New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was among the politicians on both sides of the aisle who pushed back on President Trump's claim that he has 'total authority' over the country when it comes to reopening states' economies amid a global pandemic.
Lisa Bernhard has more.
The debate over how and when U.S. states should reopen their economies amid the coronavirus pandemic went to an unexpected place Tuesday – back to the 1700s, with President Trump evoking a classic ship and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo giving a history lesson on federalism.
It all started the night before, when Trump made this claim: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: “When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total.
And that's the way it's gotta be.
It’s total.
It's total.
And the governors know that.” Actually, they don’t – and shouldn’t – explained Cuomo on Tuesday.
(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO, SAYING: “The president said last night he has ‘total authority’ for determining how and when states reopen.
That is not an accurate statement.
We don’t have a king in this country.
We didn’t want a king.” Even some staunch Trump supporters called out the President, including conservative Representative Liz Cheney, who tweeted a line from the 10th Amendment that lays out how the federal government does not have absolute power.
Cuomo and the governors of six neighboring states had previously announced they would make a coordinated plan to reopen their economies, especially with interstate travel so key to containing the virus.
Some west coast states also announced a joint plan.
Trump, however, said those decisions were his call – even though he had left the governors on their own to decide when and how their economies should shut.
Trump then likened their reopening efforts to a ‘mutiny,’ referencing a movie based on the true-life tale of those aboard an 18th century ship by tweeting… “’Mutiny On The Bounty’ was one of my all time favorite movies.
A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain.” Some officials, like Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, called the tweet ‘insane’ – citing what he saw as Trump’s threat to withhold aid from governors as punishment for going it alone.
Cuomo, however, wouldn’t take the bait.
(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO, SAYING: “The president is clearly spoiling for a fight on this issue.
The worst thing we can do in all of this is start with political division.
If he wants a fight he's not gonna get it from me, period.
This is going to take us working together.
We have a real challenge ahead.
In this reopening, we could lose all the progress we made in one week if we do it wrong.” To that end, top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday warned that Trump’s goal of reopening the economy by May 1st may be “overly optimistic” without the ability to rapidly test and trace for new outbreaks of the virus.