New York Governor Andrew Cuomo doesn’t like President Trump, and does not hide his feelings on the man. But not everything that Trump has touched is evil in Cuomo’s mind. For example, Trump’s prior donations are still welcomed by the New York Democrat.
Cuomo has been under fire from his primary opponent, actress Cynthia Nixon. When asked about returning the donation, Cuomo replied that he would not: “I will be deeply critical of him and keep the contributions,” he said.
In other words, his convictions only go so far.
Of course, in all fairness, I can’t say that I blame him. The money has already been given, and it’s not like Cuomo has been playing nicely with the president due to the donation. It’s also safe to say he’s not going to get another one regardless of whether he returns the money or not, so why bother?
The only reason to return the money would be to appease Nixon and her (slightly) more radical base: “Andrew Cuomo will take campaign donations from anyone — even Donald Trump,” her campaign ad argued.
Unfortunately for Nixon, this tactic may backfire. Nixon is arguing that Cuomo is unprincipled by accepting a donation from his political enemy; there’s little evidence that Cuomo has bowed to any theoretical pressure from the president since the contribution.
In other words, some are likely to see this as evidence of Cuomo sticking to his “Resistance” principles rather than him somehow being a sellout.
Probably not a winning strategy from the actress. Then again, when you attack someone already radical like Cuomo from his left, that isn’t much room to create differentiation. Nixon is otherwise simply running on Bernie Sanders’ platform and her own name recognition.
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