CSI: American Carnage (September 3, 2020)
TO THE READER!
President issues a memo directing a review and withholding of funding from the nation’s great anarchist jurisdictions. Sept. 2., 2020, excerpted comments.
TRUMP: My Administration will not allow Federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones. To ensure that Federal funds are neither unduly wasted nor spent in a manner that directly violates our Government’s promise to protect life, liberty, and property, it is imperative that the Federal Government review the use of Federal funds by jurisdictions that permit anarchy, violence, and destruction in America’s cities. Federal agencies must detail all Federal funds provided to Seattle, Portland, New York City, Washington, D.C. … Attorney General Bill Barr must develop a list of anarchist jurisdictions that permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to restore order. In light of this unconscionable rise in violence, I have offered to provide Federal law enforcement assistance, but both Mayor de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have rejected my offer.
CUOMO: President Trump put out a statement saying that he wanted to defund New York City, D.C., Seattle and Portland because of the protests that they’re having… First, from the point of view of New York City, this has been the worst president in history. President Ford said, drop dead. This President has actively been trying to kill New York City ever since he’s been elected and it’s a personal animus as it normally is with the President. I think it’s because he is from New York City and New York City rejected him always. He was dismissed as a clown in New York City. Those who know him best like him least. That’s true about New York City. It’s true about his own family and I think that’s more and more clear to Americans. He’s going to defund New York City. Everything that he could possibly do in his power to hurt New York City he has done. … The best thing he did for New York City was leave. Good riddance, let him go to Florida, be careful not to get COVID…. The main situation that New York City had to deal with, that I had to deal with as Governor, was the COVID pandemic. Remember, COVID ambushed New York due to Trump’s negligence. It was his negligence that allowed the virus to ambush New York, and that’s not rhetorical. It was his negligence that believed the virus was still in China. He calls it the “China virus.” It’s not the “China virus.” It’s the European virus. It came here from Europe. January, February, March, he did nothing until March. March 15th is when he did the European travel ban.
You want to do something about public safety. Try doing your job. 1,000 people under your federal leadership are dying currently per day from COVID. You have the worst record on the globe in terms of leadership. You want to do something on public safety? That’s what you can do. As far as this statement he’s going to stop funding for New York City – he’s not a king. He thinks he’s a king but he’s not. He’s a President. But there’s the Constitution and there are laws, nothing that he knows anything about. But the federal budget is appropriated by law with conditions of funding by law. Part of the funding went to Department of Housing and Urban Development which I used to head. The statutes contain the conditions and he can’t override the law. I suspect it’s more of a political statement that he’s making than anything else, but it’s also illegal what he’s talking about. So that’s my response to the President.