Trump And Cuomo Bicker Over Mutiny Tweet Amid Coronavirus Crisis

NEW YORK CITY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that 778 New Yorkers died from the new coronavirus in one day, an announcement made during a news conference somehow dominated by an angry tweet by President Donald Trump about "Mutiny on the Bounty."

New York stood on a dire plateau in the high number of lives lost to COVID-19 — dipping below 700 just once in the past six days — as Trump and Cuomo dedicated their time to a war of words.

"Tell the Democrat Governors that 'Mutiny On The Bounty' was one of my all time favorite movies," Trump tweeted on the heels of Cuomo's announced six-state working group.

"A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain."

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Trump opined the creation of the coalition, which will work to create a stay-in-place exit strategy for the Northeastern states, was a call for independence that conflicted with Cuomo's repeated pleas for federal assistance.

"Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything," Trump tweeted. "I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!"

Cuomo responded by dedicating a sizable portion of his Tuesday coronavirus briefing — and several television interviews — mocking Trump's wording and decrying the attempt to play politics.

"Governors are mutineers? I didn't follow the exact meaning of the tweet," Cuomo said. "The president is clearly spoiling for a fight on this issue."

"The worst thing we can do is start with political division."

Cuomo then harshly criticized Trump's handling of the COVID-19 response, specifically the "bidding war" created between states and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for medical supplies.

"It cost taxpayers money, private companies got very rich," Cuomo said. "I'm broke ... I don't have two nickels to rub together."

The New York governor also broke out a quote from Alexander Hamilton defending state government's power in which the Founding Father refers to federal encroachment as "repugnant to every rule of political calculation."

Meanwhile, New Yorkers continue to die from COVID-19, with 4,566 lives lost in the state since April 8, the governor said.

"Those New Yorkers are in our thoughts and prayers," Cuomo said. "Just terrible, terrible, terrible news and nothing we can do about it."

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