In a column for the Daily Beast, longtime political observer Matt Lewis — who left the Republican party because of Donald Trump — claimed that the president has finally met his rhetorical match in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) who has been nonplussed by the president’s insults and seen his own national profile rise as a result. Contrasting Cuomo’s press conferences with the president’s attacks against the governor on Twitter, Lewis said the president is coming out on the losing end.
Pointing out Cuomo’s shot across Trump’s bow saying, when it comes to coronavirus testing, the president’s plan is to “pass the buck without passing the bucks,” Lewis explained that Cuomo baited Trump perfectly. “Here, Cuomo is basically saying New York can’t reopen without more widespread testing, and that isn’t going to happen unless the federal government provides more help (on Thursday, Trump insisted that the U.S. has “tremendous testing capacity”),” he wrote. “Next, Trump, who was apparently watching Cuomo’s briefing on TV, took to Twitter, writing that Cuomo “should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining.’” He also tweeted about all the “money, help, and equipment” the federal government has given New York, and that Cuomo never says ‘thanks.’ ‘If he’s sitting home watching TV,’ shot back Cuomo, ‘maybe he should get up and go to work, right?'” According to Lewis, all the president has is smears while Cuomo calmly lays out facts on a daily basis. “The White House’s guidance for the states to reopen is generally serious and cautious. But it also places a lot of burdens on states to do absolutely vital things like testing. This, presumably, sets up governors like Cuomo to become foils if anything goes wrong, or if they simply don’t have the resources,” The columnist explained. “But as important as the substance is, this is also a food fight. Donald Trump likes to pick fights, and this is merely the latest example. He picks them because they distract from his failings. He picks them because they are catnip. He picks them because he usually wins.”
