Andrew Cuomo: Trump division led to more racism, worsened pandemic

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said the coronavirus crisis proved that government and leadership can determine “whether we live or die.”

Mr. Cuomo laid into Mr. Trump, saying he has deepened the nation’s political divide, opening the door for more racism, while failing to address the most pressing crisis at hand.

“Our current fed government is dysfunctional and incompetent. It couldn’t fight off the virus,” she said. “We saw the failure of a government that tried to deny a virus, then tried to ignore it, then tried to politicize it.”

Mr. Cuomo said the pandemic showed that Americans can put their differences aside, rise to the occasion, and find common ground.

“Americans’ eyes have been opened, and we have seen in this crisis the truth: that government matters and leadership matters,” Mr. Cuomo said on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. “And it determines whether we thrive and grow, or whether we live or die.”

Mr. Cuomo said it is time for a change.

“Now we need a leader as good as our people, a leader who appeals to the best within us, not the worst, a leader who can unify not divide. A leader who can bring us up, not tear us down,” he said.

Mr. Cuomo said that person is Joseph R. Biden.

“Joe Biden can restore the soul of America and that is exactly what our country needs today,” he said.

Mr. Cuomo rose to national prominence this year after New York quickly became the hardest-hit state in the country by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Only a strong body can fight off the virus, and America’s divisions weakened it,” he said. “Donald Trump didn’t create the initial division. The division created Trump; he only made it worse.”

New York has since been passed by California, Florida, and Texas in terms of raw coronavirus cases.

But the more than 32,000 deaths among the Empire State’s nearly 20 million residents is still easily first in the country and second behind New Jersey when adjusted for population.