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During a COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Sept. 8, Cuomo cited a famous New York Daily News headline to serve as an analogy for what Trump is doing to New York during the pandemic.
"There was a headline in the Daily News once: 'Ford to City: Drop Dead' ... What Ford did pales in comparison to what Trump is doing; not only did he tell New York City to 'drop dead,'” Cuomo said. “Trump is actively trying to kill New York City. It is personal. I think it's psychological. He is trying to kill New York City.”
Cuomo cited the passage of SALT, which cost New York approximately $14 billion, the president’s refusal to fund the extension of the Second Avenue Subway from 96th to 125th Street, and his refusal to approve an AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport, which Trump says requires an Environmental Review statement.
“You want to talk about really ironic, repugnant logic? Do you know why he won't approve the AirTrain to LaGuardia? He says he has to do an Environmental Review statement,” Cuomo said. “The same president who has lamented about the delay of Environmental Reviews and how they take so long, and how they stop development and how bad the SEQRA is and how the environmentalists are all full of baloney when it comes to ANWAR.
“Now he says, ‘I can't approve the AirTrain from LaGuardia that's been talked about for decades because I have to do an Environmental Review,’ Cuomo added. “Now Trump is the environmental bureaucrat. How incredible is that?”
Cuomo also made note during his rant - while highlighting several faux headlines disparaging the president during his presentation - that Trump has refused to approve congestion pricing for the MTA, which is “purely a technical issue” or fix the state’s damaged Amtrak tunnels.
“They're Amtrak tunnels. Do you know who owns Amtrak? Who owns Amtrak? The federal government owns Amtrak,” the governor said. “They're his tunnels. They're decaying.
“I went to the tunnel; I took a video of water seeping into the tunnel. I took a video of bricks crumbling. I sent them the video. He watched the video. Still, no money to fund the Amtrak tunnels. “
During his speech, Cuomo reiterated his complaint that the federal government alleged that the virus came from China, which led to the China travel ban, all the while millions of people traveled from Europe, some with the virus, to major traffic hubs in New York.
“It was not the China Virus; it was the European Virus that came to New York. They missed it. They missed it,” he said. “The China Virus went to Europe. It got on a plane and went to Europe. They never even thought of the possibility and then 3 million Europeans got on a plane and came to New York and they brought the virus.
“January: they brought the virus. February: they brought the virus. March: they brought the virus. And in mid-March, the federal government does a travel ban from Europe.
Cuomo continued: “Too little too late, Mr. President. He caused the COVID outbreak in New York. Donald Trump and his incompetent CDC and his incompetent NIH and his incompetent Department of Homeland Security.”
According to Cuomo, the current war being waged by Trump’s administration is on certain Democratic cities, including New York, Portland, and Chicago, citing the president’s tweet barrages rallying against blue states.
Cuomo went on to insinuate that future administrations will have to figure it out if Trump’s fails to do so.
“Look at his tweets. ‘These are the locations and the outposts of the enemies, so don't provide them any funding even though we caused the COVID virus,’” Cuomo said, quoting Trump. “it is an unsustainable position for the federal government. Either this president will figure it out or the next president will figure it out.
“If Congress doesn't figure it out, there will be mayhem in this country and there will be a different Congress in January. That is my political opinion. In the interim, we have to be smart. We've gone through tough times before, New York.”
“We're going to have to come together and figure this out in the interim before we have a federal government that is sane and functional.”
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