There are two New Yorkers who have to be circling around each other in a cage fight; Andrew and Donald; governor and president. In these two alpha males we have two massive egos. Both are experts at acquiring and maintaining power. Neither likes to take prisoners and each knows that about the other. Put another way, this could really get ugly.
Cuomo has always denied that he was interested in running for president. He speaks with a forked tongue, of course. The governor is in a very tough spot. He is going to desperately need Trump if he is to have the monies that he needs to fulfill his liberal agenda in New York, like the plan for free college tuition for families making less than $125,000 that he has been advancing, in order to reassure those on the left that he is a good liberal.
Not only that, it appears that Trump, a native New Yorker, may not be all that ready to help the city, especially if his plans to sink a knife in the throat of the Affordable Care Act and perhaps Medicaid come to fruition. These acts would create a huge hole in the state budget. When you examine who has the power here, it looks like Trump is on top.
If Cuomo is to win the presidential nomination for 2020, he is going to have to be way out in front of all potential rivals. Neither Trump nor Cuomo suffer past antagonists well and both are thought to be people who punish former perceived enemies. If Andrew is to lay claim to the presidential nomination which will, according to the early polls, be very, very difficult, he will have keep Trump happy. Just picture a man walking around with a bucket of water on either shoulder.
Andrew and Trump share one attribute. Both have proven that they can be politically effective but neither is thought to be, well, nice. Cuomo, of course, has to be re-elected governor in 2018 and not just by the skin of his teeth. He won’t be able to run for president if he barely survived a gubernatorial election. Using his fundraising acumen, Cuomo is already developing a massive war chest which is scaring a lot of would be competitors out of the gubernatorial race. On the other hand, if billionaire Trump puts some muscle behind a gubernatorial rival, things could get dangerous for Cuomo.
As for President Trump, he’ll have things that he will be warring with Cuomo about. For example, Trump is making his political bones on the backs of immigrants. In the meantime there is a lot of talk about creating sanctuary cities in which undocumented immigrants might be safe from those who would like to send them back to their countries of origin, even if they can’t remember those countries. That includes their children who may never have even set foot in the countries that their parents came from.
So, just imagine the two men, Cuomo and Trump, having to duke it out over immigrants. New York will never vote for Trump so he doesn’t really have to worry about alienating voters in this state. As for Cuomo, he has another enemy on the horizon and that’s New York Mayor, Bill de Blasio. De Blasio, who represents the left wing part of the party, would be all over Cuomo if the governor didn’t back the immigrant community in New York. In fact, it is New York City where Cuomo does the best politically, but if Cuomo battles with Trump, the bully president has ways of taking out his anger on New York and its governor. So it does appear to be a tough spot for the governor, somewhere between a rock and a hard place. I’ve never wanted to be him but now I REALLY don’t want to be him.
