President Donald Trump wanted to know why the federal government should bail out state governments during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly blue states. Well, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) humiliated him with a strong answer while shaming red states at the same time.
Blue states have been hit especially hard during this crisis due to population density and the fact that Trump has resisted helping states run by Democratic governors, often seizing supplies meant for hospitals in those states and giving them to red states like Florida instead.
Trump and his Republican allies, however, refuse to help states bolster their dwindling budgets that are being used up fighting the virus.
On Twitter, Trump demanded to know why taxpayers should bail out the states, even stooping so low as to claim that Democratic states are “poorly run” as an excuse to not help them out.
Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help? I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2020
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During his own press conference on Monday, Cuomo fired back by criticizing Congress for not bailing out states, pointing out that helping states means funding for police, firefighters, and hospital workers who are still on the job as essential workers.
But then he answered Trump’s question by noting that New York sends more tax dollars to the federal government than red states like Kentucky, which Cuomo referred to as “taker” states.
“This is not the time to be talking about dollars and cents among members of a community that are trying to be mutually supportive and help each other, because helping each other is the way we actually all advance, right?” Cuomo declared like a true leader. “So, this is not the time to be saying, well, you put in a dollar more than I did, or I put in $5 more than you did, right? It’s anachronistic to the concept of community and sharing and mutuality and sharing benefits, right?”
“New York state has been bailing them out every year for decades,” he continued. “If you want to do an analysis of who is a giver and who is a taker, we are the number-one giver. Nobody puts more money into the pot than the state of New York. We’re the number-one donor state. And if you want to look at who happened to be the donor states, who are the giver states, they’d have the same states that they’re talking about now. Who are the taker states? Kentucky, southeast part of the country.”
Here’s the video via Twitter:
Cuomo: “Who happen to be the donor states? Who are the giver states? They are the same states that they are talking about now. Who are the taker states? Kentucky, Southeast part of the country.” pic.twitter.com/kelqvlfd7v
— The Hill (@thehill) April 27, 2020
Indeed, red states are welfare states that have taken more federal dollars than they have contributed for decades. That shouldn’t matter much during a pandemic, but this hypocrisy is now being addressed because of the refusal to bail out states. Had Trump and Republicans just agreed to send the aid, Cuomo would not have had to school them and shine a light on a largely ignored issue in front of a watching nation.
Now taxpayers in blue states know where all their money is going, and it’s not going to help them out when they need it, but to the red state welfare queens that complain about wasteful spending. Clearly, it’s time for that to change so these states will be forced to pick themselves up by those bootstraps they keep blabbering on about.
Featured image via screen capture
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