Cuomo, Blaz defy Trump’s call to strip fed money from city
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
A day after President Trump threatened to take away up to $7 billion in funding from the Big Apple, Gov. Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio and a slew of other elected officials shot back, saying in Trump would face a legal ba attle — and lose — if he tries.
“You failed us, and now you want to punish us?” de Blasio sa aid Thursday. “If you persist in tr rying to deny the funding that’s keeping New York City going in th he middle of this crisis, we will see s you in court — and once again, a we will beat you in court.”
It was not immediately clear what court case Hizzoner was referring to, but Trump continues to contend with a multitude of legal woes.
Trump faced an immediate backlash b Wednesday after signing off on a memo ordering federal agencies to detail the amount of funding sent to cities that have recently witnessed civil rights protests and violence.
“My administration will not allow federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones,” the memo states. “It is imperative that the federal government review the use of federal funds by jurisdictions that permit anarchy, violence and destruction in American cities.”
Cuomo said Wednesday that Trump “better have an army if he wants to walk down the streets in New York City,” a statement some interpreted as a threat. But Cuomo quickly added he meant that Trump is “persona non grata” in the city.
On Thursday, Cuomo intensified his attacks, skewering Trump for the thousands of dead Americans COVID has left in its wake on his watch and openly mocking the possible timing of a vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control has suggested could come in November, right around the time of the presidential election.
“How convenient. It’s going to be an Election Day miracle drug. Some people are concerned that the vaccine may wind up being hydroxychloroquine,” Cuomo said, referring to the drug Trump has pushed as a solution to COVID, claims that scientists have repeatedly debunked. “Before we recommend that New Yorkers take a vaccine, the state Department of Health will be reviewing all the protocols and research by the FDA and whatever federal authorities say it’s safe and effective.”
Trump’s campaign has not put much focus on how he’s handled the coronavirus. He lags Joe Biden in most polls and has adopted a law-and-order platform to gain ground. His threat to defund big cities like New York, Seattle and Portland appear to be part of that effort.
“The federal responsibility for public safety is national security, and that has been a great failure by this president,” said Cuomo. “[Trump] said that his protection of Americans against the protests is akin to World War II. No ... I’ll tell you what’s akin to World War II. It was the COVID attack. This nation has not been attacked by an enemy who has killed more and ravaged more than COVID since World War II.”
Trump, who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War, has a history of making war analogies that have come back to haunt him. During a 1997 interview with Howard Stern, Trump likened the dangers he faced from sexually transmitted diseases as “my personal Vietnam.”
In New York City’s war with COVID, de Blasio has contended that Trump has not done enough on that front as well. The mayor has been pleading for months that the federal government send NYC more financial support to help avoid laying off 22,000 municipal workers, but that aid still has not arrived.
The threat to pull funding is “clearly a campaign stunt,” de Blasio said. “This is clearly the president just trying to score political points, but the problem is the Constitution doesn’t agree with him.”
Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke said Democrats in Congress would use every tool they could muster to prevent Trump from stripping New York and other cities of muchneeded cash.
“We are unfortunately dealing with someone who has demonstrated a lack of capacity to lead,” she said.