New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in hot water for a comment made during a Democratic primary debate with actress Cynthia Nixon in which he called Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers “a bunch of thugs.”
Nixon is challenging Cuomo, who is seeking a third term as Empire State governor. New York gun owners dislike him, often vehemently, and now law enforcement and people who believe in strong border enforcement have a reason to like him less.
The New York Times analysis of the hour-long debate, held at Hofstra University, was that Cuomo is the odds-on favorite to win a third time at bat. But the newspaper also gave Nixon a nod by saying she is a “credible candidate for governor.”
The anti-gun Democrat governor, according to Fox News, has been “pulled to the left by Nixon.” who wants to abolish ICE. She’s also in favor of legalizing marijuana. Neither she nor the governor are friends of gun owners.
But it was during an exchange on immigration that Cuomo’s foot went into his mouth, according to critics.
“New York State is the state that is suing Donald Trump for ripping babies from the arms of their mothers,” the governor said, as quoted by Fox News. “New York State is the state that says we will not cooperate with ICE, they’re a bunch of thugs. We said we will sue them if they violate any criminal laws in the state of New York.”
But according to the New York Times, Cuomo did not “stumble irreparably” with any of his remarks Wednesday evening. Essentially, he had the demeanor of a candidate with more than $24 million in his campaign war chest.
Both the governor and Nixon seemed at times to be trying to out-dislike the other when it came to President Donald Trump, as noted by The Hill. Thursday morning, The Hill quoted one of their bristling exchanges:
“No one has stood up to Donald Trump the way I have,” Cuomo insisted.
“You stood up to him about as well as he stood up to Putin,” Nixon countered.
New York has become a politically blue state dominated by Democrat politics from Long Island to Lake Erie, so regardless who comes out on top, the state’s gun owners are facing another four years of anti-gun extremism in Albany.
