Cuomo shocker
Says U.S. ‘never that great,’ stuns crowd
Gov. Cuomo drew gasps and groans at a bill-signing ceremony Wednesday when he declared that America “was never that great.”
Cuomo made the eyebrow-raising remark while mocking President Trump’s popular 2016 campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”
“We are not going to make America great again,” Cuomo said in a lengthy attack on Trump. “It was never that great. We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged.”
The crowd at the Manny Cantor Center on the Lower East Side reacted more positively as Cuomo finished his lengthy Trump attack on an upbeat note.
“We will reach greatness when discrimination and stereotyping against women, 51% of our population, is gone and every women’s full potential is realized and unleashed and every woman is making her full contribution,” he said. “When that happens, this nation is going to be taken even higher because we have not yet fully liberated the women in this country.”
The comments immediately diverted attention from the purpose of the event — the signing of a bill aimed at closing a loophole that forced prosecutors to prove child sex trafficking victims weren’t willing participants.
As Cuomo’s Republican rivals seized on the remarks, Cuomo’s spokeswoman Dani Lever sought to tamp down the growing controversy.
“The governor believes America is great and that her full greatness will be fully realized when every man, woman and child has full equality. America has not yet reached its maximum potential,” Lever said.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. cheered the signing of the law.
“Finally, New York State’s penal laws now reflect the reality that a child sold for sex is a victim of sex trafficking, plain and simple,” Vance said.