Trump wages war against New York

For the longtime Manhattanite, running against New York’s political leaders is a mix of opportunity, muscle memory and method.

By ANNIE KARNI 08/16/2018 05:22 PM EDT

Even in the West Wing, all politics is local.

President Donald Trump — raised in Queens, made in Manhattan — in the past week is finding his latest targets back home, turning New York political leaders into liberal punching bags that offer him familiar and useful foils ahead of the midterm elections.

It’s an old political playbook — attack elite, liberal New York, and the heartland loves you — but it’s also personal for Trump, whose relationships with some of New York’s political leaders go back generations.

On Monday, the president deliberately attacked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is fighting for his third term, as a presidential wannabe. He told attendees at a fundraiser in Utica that Cuomo once promised he would “never run for president against” him and then urged him to get in the race. “Oh, please do it,” Trump goaded. “Anybody who runs against Trump suffers.”

Trump then quickly capitalized on a nuclear-level gaffe from Cuomo, who in a speech on Wednesday noted that America “was never that great,” tweeting that Cuomo was “having a total meltdown!”

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/16/trump-new-york-rival-politicians-midterms-2018-780189