Facing a firestorm of criticism from the White House to the statehouse, Gov. Cuomo reversed himself Friday and said he regrets saying America was “never that great.”
“The expression I used the other day was inartful, so I want to be very clear: Of course America is great and of course America has always been great,” Cuomo told reporters on a conference call.
“No one questions that.”
He added: “My family is evidence of American greatness,” pointing out how one generation after his grandfather Andrea emigrated from Italy, his father, Mario, became governor of New York.
Cuomo then went on the attack against President Trump, who’s had a field day slamming the governor for the gaffe since he made it Wednesday.
“His philosophy is not just repugnant to New York, his philosophy is anti-American,” Cuomo said.
“Ripping a child from the arms of their parent is anti-American. Abandoning Puerto Rican citizens is not American values. Fomenting racial division is anti-American.”
Trump earlier Friday fired off a double-barreled Twitter broadside at Cuomo, saying he had “choked” and that “many” people were calling for his resignation.
“Wow! Big pushback on Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York for his really dumb statement about America’s lack of greatness. I have already MADE America Great Again, just look at the markets, jobs, military- setting records, and we will do even better. Andrew ‘choked’ badly, mistake!” Trump posted.
He initially wrote “chocked” before deleting the tweet and reposting it with the correct spelling.
“When a politician admits that ‘We’re not going to make America great again,’ there doesn’t seem to be much reason to ever vote for him. This could be a career threatening statement by Andrew Cuomo, with many wanting him to resign-he will get higher ratings than his brother Chris!” he added moments later, referring to CNN host Chris Cuomo, a frequent critic of the president.
The shots were the latest salvos in a tweetstorm that began after Cuomo gave a speech in the city Wednesday in which he addressed gender inequality.
“We’re not going to make America great again. It was never that great,” Cuomo said, a retort to Trump’s defining slogan.
“We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged.”
“We will reach greatness when discrimination and stereotyping of women, 51 percent of our population, is gone, and every woman’s full potential is realized and unleashed and every woman is making her full contribution.”
Cuomo, asked Friday about challenging Trump in 2020, said, “I am running for governor of New York. That is my focus.”
But he took issue with Trump’s charge Cuomo was responsible for New York’s high taxes.
“I lowered taxes. He knows that because he’s a New Yorker,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo is facing an aggressive Democratic primary challenge from Cynthia Nixon, who accused him of “folding like a cheap suit” after his reversal on the “never that great” comment.
By late afternoon, Trump was on Twitter again predicting the outcome of that race.
“He should easily win his race against a Super Liberal Actress, but his political career is over!” Trump predicted.
