Cuomo Says He ‘Won’t Engage’ Trump, Then Offers a History Lesson
Trump and Cuomo Trade Barbs Over President’s ‘Total’ Authority
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is wrong on constitutional grounds when he says he has final say on plans to resume normal life in the states, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. But, he said, “the president will have no fight with me.”
“I will not engage in it,” Cuomo said Tuesday at his daily virus briefing, after the leaders traded barbs earlier over Trump’s statement Monday claiming “the ultimate authority.”
Cuomo’s comments seemed intended to stop the escalation of words between the Democratic governor and Republican president, who had displayed an unusual bonhomie for most of the coronavirus crisis, talking frequently as New York became the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Their conflict intensified Monday after Cuomo announced a partnership with six other Northeast states to plan for a gradual resumption of the regional economy.
Cuomo’s comments came as New York reported 778 new virus fatalities in 24 hours, pushing the total near 11,000. Total confirmed infections now exceed 200,000, taxing the capabilities of the city’s health system.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that, “Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, etc. I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!”
During Monday’s White House news conference, Trump declared that “when somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total” and said the White House would provide a legal justification for that assertion.
Federalism Revisited
At Tuesday’s news conference, Cuomo offered a history lesson. “This was the first battle: Do we want a king or do we want a president?” Cuomo said.
He went on to quote founder Alexander Hamilton, who wrote that, “The state governments possess inherent advantages, which will ever give them an influence and ascendancy over the national government, and will for ever preclude the possibility of federal encroachments.”
Trump has said his administration will issue guidance within days for governors who want to begin relaxing social-distancing practices, and said he hopes to reopen the country “ahead of schedule.”
He didn’t say that he would order governors to remove limits against their wishes, but when asked what would happen if they refused to comply, Trump said that “if some states refuse to open, I would like to see that person run for election.”
The public dispute disrupted what otherwise has been a largely productive relationship between the Republican president and the Democratic leader of his home state during the coronavirus crisis.
The federal government constructed a makeshift hospital at the Javits Center in Manhattan, deployed a U.S. Navy hospital ship to New York, and has shipped the state personal protective equipment and ventilators at Cuomo’s request.
But Trump has adopted a defensive posture after reporting this weekend in the New York Times that suggested he largely ignored warnings from his health and intelligence experts as the virus first hit U.S. shores, leaving the country playing catch-up on medical supplies and testing for infections.
And the White House, eager to restart a U.S. economy decimated by the virus and the related shutdown, has increasingly turned its attention to efforts to reopen the economy. Trump on Tuesday is expected to announce a new council separate from his existing coronavirus task force focused solely on reopening.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.