By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
United States President Donald Trump is having a difficult time containing the Coronavirus in the United States. At the time of writing, the Coronavirus / Covid 19 Pandemic has claimed more lives in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Now partisan politics is shattering the relationship between President Trump and New York Governor Cuomo, who challenged Trump’s claims of “total authority” as false, saying “we don’t have King Trump, we have President Trump”. Governor Cuomo declared that if Trump forced him to re-open New York it could lead to a constitutional challenge.
President Trump claims “total authority,” says “Governors need us”
Speaking at his regular White House press briefing on the Coronavirus on 13th April 2020, President Trump stunned journalists when he boldly claimed that “when someone is President of the United States the authority is total and that’s the way its gotta be, and the Governors know that”
“Your’ authority is total?” queried the surprised journalist “so if a Governor issued a stay at home order, can you rescind that?” President Trump turned his attention to what he called “a couple of bands of Democrat Governors” adding “but they will agree to it”.
“The Authority of the President of the United States having to do with the subject matter we’re talking about is total.” US President Donald Trump
Soon after, President Trump came under pressure when a Journalist said that his “total authority” claims were “not true” questioning him “who told you that?” Implying that President Trump was possibly ill-advised on his assumed “total authority” on the Coronavirus Pandemic and the reopening of individual states.
In response, President Trump referred to support he could hold back from Governors unwilling to comply. According to President Trump “because the governors need us one way or the other because ultimately it comes with the Federal Government. That being said we’re getting along very well with the governors and I feel very certain there won’t be a problem.”
A follow-up question queried if “any Governor [had] agreed that he [President Trump] has the authority to decide when the states re-open?” An agitated President Trump snapped back angrily saying “I never asked them about it because you know why? Because I don’t have to.” However, New York Governor Cuomo seems to think otherwise.
Gov Cuomo: Keep the Politics out of it, I know Trump’s running for re-election
In reaction to President Trump’s “total authority” claims, the Governor of America’s most populous city, New York, told CNN that the partisanship divide poses a challenge to the United States handling of the Coronavirus.
According to Governor Andrew Cuomo “the worst possible thing he [President Trump] could do at this moment would be to act dictatorial and to act in a partisan divisive way. Keep the Politics out of it. I know he’s running for re-election. I know this is a political year. I know it’s a hyper-partisan environment. I know it’s red vs blue. Not anymore, not when it comes to this.”
“This is red white and blue. I have 10,000 deaths in my State. This virus didn’t kill Democrats or Republicans. It killed Americans and it killed New Yorkers and am not going to go down a political road on this.”
Turning his attention to President Trump’s claims that he calls the shots and his assertions that the “Governors can’t do anything without the approval of the United States.” Governor Cuomo revisited American history, referencing constitutional debates by America’s founding fathers.
“We had this debate it was done a long time ago, people like Hamilton and Jefferson and Maddison and Washington. And they concluded this, they wrote a document it’s called the Constitution of the United States. And it’s implicit and [has] an intricate balance of power between the Federal Governments and the State Governments. And it says the Federal Government does not have absolute power. The exact opposite that the President said.”
“That would be a King. We would have had King George Washington and we didn’t have King George Washington and we don’t have King Trump we have President Trump.” NY Gov. Cuomo
“And remember the colonies created the Federal Government. The States created the Federal Government, not the other way round. We have the 10th amendment that is explicit. Certain responsibilities are State responsibilities, health, welfare, quarantine, those are State responsibilities. So, the President should not even think of going there. That would be divisive and political and would be contrary to everything we’re trying to do by working in a cooperative fashion.”
Gov Cuomo “I would not reopen and endanger Public Health”
The journalist queried Governor Cuomo’s response if President Trump ordered him to re-open New York on a particular date. Governor Cuomo responded emphatically, highlighting that if President Trump “ordered me to re-open in a way that would endanger the public health of my State, I wouldn’t do it. And we would have a constitutional challenge between the State and the Federal Government and that would go to the courts and that would be the worst possible thing he could do at this moment. Would be to act dictatorial and to act in a partisan divisive way.”
“If you move too quickly and not smartly you will see the number go right back up again and you’ll have to do another lockdown. We’re watching other countries that are going through this and they’ve shown that when you move too precipitously you create an issue and then you have to go right back to square one. This is not about going back to square one so we have to temper our desire and emotion with our intelligence.”
“Start to reopen. Watch how many infections are increasing. Do testing so people know this is been done smartly and you can watch the infection rate.”
The following day, April 14th, President Trump sent mixed messages, announcing that he will discuss re-opening plans with individual governors and will authorise some states to re-open as soon as May 1st, barely two weeks from now.
Speaking at a White House press briefing President Trump highlighted that “plans to reopen the country are close to being finalised and we will soon be sharing details and new guidelines with everyone.” President Trump stressed that he “will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly and will authorise each individual governor of each individual state to implement a re-opening”. In typical Trump style, he described his re-opening plan as “very powerful” which “will be very close. Maybe even before May 1st.”
This could lead to a stand-off between President Trump and Governers who refuse to lift lockdown sanctions and re-open the economy. Many pundits have opined that experts should play a greater role in advising when individual states can reopen. As seen recently President Trump may just have a different plan in mind setting up a precarious stand-off between the Federal Government and individual States.