New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unleashed a torrent of criticism at President Donald Trump during his press conference on Friday.
“He’s doing nothing,” Cuomo said, adding, “All he’s doing is walking in front of the parade, but he had nothing to do with the timing of the parade.”
The president attacked Cuomo on Twitter for “complaining” instead of working after the New York governor demanded government assistance for ramping up testing capacity and significant funding for states.
“First of all, if he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work,” Cuomo said.
The governor’s remarks on Friday were a sharp turnaround from the overall positive reaction to the president’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Cuomo called it “an important moment” in his relationship with the president, citing the lack of assistance on testing.
The governor appeared annoyed that Trump kept demanding appreciation for federal actions on behalf of the state of New York.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, send him a bouquet of flowers?” Cuomo asked, citing the number of times that he had thanked the president.
He added, “by the way, is just doing your job as president, it’s not really ‘Thank you’ like you wrote a check yourself.”
Cuomo also scoffed that Trump had left the decision up to the states about loosening up lockdown mandates.
“It was always up to the states, what, are you going to grant me what the Constitution gave me before you were born?” Cuomo said. “It’s called the Tenth Amendment … I don’t need the president of the United States to read the Constitution for me.”
The New York governor appeared incensed that Trump criticized him for making demands for enormous numbers of hospital beds or ventilators that they did not use, reminding the president that the federal coronavirus task force made the projections that they were needed.
“Read your own report before you start criticizing me,” he said.
Cuomo said Trump should fire his own coronavirus task force and economic advisor Peter Navarro for making dire predictions about the virus that sparked his calls for dramatic increases in beds and ventilators.
“Whose projections were wrong?” Cuomo asked. “Head of the CDC, Peter Navarro, and the head of the White House coronavirus task force. Fire them all.”