Tipsheet

Andrew Cuomo Tries to Explain Why Trump Was 'Never' a True New Yorker

Cortney O'Brien
Cortney O'Brien  |  November 01, 2019 2:30 PM

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) once told conservative pro-lifers that they weren't real New Yorkers. The list of true New Yorkers is getting pretty slim after Cuomo just disqualified a few more people. 

President Trump revealed on Friday that he's officially leaving New York and becoming a full-fledged Floridian because he's been treated "very badly" by Empire State leaders. New York "will always have a special place in his heart," however. The feeling for Gov. Cuomo is not mutual. In a radio interview Friday, Cuomo alleged that Trump was never a real New Yorker anyway.

"To be a New Yorker is a state of mind," Cuomo explained. "It's a set of beliefs. It's a set of principles that you live by. And New Yorkers do not discriminate. And they're not anti-LGBTQ. And they're not divisive. And they don't spread hate." 

That little speech reminded me and plenty of other New Yorkers that in 2014 Cuomo told "extreme conservatives" that they weren't welcome in the state because he was bitter that they opposed his unpopular gun control measure, the SAFE Act.

“The Republican Party candidates are running against the SAFE Act — it was voted for by moderate Republicans who run the Senate! Their problem is not me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

"He may have been a New Yorker in name, but he never represented the New York spirit," Cuomo added in today's diatribe. "So I say good riddance, Mr. Trump."

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I imagine many conservative New Yorkers want to say the same to you, Mr. Governor.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham called Cuomo's remarks "petty" and "silly," while Donald Trump Jr. suggested that the governor consider how New York taxes are driving businesses out of the state. He also charged that Cuomo once begged his dad for money.