can do their own thing. That's a normal tension, but it is what it is. You can't have this ad hoc disconnected policy, period, just you can't do it.

Howard Stern: See, this is leadership. I want to say to my audience, "This guy gets it." Can't have every nudnik running around who's in office making his own rules.

Robin Quivers: You got to have a leader.

Howard Stern: You got to have a leader and someone's got to lead.

Robin Quivers: One person in charge making that final decision.

Howard Stern: Yes, listen, you're doing it. You're getting it done. You should've run for President.

Robin Quivers: Governor Cuomo, how do you get Congress, you've said there needs to be another stimulus package and all this pork-barrel stuff trying to get something that you want for your state or whatever, can't go on when you're trying to save peoples' lives and support people who can't get to work right now. How do you stop them from doing that?

Governor Cuomo: You have call them out and you have change the political equation, you have change the politics. Right now they do it because it works for them. That's why human beings do most things. They get rewarded for bringing money back to their district. They get rewarded for bringing pork-barrel. As much as people say in the abstract, "oh I don't like it. Except when it is delivered to my door. Then I like it. Then it's not pork, then its nourishment."

Howard Stern: Right.

Governor Cuomo: So, you have to change that equation and they have to be embarrassed that at this time of national need, when government should be at its best and we should stop all the normal BS politics, they're still operating on this tawdry political basis in the face of a national crisis. You have change the equation where they are actually harmed politically by doing the irresponsible and that's why I call them out on it every day.

Howard Stern: Are you the only one who hasn't watched Tiger King because you're so busy that you can't watch Netflix or are you having some time for personal down time with Netflix?

Governor Cuomo: I have watched excerpts of Tiger King because I have my daughters here so I'm still exposed to life.

Howard Stern: I hate that Tiger King.

Robin Quivers: So you do know Johnny Exotic or whatever his name is?

Governor Cuomo: You know, it's interesting you say that. I don't think it was like a burden, but I did - you're right. First of all, I'm 13 years older than Chris. My father was Governor, I'm 13 years old which means he's 5, I'm eighteen. I could have been his father almost. So my father was very busy. I felt for Chris because he was much younger and on his own. So I was somewhere between a father and a brother role always. And it was a lot at one time.

Howard Stern: What do you mean it was a lot? A lot how?

Governor Cuomo: He was a lot to handle. I was always helping my father. I was his campaign manager. I was working with him in what he was doing and my father was just an obsessive, beautiful, brilliant but 7-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day. Then you had Chris who's sort of left at home and I felt for him and his plight. Balancing all of that was a lot. He's a really special human being.

Howard Stern: Did you resent your father? Governor Cuomo, did you resent your father for not being more of a father to your little brother because you -- Did you ever sit him down and say, "Listen, I feel like I'm taking on too much of a burden here. I'm stepping into your role." Or was that too difficult a conversation to have with him?

Governor Cuomo: I didn't have the conversation with him at that time. I don't think I realized it at that time. Because there was an additional component which is my father had me manage his campaign at like 23-years-old.

Howard Stern: Crazy.

Governor Cuomo: You put me in that position with all that responsibility and it was like life and death with that campaign. You know, you win the campaign you live. You lose you die. That's a lot of pressure for a son. But no, I don't think I realized it at the time. Later in life, I talked to him about it. But it was part of his package, Howard. He was doing God's work and that was 24/7 and everything else was a distant second. That's why he was so good at what he did and he was so authentic and principled and genuine. He did it with every cell in his body because he believed it with every gene in his body. That came first.

Howard Stern: How much pressure is it when you have to run your father's campaign? And when your father doesn't win, all of a sudden then it's your job to pick up your father who must have been a mess over it, right? He probably felt rejected. I would think that that's too much of a burden for a son.

Governor Cuomo: Well my father and I went through a very dark period together. He lost. You know people forget, he lost to George Pataki. He didn't know he was going to lose. He did go through a very dark period. I ran for Governor and I lost and then I went through a divorce. So we were like in a very dark period together for a long time. A long time - like 6 years. That was a very important time for me because you really do learn more from life by getting knocked on your rear end than anything else. The question really does become what happens when you get knocked on your rear end? Do you get up? Do you learn? Or do you just stay down?

