President Trump tore into Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Wednesday after Cuomo adapted Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan during a speech to claim America “was never that great.”
“WE’RE NOT GONG TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, IT WAS NEVER THAT GREAT,” Trump wrote on Twitter, quoting Cuomo’s address. “Can you believe this is the Governor of the Highest Taxed State in the U.S., Andrew Cuomo, having a total meltdown!”
“WE’RE NOT GONG TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, IT WAS NEVER THAT GREAT.” Can you believe this is the Governor of the Highest Taxed State in the U.S., Andrew Cuomo, having a total meltdown!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2018
Cuomo responded on Twitter in kind, saying the pair fundamentally disagreed on what “great again” would mean for the U.S.
“What you say would be ‘great again’ would not be great at all,” he tweeted. “We will not go back to discrimination, segregation, sexism, isolationism, racism or the KKK.”
.@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.
Like NY’s motto says: Excelsior — Ever Upward (not backward) https://t.co/nrcUrsYJCO
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 16, 2018
Trump’s 2020 campaign also hit Cuomo on Wednesday. Lara Trump, a senior adviser and the president’s daughter-in-law, said in a statement issued on behalf of the campaign that the two-term governor had defamed the country with his rhetoric.
Cuomo made the comments Wednesday at a New York event where he signed anti sex-trafficking bills into law. Facing backlash, a press secretary then tried to clarify his remarks.
“We have not reached greatness,” Cuomo originally said. “We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged.”
Cuomo will face “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon in New York’s Democratic gubernatorial primary Sept. 13.
