Ted Cruz's dig on
Donald Trump's "New York" values during Thursday night's GOP presidential debate was "highly offensive," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday, and he believes it was not only an insult on New Yorkers, but it was "anti-American."
"In 30 seconds the man was offensive to gays, women by attacking pro-choice women, and this is what he does," Cuomo told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "This is the politics of division, right. It's also why this country is in the situation it's in and why we have the gridlock and why you can't govern."
The Texas senator and GOP presidential candidate insulted the 18 million people of New York City, he continued, as well as one of the largest states in the country and the largest congressional delegation.
"It's disturbing on every level and hypocritical," said Cuomo, sarcastically adding that he's "sure [Cruz] won't take a donation from anybody in New York."
And while Cruz tried to paint the state as a hotbed of liberalism, the Democratic governor pointed out that there is a "vibrant conservative movement in this state.
"We have about 30 percent of the people who identify themselves as conservatives. In my legislative body we have people who are very conservative. We have political differences, but we don't have political divisions, and that's the difference. That's how we have consensus, and that's how our legislature functions, by respecting the differences, not by trying to explode them into divisions."
After Cruz reiterated his "New York values" claim on Trump during the debate, Trump responded by speaking about the 9-11 attacks, and Cuomo said he thinks the response was "politically expedient," but it still "resonated with people."
"9/11 is the symbol of this country's better angels and the essence of what Americans feel," Cuomo said. "9/11 was one of us is in need. It's the state of New York. What do we do. The visceral reaction, the intuitive reaction of the people in the country was we have to go help because it's 'we.' And there was no division, and there was no East Coast/West Coast. And you had people from all over the country coming to help on 9/11, not just New Yorkers. It was a nationalizing moment that we haven't had in popular political history."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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