Cuomo, appearing, on NBC’s Today Show, explained, “No, that is not true. I don’t know why the president said it. I don’t know why he would take us down this path. . . . It’s not legal. It’s a total abrogation of the Constitution — 10th Amendment specifically says power to the states." He added, “To say ‘I have total authority over the country because I’m the president, it’s absolute,’ that is a king. We didn’t have a king. We didn’t have King George Washington, we had President George Washington.”

AD

AD

Perhaps somewhat lost in the firestorm was the tenor of the president, the anger and the furor with which he delivered his insistence that he has kinglike authority. Less focus fell upon his encounter with CBS’s Paula Reid, who pressed him to explain what he did during the month of February. He snarled, “A lot. A lot.” However, he had no alibi to explain his disappearance from the front lines, now documented by multiple news outlets.

Pressed to answer who told him that his power was absolute, his only recourse was to bark “enough” at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. Another reporter asked where in the Constitution such powers emanated, Trump replied as any student caught delivering a book report for a book he has not read, “Lots of provisions. Lots of provisions.” (Perhaps Article XII?)

That contradiction — the assertion of absolute power and the utter feebleness of his response to the pandemic — was remarkable. The president has asserted that the federal government is merely a “backup” to the states when it comes to critical functions like securing lifesaving ventilators and gloves. He has denied responsibility for ramping up testing, which if scaled up nationally could allow Americans to return to work safely. He is an authoritarian, but an underachiever — one who never manages to actually wield power, but only threatens to do so.

AD

AD

On Morning Joe, Cuomo gave some sage advice in response to the president’s news conferences. “No, a governor should not watch that. There’s no value in it. It would be — it is infuriating and offensive, and, frankly, ignorant of the facts,” Cuomo said. He added, “To hear a Republican stand up there, by the way, and argue big government and total authority of the federal government is somewhat amusing. You know, if it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny. All of this, it could be a comedy skit. And it’s frightening.”

But mostly it is revealing — of the Trump enablers who will never admit the president is unhinged and unfit; of the ludicrous news judgment to cover these presidential temper tantrums live; of the notion of “balance” (Well some say the sky is blue; the president says it is pink with purple polka dots and unicorns); and of a political party that would rather stick by a president whose recklessness led to hundreds if not thousands of unnecessary deaths than develop the fortitude to cast him aside.

Read more:

AD