CASEY HUBER
Special to The Leader
As the president of the wealthiest, most powerful nation on Earth dragged on about how many ventilators New York State needed, I had a thought.
How does the popular kid in school interact with the school bully?
There seems to be a mutual respect between the two; they don’t swim in each other’s circles.
But occasionally, they clash, and when they do, there is a fierce passive aggressive standoff.
Neither side looks at the other, rather looking at their shoes, as the bully impatiently claims innocence and the popular kid defends a member of his flock.
Finally there is relief when both sides utter “Fine,” and go about their business.
Governor Andrew Cuomo and President Donald Trump share this special relationship.
Trump gets his way, period, usually by brute force.
Cuomo gets his way, by route of the militia he surrounds himself with.
Neither one ever liked each other.
“And they say, like Governor Cuomo and others, that say we want 30,000 of them. 30,000. Think of this,” Trump told news pundit Sean Hannity. “You go to hospitals who have, don’t even have one, in a hospital and all of a sudden everybody is asking for vast numbers.”
He added later, “But generally speaking, I’m getting along very well with Governor Cuomo.”
Bullshit.
“Their relationship over the years has vacillated between hostility and respect,” wrote Dan Merica and Kevin Liptak for CNN.
Trump considered running against Cuomo for the governor position in 2014.
“Mr. Trump, I’ve known you for 30 years,” Cuomo said during the run. “You may be a slick salesman who fooled many people in this country. But you didn’t fool me.”
The popular kid and the bully.
All I can do is sit and watch from the sidelines, my feet placed firmly in front of my open locker, head turned towards the confrontation.
Only difference between middle school and reality is tens of thousands of lives.