President Trump grants Gov. Cuomo the status of a potential opponent
President Donald Trump speaks in upstate Utica on Monday. Credit: AP / Carolyn Kaster
Odd as it sounds, President Donald Trump's sneering mention of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo at a fundraiser in Utica Monday night can be considered a kind of shout-out and a favor to the New York governor — even if it wasn't meant that way.
Appearing in Utica Monday, purportedly to help re-elect Rep. Claudia Tenney, the president crowed much about himself. He said something about Cuomo having once told him he wouldn't challenge him. Referring to himself in the third person, Trump warned: "Anybody that runs against Trump suffers."
Nearly every state Democrat whose name is on a public ballot in November regards the president as a distant piñata. Cuomo has been pounding Trump policies from taxes to immigration, and said in a statement before the GOP event that the president had forgotten what made the country great.
"Cuomo wants to take away your Second Amendment," Trump said (as if a governor can revoke the Bill of Rights).
"Donald Trump & the NRA — bankrupt bedfellows: literally and morally," Cuomo tweeted (no, not so much literally). "Unlike Trump, I'm not afraid to take on the NRA."
The polarized target groups of voters to whom these two politicians would appeal on issues won't be swayed by the barbs from the other side. What benefits Cuomo here is any buzz that leading Republicans would consider him enough of a factor to mention his potential 2020 candidacy.
Like any presidential speculation, no matter how derisive, it's free prestige. By urging Cuomo to run, even so acidly, Trump was acknowledging him as a foil.
For the moment, Cuomo is facing a long shot primary challenge from actress Cynthia Nixon. Last month, Nixon said, "Governor Cuomo cannot serve as a defense against Donald Trump when he's accepted tens of thousands of dollars from him” in campaign contributions from before Trump ran in 2016. For that matter, Trump had also donated only a decade ago to Hillary Clinton.
Any shrewd Nixon strategist would undoubtedly have loved to hear Trump attack the insurgent instead of Cuomo in his Monday speech. But at the fundraiser, Trump chose to condemn another Democratic woman on the statewide ballot — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who's seeking re-election --- without dousing 2020 national speculation about her.
Of course, Trump's preaching to the converted about fracking and needling Cuomo long distance played well at the Tenney event. Why wouldn't it? Despite his past as a nominal New York City Democrat, Trump is now the brand name on the national GOP.
A quick Trump-Cuomo dis-fest adds up to a win-win, at least for themselves.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
