Responding to protesters in his state desperate to open up the economy, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo advised them to “go get a job as an essential worker.”
It is a shockingly tone-deaf and condescending statement at a time when many people across his state are suffering economically and losing their jobs.
Hundreds of protesters on Wednesday descended on the Capitol building in Albany, desperate to find work or generate income in these desperate times.
They held signs and chanted, while many drivers honked horns in support. Some cars were decorated with American flags and Trump 2020 signs.
King of Condescension
Anne McCloy, a reporter for WRGB CBS 6, asked Cuomo his thoughts on the protests.
“These are regular people who are not getting a paycheck, some of them are not getting their unemployment check,” McCloy began. “And they’re saying that they don’t have time to wait for all of this testing and they need to get back to work in order to feed their families.”
“Their savings is running out, they don’t have another week, they’re not getting answers,” she continued. “Their point is the cure can’t be worse than the illness itself.”
Cuomo’s response clearly showed a man unaffected by his own state residents suffering financially.
“How can the cure be worse than death?” Cuomo asked. “What is worse than death? The illness is death.”
“You want to go to work?” he sneered. “Go take a job as an essential worker. Do it tomorrow.”
A reporter asked Gov. Cuomo what he’d say to New Yorkers who want to go back to work because they’re running out of money, to which he replied, “economic hardship doesn’t equal death”
“You want to go to work? Go take a job as an essential worker” he added https://t.co/BgwoOZsQRy pic.twitter.com/WxGQxtg49p
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 22, 2020
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Only Some Lives Matter
The New York governor’s insistence that people’s lives are the most important factor in his decision making doesn’t hold up to further scrutiny.
On the same day Cuomo made the claim death is the most important factor, reports surfaced that the Department of Health in New York has issued “a blanket do-not-resuscitate directive last week instructing first-responders not to try to revive patients without a pulse.”
The governor’s orders are death. What’s worse than death, Mr. Cuomo?
Meanwhile, as @NYGovCuomo laments the fact that death is worse than suicide from economic ruin, his Health Department is literally telling paramedics not to perform CPR on people. A Do Not Resuscitate order for the entire state. https://t.co/O7MIesjeOj
— Rusty Weiss ?? (@rustyweiss74) April 22, 2020
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Will Trump Step In?
Cuomo also stated that he would not re-open the state if President Trump advised him to.
“This is not going to be over any time soon,” he said. “We’re not going to have people lose their life because we acted imprudently.”
“If he ordered me to reopen in a way that would endanger the public health of the people of my state, I wouldn’t do it,” said Cuomo.
Conservative radio host Mark Levin has claimed that governors do not have the sole power to make that decision, citing the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
“The president has more power to order governors, if he chooses, to open up their economies than people think,” Levin told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“If it affects interstate commerce in a very negative way, the president can in fact enforce the interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution, where governors do not have the power to control interstate commerce,” he continued.
“It’s absurd to say the president has no power.”
Cuomo’s comments show a man unconcerned with the economic suffering of his people. But they also indicate he has no intention of opening the economy any time soon.
Mr. President – New Yorkers need your help.
