Plus, these isolated instances of logistical assistance paled in comparison to the federal government’s many actions that actually exacerbated the damage from COVID. The federal government’s supplies were far less than what we needed. Also, our entire situation was caused by the federal government’s negligence that allowed the virus to arrive in New York from Europe in the first place. But Trump couldn’t hear the truth.
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THE NEXT NIGHT, I was sitting at the dining room table having dinner with my girls. The TV was on in the other room when all of a sudden my image appeared at Trump’s COVID briefing press conference on video playing on a large screen. The screen showed a clip of me at my briefing praising the president for the Army Corps of Engineers’ help at the Javits Center. But there were technical difficulties with the video, and it stopped prematurely. Trump then recited the remainder of what I said from memory; he knew every word.
My girls were stunned. To say they don’t like the president is an understatement. We had a long conversation about why I would say anything nice about the president. I had to explain that there is a difference between politics and government and that I don’t have the luxury of operating through my own political or personal lens when it comes to doing my job as governor. I had to work with people whom I personally don’t agree with if it is in the best interest of the state. They were not buying it, and I understood why. I wish it were that simple.
In that moment, Trump had gotten what he wanted, a video of me praising him. The senior Democratic governor was thanking him for his efforts during COVID. That was his campaign ad. It was cheap, and tawdry, and dishonorable. He knew that I had more credibility than he did and it was a total act of desperation. He had failed on COVID, and he was trying to construct an alternate reality.
If you listen to President Trump, he will tell you what he needs. He doesn’t hide his neurosis. He said about me in a White House press briefing on April 4: “We have given the governor of New York more than anybody has ever been given in a long time. And I think he’s happy, but…I watched what he said today, and it was fine. I wouldn’t say gracious, it wasn’t gracious, it was okay.
“I’ll tell you who’s been nice, Mayor de Blasio,” Trump said in a tone of surprise. “He understands what we’ve given him.”
A psychiatrist could have a field day.
First, on the facts: Trump “gave us” very little. The federal government, through its congressionally approved budget, routinely gives billions in aid to New York. This is a function of law. Trump did more to hurt us than to help us. Any fair federal government would not have stopped billions in funding for the subway, stopped congestion pricing, or refused funding to repair its own Hudson tunnels, and wouldn’t steal $14 billion through the SALT scam. Trump didn’t know facts or didn’t want to be bothered by them. The Obama administration gave us $5 billion to build a new Tappan Zee bridge. They gave us $8 billion for Medicaid reform. And none of this was during a historic pandemic. When I was at HUD, we would fund billions for natural disasters. After Superstorm Sandy, New York received $60 billion to rebuild. If you added up the PPE, ventilators, and military assistance, Trump’s aid to New York during COVID didn’t amount to $1 billion in supplies.
In the scope of things, it was chump change, or should I say “Trump change.” He says de Blasio was nice. How delusional. De Blasio decimates him regularly.
But the idea that I should be “gracious” for Trump doing the bare minimum to meet the federal government’s responsibility was bizarre. It wasn’t his money, it was tax dollars, and it wasn’t his largesse we were asking for, it was for him to fulfill his basic constitutional duty. But with Trump, everything was always political and personal. It was all transactional. He gave me money, so I should be “gracious,” meaning I should say nice things that he could use in his campaign videos. It was a proxy for political support. He would make Tammany Hall blush. “I give you government money and you agree to give me political support.” No political support, no government money. It was a reality show of an unsophisticated politician’s criminal enterprise.
In June, Trump would give Governor Murphy of New Jersey $2 billion for a New Jersey bridge. Ironically, the bridge was an element of the Hudson River tunnel replacement program that Trump consistently refused to fund. I asked the White House why they would do that, since the tunnels were the priority and the bridge replacement without the tunnels was virtually pointless. They said the funding for the bridge was in repayment to Governor Murphy because he was “gracious” and always said many positive things about Trump, and that’s what Trump needed.
Murphy’s comments will be in a campaign ad, I am