Howard Stern: When you say a dark period though, when your father's going through that and you're going through a dark period - how dark does it get? You mean massive depression?

Governor Cuomo: No. No, I mean just dark. It was all retrospective, reflective. Like the two athletes who sit around and watch the game tapes after the game they lost.

Howard Stern: I could have done this, I could have done that. That kind of like eating yourself up? I could have done a better job.

Governor Cuomo: I should have, I should have, I could have. If I had to do it all over there was the mistake. I dropped the ball. But then, I win miraculously and it's like Lazarus, you now get a second chance to do this after having lived through all the negativity, all the retrospection. I'm actually smarter and better prepared to do it. So I would say to my father, who's passed now, but he was alive when I won and alive for many of the first years. I said, "I'm going to correct all the mistakes for both of us."

Howard Stern: Wow.

Governor Cuomo: And the eulogy of my father's administration was great speaker, but didn't get enough things done. That was an ugly review, but it's one that pained him. Together, because he was very much with me at the beginning of my administration also, we were going to fix all of that. We were going to address all the criticism, even if unfair, and learn all the lessons that were fair.

Howard Stern: Yeah, because you know what, you're right. Because it's very interesting, the rabbi in you is, you get stuff done. It's as if you're the complete opposite of what his image was. He was the guy in the ivory tower who could write speeches, the public thought, but you're the guy who can get things done. When you're at those press briefings, people are seeing it and they're loving it.

Robin Quivers: But he's also a great speaker too. So he's in the new and improved.

Howard Stern: You are. You're just unbelievable. You know, look, I don't know what to tell you about what our future is. I don't know a thing. I'm sitting here in my basement doing a broadcast, but I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, I'm thanking God every day for you. I just love what you do.

Robin Quivers: New York. All of New York.

Howard Stern: All of New York. I mean really something. I was going to offer you Robin, as a matter of fact. Who is ready to jump in.

Robin Quivers: Here I am. Sacrificing it.

Howard Stern: You said you wanted the Governor.

Robin Quivers: Well if it's necessary, I will do it.

Howard Stern: When this is over, Governor, this might be your girlfriend, Robin Quivers, right here. I'm not kidding.

Governor Cuomo: Robin, did Howard tell you I was single?

Robin Quivers: No, he didn't. I had to find it out on my own. He was going to offer me up regardless.

Howard Stern: Well are you lonely, Governor? Not having a - let's put it this way, you are single. Are you lonely?

Governor Cuomo: Am I lonely? I'm not. I have my kids with me now, I have a great, great team. I'm too busy to be lonely. But there may come a time.

Howard Stern: Are you on any dating sites where Robin can link up with you? What is your profile on?

Governor Cuomo: Available govs. Look at available govs website.

Howard Stern: Are you on Raya? That's the one where celebrities go to find other celebrities. Listen, Governor, I'm not going to hold you because I've already held you up too long. Again I thank you, I don't know what else to say. I'm so glad I got this opportunity to speak to you. Please take care of yourself and, you know, thank you. That's all I'm going to say. Thank you, that's it.

Governor Cuomo: And I say thank you to you, Howard, and you, Robin. Thank you, thank you for what you do. We need your voices.

Howard Stern: And by the way, again I'm going to point this out, the governor, when times were much simpler, he went ahead and passed that law so that veterinarians cannot declaw cats. You know, in light of what's going on now that might seem trivial, but it was such a wonderful, thoughtful thing to do. I was on the air thanking you and at the time I wanted to speak with you about it. So, thank you for that, too. I won't ask you to make me a promise, but if you ever have the time when this is all over, I would love for you to come in. I would love to know everything about you. I would love to know your dreams as a kid, get into your relationship with your father more. I have a million questions, but I won't burden you now. There's no time for that. I would love to sit down with you and really talk about politics and life because I think it would be just great for my audience to hear.

