WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo clashed Tuesday over who has more power to reopen the economy, a day after Trump claimed his power is “absolute” – a declaration Cuomo said he would challenge in court if necessary.
Speaking on NBC’s Today show, Cuomo said he would act if Trump really thinks “he’s going to force this state or any state, for that matter, to do something that is reckless or irresponsible, that could endanger human life, literally.”
Echoing other governors, Cuomo said that if others allow businesses to reopen too soon, “you will see those virus numbers go up again, and more people will die.”
Trump, who apparently saw Cuomo’s comments during a string of television interviews, responded on Twitter by saying the New York governor has been demanding help from the federal government all along.
“Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, etc.,” Trump said. “I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!”
In another tweet, Trump addressed Democratic governors directly, and cited the film “Mutiny on the Bounty” – casting himself as William Bligh, the tyrannical captain who is subjected to a revolt by crew members under his command.
“A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy!” Trump tweeted.
In a 2003 poll, the American Film Institute named Captain Bligh the 19th biggest villain in movie history – right between the shark in “Jaws” and the unnamed man who killed Bambi’s mother.
Trump’s renewed clashes with Cuomo and other governors comes as they figure out how to reopen an economy that has been nearly shuttered in order to contain the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed 24,000 lives across the nation, with nearly 600,000 confirmed cases.
The Trump administration has issued “guidelines” on social distancing and banned group meetings, all designed to contain the virus. With those recommendations due to expire on April 30, the White House is setting up a task force designed to propose ways to loosen those restrictions and re-start an economy that has ground to a near-halt. Trump is expected to announce members of the economic task force Tuesday.
Governors, meanwhile, are thinking about new rules for their states, and the speed with which to restart the economy. Some governors on the East and West coasts announced Monday they are forming their own regional pacts to work together on a plan to restart the economy and lift strict social-distancing guidelines.
“Seeing as how we had the responsibility for closing the state down, we probably have the primary responsibility for opening it up,” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said. “We’re now ready to go into the next step, which is to start moving back to some sense of the new normal.”
More:‘Governors need clarity’: States get a jump on Trump task force with talks on economic reopening
While governors plan, Trump claimed at a White House briefing that he can override all of them.
“When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total,” Trump said. “And that’s the way it’s got to be.”
Legal analysts said that simply isn’t true, and that states have the authority to regulate businesses in the midst of a public health crisis.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, a conservative Republican, said “the federal government does not have absolute power,” and cited the Constitution as her proof.
“‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,'” Cheney said, quoting the 10th Amendment to the Constitution.
While the rhetorical standoff threatens a legal battle over the pace and rules of allowing businesses to reopen, Trump said he wants to avoid that. During his news conference Monday, Trump said he wants to work with the states, and suggested he was claiming “total” authority as a way to coerce the governors into doing what he wants them to.
“You asked, ‘Does the federal government have the power?'” Trump told one reporter. “The federal government has absolute power. It has the power. As to whether or not I’ll use that power, we’ll see.”
In an interview on CNN, Cuomo said he would not hesitate to go to court to protect New York’s rights against presidential interference.
“We would have a constitutional challenge between the state and the federal government, and that would go into the courts,” Cuomo said. “And that would be the worst possible thing he could do at this moment.”
Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/14/coronavirus-trump-andrew-cuomo-clash-over-reopening-economy/2988402001/
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