New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), during a Monday appearance on The Howard Stern Show, confessed that he would have “decked” President Trump if not for his position as the governor of the Empire State.
Cuomo appeared on the show to promote his latest book titled American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic. The two leaders — Trump and Cuomo — have had a rocky relationship, and Cuomo told the host that he has had to exercise great restraint for the good of his state.
“I bit my tongue so many times I have tongue scars,” the governor said. “Here’s the trick, Howard. I want to speak to the better angels. I want to lift people up and I want to show Trump for what he is by opposition.”
“I also had the practical situation: I needed him to help New York,” Cuomo said. “That was my job. If I wasn’t Governor of New York, I would’ve decked him. Period. He was attacking me. He was attacking my family. He was anti-Italian. He was every nasty thing.”
His brother, CNN’s Chris Cuomo, also has a history of being openly anti-Trump, earning him the “Fredo” nickname popularized by Breitbart News’s John Nolte. The elder brother took issue with the president adopting the nickname, explaining that he is “very sensitive to all ethnic slight.”
“It’s not funny. First, the mafia stereotype has been such a stain for Italians for so long —and that’s where they go when they want to get cheap and nasty,” he told Stern, contending that Trump targeted his sibling — a primetime CNN host — to “attack” him personally.
“I said to him, ‘You want to attack me? Attack me. I don’t have a problem with that, but why are you bringing my brother into it? He’s just doing his job,'” he said.
Last year, Chris Cuomo claimed that “Fredo” was equivalent to the “n-word” for Italians, drawing backlash from black conservatives.
The governor added, “Take away that word governor for 24 hours, I would have had a field day with him [Trump].”
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