Trump smears Cuomo’s virus response after NY Gov. reminds him how Constitution works
President Trump and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo clashed again on Friday afternoon, this time over whose responsibility it was to run COVID-19 testing programs. Trump finally admitted yesterday that it was up to the states to decide when to re-open their economies and lift quarantine/social distancing procedures and it was not the President who had “total authority” over the matter, as he had previously decided to argue.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, tired of the President’s obvious ignorance of the Constitution and the preposterous power games Trump has played with Democratic states — which included calling for the “LIBERATION” of Michigan, Virginia, and Minnesota from statewide lockdowns — remarked today that it was always up to the states and taunted Trump over his inability to force the states to heed his will.
Here's the Andrew Cuomo comments that apparently set off Trump: "The only thing he's doing — let's be honest — 'well, it's up to the states' … it was always up to the states. What, are you going to grant me what the Constitution gave me before you were born?" pic.twitter.com/mFHTlXnwro
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 17, 2020
Predictably, this provoked a furious and insulting Twitter outburst from the President:
….testing that you should be doing. We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
The president’s words are a continuation of a month-long feud he has waged against Cuomo, one in which life-saving medical supplies and equipment have become playing pieces on a perverse chessboard of petulance.
Densely populated New York City has become an epicenter of coronavirus infection, and Governor Cuomo has understandably been extremely vocal about his state’s need for medical supplies and equipment, especially life-saving ventilators.
In response, the President — who is from New York City — has disparaged and mocked Governor Cuomo’s urgent requests for more and more material as “complaining” and continuously accuses Cuomo of being “ungrateful” for what he’s already recieved.
On top of that, Trump bizarrely and baselessly told FOX’s Sean Hannity that he didn’t believe New York, which now has over a hundred thousand cases, actually needed 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators.
While the president’s sociopathic disregard for human life has been obvious for years, it is still a great outrage to see him treat medical supplies and equipment — and the lives that hang in the balance — as yet another weapon for him to use in his childish and monstrously petty feud with a governor who, for all his many, many, many faults, is just trying to keep people from dying.
