PrintFallout builds from Cuomo's 'America never that great' remark
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is getting it from all sides from his incredibly inane remark on Wednesday, saying, "We are not going to make America great again. It was never that great."
Cuomo tried to back and fill in explaining those remarks, now claiming he was talking about women's rights.
.@RealDonaldTrump: What you say would be 'great again' would not be great at all...We will not go back to discrimination, segregation, sexism, isolationism, racism or the KKK.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 16, 2018
Like NY's motto says: Excelsior -- Ever Upward (not backward) https://t.co/nrcUrsYJCO
It isn't working.
The state GOP trolled Cuomo by raising money to buy him a ticket to Canada.
Chip in for a one-way ticket to Canada for @andrewcuomo . Donate here! https://t.co/xQtpNJqrD6 pic.twitter.com/yL7g6CIKlw
— New York GOP (@NewYorkGOP) August 16, 2018
"Love it or leave it; that's your choice, Mr. Cuomo," New York GOP spokeswoman Jessica Proud said in a statement. "But if you truly believe in America, stay here and apologize to New York school children and their parents, and all Americans, for advancing the 'hate America' narrative being pushed by the radical left of the Democratic Party."
Cuomo, a Democrat, is currently seeking re-election for his third term. His Republican challenger, Marc Molinaro, almost immediately released a statement condemning Cuomo's words. He's since appeared on Fox News, slamming Cuomo and countering: "America has always been great."
Cuomo's main Democratic rival, Hollywood leftist Cynthia Nixon, revealed the real reason for Cuomo's deliberate insult of the U.S.
Nixon, who is trying to unseat Cuomo in the primary, mocked the establishment Democrat by suggesting it was part of his efforts to fend off her left-wing challenge; she has previously claimed "The Cynthia Effect" has pressured Cuomo to adopt more left-wing stances.
"I think this is just another example of Andrew Cuomo trying to figure out what a progressive sounds like and missing by a mile," the activist and "Sex and the City" actress told NY1 on Wednesday.
Nixon's statement that "a progressive sounds like" someone who doesn't think America was ever great is revealing. Cuomo deliberately set out to undercut Nixon's growing support on the radical left by echoing what these leftists have been saying for decades: America is a patriarchal, racist, oppressive, militaristic, dysfunctional society that the world would be better off without. No doubt many Nixon-supporters cheered Cuomo's words.
Molinari's long-shot campaign may have gotten a little less long.
"Even with our imperfections, this nation, its promise, its purpose, its principles and its people have always been great and that determined march toward making things better, that’s what has always made America great," he said on "Fox & Friends" Thursday. "I'm ashamed to think my governor doesn't know that."
I don't think Cuomo's remarks materially affect his re-election campaign. But they may have doomed any national ambitions Cuomo had. If he thought of using a big re-election victory as a springboard for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, that notion may now have gone by the boards.
