Trump trolls Biden saying Cuomo would be a better 2020 candidate: 'I wouldn’t mind running against him'
President Donald Trump took yet another jibe at former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday, saying New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would “probably” be a much better 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
For days, Biden has criticized the Trump administration's response to the crisis in a series of virtual conferences and interviews across outlets.
But speaking to Fox & Friends on Monday, the president explained how his administration is tackling the coronavirus pandemic. “If Sleepy Joe was president, he wouldn’t even know what’s going on,” Trump fired back Monday.
The POTUS was then asked about reports suggesting Cuomo should be the one running for the 2020 Democratic nomination. “If he’s gonna run, that’s fine, I’ve known Andrew for a long time,” Trump said. “I think he’d be a better candidate than Sleepy Joe.”
"I wouldn’t mind running against Andrew,” Trump said. “I don’t mind running against Joe Biden.”
“I think probably Andrew would be better," he added.
Cuomo has recently become a fixture on national media with his daily coronavirus briefings on the situation in New York, which has been hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the three-term governor of New York -- who has received bipartisan praise for his leadership and response -- has brushed aside any campaign speculation as he continues to fight the outbreak in his state.
Cuomo announced on Sunday that he's extending the statewide lockdown at least through April 15.
Meanwhile, Trump also defended his administration's decision to extend strict social distancing guidelines until the end of April, saying coronavirus cases in the U.S. will likely peak "around Easter."
“We’re doing a lot of things and we don’t want to do it too soon,” Trump said early Monday. “Around Easter is going to be your spike, we think, and then it’s going to start coming down from there.”
“We think April 30 is a day where we can see some real progress," he added. "And we expect to see that, short of June 1, we think the death, it’s a terrible thing to say, will be brought to a very low number."
The Republican commander-in-chief linked the pandemic with politics during a press conference Thursday and alleged countries like China and Iran are rooting for Biden in the upcoming election, saying it's a "dream” of China and Iran to negotiate with Biden or somebody else and not him.
“We made a [trade] deal with China, and we're going to do another one, it looks like. They want to do it very badly. Maybe they'll want to wait, like Iran, to see whether or not Trump gets beaten in the election because would they love to negotiate with Biden or somebody else other than me. They would love it. That’s their best dream in the world,” Trump said.
“There are some that may be waiting until after November 3, the election day. But I think we are doing very well. It would be sad if we blew all of the advantages that we have right now because we made unbelievable trade deals. Whether it’s Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, and others, we have changed the whole thing around,” he added.