Trump then turned as emotional as anyone has ever seen him, defending his city.

"New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people," Trump said. "When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York."

Cruz's comments prompted a backlash on Twitter, and from the New York Daily News, which sports a cover Friday featuring the Statue of Liberty delivering a middle finger -- and telling Cruz to go back to Canada, where he was born.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) also slammed Cruz for his comments.

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"It was anti-American, it wasn't just anti-New York," he said. "In 30 seconds the man was anti-gays, anti-women. This is what he does, this is the politics of division. It's also why the country is in the situation that it's in," Cuomo said. He added on NY1: "And if he had any class, he would apologize to the people of New York. Not that I believe they need it or they want it. But if he had any class, he would apologize."

Cruz said that there aren't a lot of conservatives in Manhattan; Cuomo said there is a "vibrant conservative movement" in the state.

The Texas Republican has held a number of fundraisers in New York, and Cuomo wondered if he would still have the events. A super PAC supporting Cruz is based in New York — its main donor lives on Long Island.

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"I’m sure now he won’t take a donation from anyone in New York, obviously," Cuomo said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

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"I’m sure if he has, he’s going to return all of those contributions," Cuomo said on NY1.

Cuomo said on CNN that it was "politically expedient, probably," for Trump to bring up the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but he also concluded that Cruz bringing up an anti-New York stereotype was offensive.

Cuomo called it “the exact opposite” of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and said “9/11 was a symbol of this country's better angels."

Even some Cruz supporters are questioning the exchange. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a major Cruz surrogate, said he didn't think Cruz went too far with his comments about New York — until he saw Trump's reaction.

"Then I thought it would have been better on the part of Ted Cruz not to have that exchange," King said on CNN.