But emotion, summoned as a political tool, can be a form of protection. Fandom can be a form of impunity. The merch, earnest and ironic in nearly equal measure, reflected Cuomo’s transition from a local figure to a national one. It reflected a Cuomo who had slipped the surly bonds of Earth to live, instead, as a celebrity. “When you’re a star, they let you do it,” another celebrity politician has remarked. “You can do anything.”

Cuomo stoked the adoration. The man noted for his raging temper—the politician who had before been called “the Prince of Darkness” and likened to Darth Vader—sold himself as “the love gov.” The three-term governor, who was himself the son of a three-term governor, insisted that he somehow transcended politics. And: The man who allegedly mistreated so many of the women in his orbit, as James’s report details, portrayed himself as charming, hapless, merely loving to a fault. How could someone so guided by love be as cruel as the women claimed? How could the face smiling from the cheerful throw pillow be anything but agreeable? “New York Tough means New York Loving, and I love New York, and I love you,” Cuomo said in his resignation speech today. The lines echoed what he’d said before. They summoned the old mottoes and memes. This time around, they seemed even more empty.