President Donald Trump lashed out Friday morning at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for declaring America "was never that great" in an anti-Trump speech and a followup on Twitter.
The angry repeat attack suggests that Trump' is already gearing up to knock down a potential Democrat rival for the White House in 2020.
Trump issued a challenge to Cuomo Monday, daring him to run in 2020 and warning that "anybody that runs against Trump suffers."
Trump tarred Cuomo as someone "known for pushing people and businesses out of his state," in a Twitter post.
"How does a politician, Cuomo, known for pushing people and businesses out of his state, not to mention having the highest taxes in the U.S., survive making the statement, WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, IT WAS NEVER THAT GREAT? Which section of the sentence is worse?"
Cuomo first made his remarks at a bill signing in Manhattan on Wednesday. He accused Trump of wanting to return to an era of greater sexism, racism and intolerance toward immigrants. Cuomo said America has made great strides toward equality, but that it can't consider itself great until there's full equality for all.
Trump's new attack follows his initial Wednesday response, which accused his fellow New Yorker of "having a total meltdown!"
Cuomo is seeking a third term this fall and is considered a potential White House contender in 2020.
New York Times columnist Shane Goldmacher suggested that Cuomo is attacking Trump in an effor to wipe out his guberatorial primary opponent, "Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon.
Many other Republicans have joined in attacking Cuomo.
Trump returned to Twitter later Friday to cheer the pushback on Cuomo's "really dumb statement."
"Wow! Big pushback on Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York for his really dumb statement about America’s lack of greatness," Trump's tweet said. "I have already MADE America Great Again, just look at the markets, jobs, military- setting records, and we will do even better. Andrew 'choked' badly, mistake!"
He continued his attack a few minutes later, and included a slap at Cuomo's brother Chris, a CNN broadcaster:
"When a politician admits that 'We’re not going to make America great again,' there doesn’t seem to be much reason to ever vote for him. This could be a career threatening statement by Andrew Cuomo, with many wanting him to resign-he will get higher ratings than his brother Chris!"
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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