For much of 2017, the governor conspicuously did not attack the president by name. | Getty Images Cuomo: America was ‘never that great’

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted Donald Trump during a bill-signing ceremony on Wednesday, twisting the president’s signature slogan as he made a point about the need for greater women’s equality.

“We’re not going to make America great again — it was never that great,” said Cuomo, a Democrat seeking a third term. “We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged. We will reach greatness when discrimination and stereotyping against women — 51 percent of our population — is gone and every woman’s full potential is realized and unleashed.”


Cuomo's remarks quickly became national news, and shortly after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever issued a statement tempering the governor’s earlier comments.

"The governor believes America is great and that her full greatness will be fully realized when every man, woman, and child has full equality. America has not yet reached its maximum potential,” Lever said. "When the president speaks about making America great again — going back in time — he ignores the pain so many endured and that we suffered from slavery, discrimination, segregation, sexism and marginalized women's contributions. The governor believes that when everyone is fully included and everyone is contributing to their maximum potential, that is when America will achieve maximum greatness."

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who was in Saratoga Springs for a GOP fundraiser, tweeted that Cuomo “changes his views quicker than Omarosa," referencing Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the fired Trump staffer who has written a tell-all about her time in the administration.

Cuomo's comments came two days after Trump, a fellow Queens native, publicly attacked him for the first time since becoming president. Trump said Cuomo promised he would never challenge him for the presidency in 2020; for much of 2017, the governor conspicuously did not attack the president by name. (A Cuomo spokesman denied any such promise was made.)

That changed this year, as Cuomo faces a Democratic primary challenge from Cynthia Nixon and as Trump pushed tax and immigration policies that the governor says are antithetical to New York values.

Cuomo’s basic argument against Nixon is that New York needs an experienced leader as it fights Trump. He’s clearly welcoming a fight with the president, who had a rating of 38 percent favorable-59 percent unfavorable in a June poll conducted by the Siena Research Institute.

Republicans immediately fired back at Cuomo.

“America, with its imperfections, has always been great,” said Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, the GOP gubernatorial nominee. “Our people, our principles, and our promises have been a beacon light to the world for 242 years and counting. This governor is so determined to distract voters from his failed policies and corrupted administration that he’s willing to dismiss the steady, determined march of the American people, making and remaking the greatness of America. Mr. Cuomo owes the nation an apology. He should be ashamed of himself.”

On Twitter, Cuomo’s top adviser, Melissa DeRosa, said, “MAGA is a dog whistle.”

Cuomo’s speech came at a government-sponsored event at a community center on Manhattan's Lower East Side where he was to sign a bill, NY A6823 (17R), that makes it easier to prosecute people for forcing children into prostitution.

Cuomo said Trump and his supporters on issues of immigration were “the enemy,” and he faulted the president’s policies of separating children from parents who enter the United States unlawfully and his equivocation about white supremacists who rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year.