Trump, Cuomo Clash over New York’s ‘Independence’ Post-Coronavirus

By Staff, Agencies

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he wouldn’t lift the economic shutdown of his state if ordered by US President Donald Trump, as long as public health was in danger. But Trump insists Cuomo’s vaunted “independence” is a pipe dream.

“If he ordered me to reopen in a way that would endanger the public health of the people of my state, I wouldn’t do it,” Cuomo told CNN on Tuesday.

The comments came a day after Trump asserted his authority to lift lockdown measures and Cuomo banded together with five regional governors to affirm their right to reopen on their own terms. Much of the US economy has been in a state of near-total shutdown for three weeks, and Trump has reportedly said he plans to begin reversing this at the end of the month, when social distancing guidelines expire – or “even ahead of schedule,” as he hinted on Monday.

Trump also has repeatedly insisted that the order to reopen is his alone to give, declaring on Monday that “it is the decision of the president, and for many good reasons.” Later that evening, he again flexed this power at a press conference, saying he has “total” authority to decide how and when to reboot the economy.

Cuomo disagreed, countering on Tuesday that he had the Constitution on his side. “It says the federal government does not have absolute power,” he said. “It says the exact opposite of what the president said. It says that would be a king.”

Trump responded by skewering Cuomo on Twitter for supposedly being unprepared for the coronavirus epidemic, mocking the Democratic governor and his peers’ quest for “independence.”

Revealing that “Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility,” Trump slammed his rival for allegedly failing to have the healthcare infrastructure in place to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Six weeks after recording its first case of Covid-19, New York is still the hardest-hit state in the country by the pandemic. Nearly 200,000 cases of the deadly virus have been recorded in the Empire State, and more than 10,000 people have died.

New York accounts for around a third of all US cases, and nearly half of all Covid-19 deaths in the country.