NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo eviscerated President Donald Trump for bungling the coronavirus crisis Friday in an epic pushback after Trump sniped at him for “complaining.”
Castigating Trump for demanding praise, Cuomo said it is the president’s job to help New Yorkers caught in the deadly pandemic’s crosshairs.
“What am I supposed to do, send a bouquet of flowers?” Cuomo asked sarcastically. “By the way, that’s just doing your job. This was your role as president.”
Cuomo heaped scorn on Trump over his new plan to reopen America, which the governor says effectively passed the buck to states.
“He’s doing nothing,” said Cuomo, showing the nation a flash of his trademark volcanic temper. “He said: ‘It’s up to the states.’ We already knew that.
“All he’s doing is walking in front of the parade,” Cuomo said.
The Democratic governor demanded that Trump take responsibility for coronavirus testing, warning that the nation was hurtling toward a repeat of the debacle over supplies of medical equipment and personal protective equipment.
Cuomo erupted after Trump broke an uneasy weekslong truce between the nation’s two most prominent leaders in the battle to contain the pandemic.
Without even waiting for Cuomo to finish his daily briefing, the president unloaded on the leader of America’s coronavirus epicenter for being ungrateful.
“Spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining’. Get out there and get the job done,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Asked about the president’s missive, Cuomo angrily punched back at Trump in a no-holds-barred critique of his failure to manage the signature crisis of his presidency.
“He’s sitting at home watching TV,” Cuomo said. “Maybe he should get up and go to work.”
The governor relentlessly picked apart Trump for everything from his narcissistic demand for praise to his never-ending effort to blame others for his own shortcomings.
“Thank you for the Javits Center. Thank you for the U.S. Navy ship Comfort,” Cuomo said, referring to federal aid to New York. “It’s not like you wrote a check yourself. But thank you.”
Cuomo had mostly sought to avoid directly criticizing Trump for his uneven handling of the crisis over the past several weeks as they have uneasily shared the national spotlight. On Friday, the gloves came off.
Pushing back on claims that he overhyped the danger posed by the pandemic, Cuomo ordered aides to display federal models showing dramatically higher death tolls and hospitalization rates.
He derided White House experts like Peter Navarro, who wrote a memo warning of up to 2 million deaths, and the head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for getting the numbers wrong.
“They’re your projections, Mr. President,” Cuomo said. “Were we foolish to rely on your projections?”
Cuomo piled scorn on the former reality TV star in the White House, suggesting Trump use some of his skills from “The Apprentice” to impose a culture of accountability.
“If you’re looking for someone to fire, start with them,” Cuomo said.
Before Trump’s tweet set him off, Cuomo earlier calmly accused the federal government of ignoring the financial needs of hard-hit state governments even as they pile more responsibilities for containing the pandemic on governors.
“That is passing the buck without passing the bucks,” he. said. “Passing the buck is the opposite of ‘The buck stops here.’” He added: “(You’re) not giving the financial assistance to actually perform the responsibility.”
Cuomo reported that 630 New Yorkers died of coronavirus Friday, a toll that marked a slight increase from the previous day.
After hitting a recent low of 606, the death toll jumped again even as fewer patients continued to be placed on ventilators and needed intensive care in hospitals.
“That is still breathtaking in its pain and grief and tragedy,” he said. “And basically flat again like many of the other numbers.”
Asked about Trump’s three-stage plan for reopening America, the governor suggested that the state still faces a long and bumpy road to recovery.
He noted that 2,000 New Yorkers continue to be sickened on a daily basis.
“You’re not going to hear anytime soon: ‘The nightmare is over,’” Cuomo said. “It’s going to be incremental.”
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