The political standoff between the Trump administration and blue states in the northeast is "obnoxious" and stuck in a "vicious downward spiral," according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"The president feels he doesn't get political support from New York and therefore he keeps poking New York, but the cycle has to stop, John," Cuomo told 970 AM-N.Y. host John Catsimatidis on Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable."
"'You don't treat me well, so I'm going to treat you poorly.' Yeah, but that is just a vicious downward spiral."
Cuomo said he "met for about an hour" with President Donald Trump on Friday, talking national political issues surrounding New York, including issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, bail reform, Gateway tunnel, and LaGuardia Airport construction.
"If you take the hyper political viewpoint, you would say, 'well, why would I help New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine? These are Democratic states primarily,'" Cuomo add. "Yeah, but that is a really counterproductive, obnoxious, frankly, point of view.
"The northeast is a big economic engine. It's cutting your nose to spite your face."
Cuomo is seeking to work with Trump, who has been unwilling because of New York Rep. Jerry Nadler's work to impeach him.
"We're both from New York," Cuomo said. "It was a candid, frank conversation. I think the president really understood the situation. When he said he would get back to me next week that was a reasonable position."
One of the boilerplate issues discussed, per Cuomo, was New York's withholding of data from its Department of Motor Vehicles program of driver licenses for undocumented immigrations. The Department of Homeland Security has sought the data, but Cuomo accused DHS of "extorting" the data from the state to target illegal immigrants for deportation.
"I offered them the logical solution to their question," Cuomo said. "I said anyone who's applying for the Global Entry Fast Pass, I'll give you whatever you want. So that is more than logical.
"If they're only using it to extort New York, well then, I can't do anything for them. And that's the decision they're going to have to make."
Trump left New York as his official home last year, now calling Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, his personal residence amid New York's excessive investigations into the Trump Organization and his family.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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