Trump Is Weaponizing the Nice Things He Forced Democratic Governors to Say About Him

Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) at a press conference in New York on March 30, 2020. John Lamparski/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The Trump campaign has spliced together footage of Democratic governors giving positive reviews of the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and plans to spend five figures to run it on Facebook and YouTube, according to CNN. It’s unlikely to be the last time Trump uses the words of Democratic governors to combat the public’s low approval of his response to the crisis. 

“When I’ve called the president, he’s quickly gotten on the line,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom says in footage that kicks off the ad. “What the federal government did, working with states, was a phenomenal accomplishment,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says next in footage from one of his press briefings. Governors Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico are also shown complimenting the president and his administration. The ad ends with Newsom saying what has become one of the campaign’s slogans: “Promise made, promise kept.” 

Historically, leaders have viewed a national crisis as an opportunity to put partisanship aside and work across party lines. The federal government is expected to respond robustly and impartially to a disaster, members of the opposite party will then express appreciation for a job well done, and voters will welcome the nonpartisan response. But those norms have disappeared during the coronavirus pandemic. The Trump administration and most of his fellow Republicans see the crisis through a partisan frame; Mitch McConnell recently called aid to states “blue state bailouts.”

President Donald Trump has been open about the fact that he saw aid to blue states as a transaction: He’ll send supplies like masks and ventilators to combat the virus if the governors say nice things about him. The not-so-subtle message for over a month has been that if blue states hit the hardest by the pandemic want government help, they should offer something in return. As it turns out, what their governors have provided is fodder for campaign ad footage. 

Last month, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer criticized the federal government’s response and asked for a federal disaster declaration for her state. “We’ve had a big problem with the young, a woman governor from—you know who I’m talking about—from Michigan,” Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News. “We can’t—we don’t like to see the complaints.” He initially withheld the desired disaster declaration, saying that he had a big decision to make on it. (He ultimately granted it.) Trump likewise attacked Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) as a “nasty person” and a “snake” for his criticism of Trump’s response.

On March 28, a reporter asked Trump during a press briefing: “What more, specifically, do you want the governor of Washington and the governor of Michigan to be doing?” Trump responded: “All I want them to do—very simple—I want them to be appreciative.” Normally, a governor will show appreciation after receiving federal aid, but Trump wanted to reverse the process. “I say, ‘Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington. You’re wasting your time with him. Don’t call the woman in Michigan.'” he continued. “If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.” 

Trump has long shown that he views governing as a massive patronage system, in which he doles out resources —including critical aid—in response for political favors. During Trump’s impeachment of earlier this year, members of Congress concluded that the president had withheld security aid to Ukraine in exchange for a political favor. During the House’s impeachment hearings in December, Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan framed his behavior in terms starkly similar to what is happening today. Imagine a state needs aid after a hurricane, she suggested, and the president says, “I would like you to do us a favor. I’ll meet with you, and I’ll send the disaster relief, once you brand my opponent a criminal.”

Fast forward to the current public health crisis. In this case, Trump flirts with withholding aid until he gets plaudits from governors. That those comments are now part of Trump’s campaign isn’t a surprise. It was part of the bargain. 

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate