President Donald Trump slammed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo after his “America was never that great” remark. According to Trump, Cuomo is having a “total meltdown.” Cuomo made the remark during a bill-signing event in what appeared to be a direct dig towards Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. The NY governor claimed that the US had in fact not reached greatness. He argued that the country will only get there when every citizen is engaged. Cuomo added that the challenge will be to stop discrimination and stereotyping against women who account for 51% of the population. He finished by saying that the US will be great if and only if the full potential of all women in the country is fully unleashed.
The “Make America Great Again” slogan was one of the most important things of Trump’s campaign for the White House. The slogan appeared in Trump’s red hats used in campaign rallies and has also been mentioned a number of times in the White House and in other official events. Cuomo is running for a third term as the Governor of New York and is seen as one of the potential challengers to Trump in 2020.
Republicans too joined the president in slamming Cuomo for his remarks. Marc Molinaro, a GOP gubernatorial candidate looking to replace Cuomo, said that the governor should be “ashamed of himself.” Molinaro also demanded that Cuomo makes an official apology to the nation. The Trump campaign team also weighed in on the matter. In a statement released shortly after the remark, the team said that Cuomo has shown his true pessimistic color after defaming America as a country that was never great.
Cuomo responded by defending the remark too. The NY governor said through his press secretary that his remark was made only to show the irony in the “Make America Great Again” slogan. The press secretary added that the US has suffered a history of slavery, women discrimination, segregation, and sexism and all these events have brought a lot of pain to the country. The statement added that these events in history were the lowest for America as a country and some still exist today.
Cuomo also responded directly to Trump through a tweet. The NY governor didn’t understand why the president was pissed arguing that if Trump’s slogan was to “Make America Great Again,” it would certainly mean that it wasn’t great at all. The back and forth between Trump and Cuomo didn’t just start yesterday. In an earlier campaign rally held in Utica, NY, the president took aim at the governor. Trump accused Cuomo of calling him and saying that he will never consider running for president against him.
Cuomo rejected this claim. He said that at no point had he discussed his “personal political conversations” with the president. The NY governor added that at the moment his main focus is to win a third term. New York has been a predominantly blue state for many years. It’s very likely that the current tussle between the incumbent governor and the president will have no effect on the outcome.