Governor Cuomo: You intimidate me because you are one of the really great interviewers. You get people to open up and say things. So, I'll take a rain check on that. I'll take the distance of the phone to protect me.

Howard Stern: You like the phone. Are you afraid I'm going to break you down like a prisoner of war and you'll start crying? Have you cried during this crisis?

Governor Cuomo: Yes.

Howard Stern: You have?

Governor Cuomo: Yes.

Howard Stern: At what point?

Governor Cuomo: I can't get over the death numbers every day. I can't. I can't rationalize it. I can say that New Yorkers were heroic, and the healthcare workers have been heroic and have done great work. We saved every life that we could because the healthcare workers were great. I can't get passed the death numbers. There's nothing that abates that pain.

Howard Stern: It's so true. How many phones do you have, by the way? I'm talking about cell phones.

Governor Cuomo: Cell phones I only have one.

Robin Quivers: Why did you ask that question?

Governor Cuomo: I have many people with many phones always all around. Ringing is a constant in my life.

Howard Stern: I could picture the governor with having like seven cell phones. One for like, Trump, if he has to get through.

Robin Quivers: Really? A red phone for every very important person.

Howard Stern: What is the procedure - I have to ask one more question - what is the procedure to call Trump? In other words, do you have a hotline number where you can go right through or do you have to go through all his lackeys?

Governor Cuomo: Howard, it's amazingly simple. And I tell you, he's been amazingly accessible. Either he gets on the phone or he calls me back in ten minutes. They call one number and then he has a person who answers who gets him.

Howard Stern: Good. I like to hear that.

Governor Cuomo: Yeah, it's been great. It's great on that level.

Howard Stern: Are you drinking at all? Do you have booze at night to unwind a little?

Governor Cuomo: No.

Howard Stern: Nothing?

Governor Cuomo: No drinks. Nothing. Not a drop since this started.

Robin Quivers: Wow.

Governor Cuomo: Nothing, not a beer. This is 24 hours a day and I'm not going to be in a compromised position. I'm at the age where you have a couple of glasses of wine you feel it the next day. I'm not going to be diminished now. I wouldn't do that.

Howard Stern: I love that answer.

Robin Quivers: Thank you for your selflessness.

Howard Stern: Robin's hitting the sauce very heavily, but I'm very proud of you.

Robin Quivers: I'm drinking for both of us.

Howard Stern: Are you exercising? Are you doing Peloton? What are you doing?

Governor Cuomo: Whenever I can. I'm old fashioned. I have the weights and the treadmill. I haven't been great at it, because this doesn't stop. You're just too tired to get up and do that. This will ease up, we just have to get passed that initial wave. Once we know we're basically going to be okay, you know, your question of the waves of resolution, then I think it'll change. We just have to get passed that point.

Robin Quivers: Where we're looking now, is the curve flat? Are we going down? Where are we?

Governor Cuomo: It's flat. They call it a plateau. It went up and instead of peaking and going right down it plateaued, so it flattened. But that means 700 people die every day for the past five or six days. New admissions into the hospital are flat, but it's thousands of people coming in every day.

Howard Stern: That's what I mean and then you hear some of these politicians, you know, talking about some people have to die. When it's their mother we'll see if they think it's so funny.

Governor Cuomo: That's right. When they have to make the phone calls that I make every day saying I'm sorry about your father, your brother, your sister, your wife and then put the number 700 next to that. Think that every one is a phone call, every one has a family.

Howard Stern: And this virus is vicious. Some people, they walk right through it, it's no big deal. Other people can't breathe and they die. It's weird. It's not necessarily one age. It's a very vicious thing.

Robin Quivers: Or a condition or anything. You can't call it.

Howard Stern: It's too much. Listen, you've been fabulous. I'll let you go, Governor. Governor Cuomo, one day you have to come in the studio when this is all over. I know you say no, but you're going to do it.

Robin Quivers: You're a brave man. You can get through it.

Governor Cuomo: I'm not that brave, I'm not that brave.

Howard Stern: Thank you so much, Governor.