Politico reports that at a Hamptons fundraiser last Saturday, Cuomo told his well-heeled supporters that, contrary to all available evidence, he could win the New York mayoral race as an independent—because he was likely to have the implicit support of President Donald Trump.
The imperative of defeating Mamdani justified the new coalition Cuomo is trying to create of his die-hard loyalists (who are Democrats) with Trump Republicans.
Some of that latter group might be tempted to back Curtis Sliwa, the actual GOP nominee in the race. Cuomo told these donors, “We can minimize [the Sliwa] vote, because he’ll never be a serious candidate. And Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani. And you’ll be wasting your vote on Sliwa.” Cuomo went on to emphasize that he’d be a mayor who could find common ground with Trump:
I think you are missing the forest for the trees here. Had we elected Kamala, we would have thwarted MAGA, there is no doubt about that. But the MAGA voter base still exists, the socio-economic circumstances that allowed Trump to be elected in our timeline would still exist. Things like that don’t just pop up overnight, it takes decades and generations, and they sure as hell won’t go away easily. Do you think if Democrats were elected, they will correctly recognize the problem and try to solve it?
(Also, to leave no doubt, personally I vote blue no matter who. But I also at the same time think that won’t really matter in the end.)
The MAGA voter base would still exist, sure. But FAR less people would have been hurt or suffered as a result of it at this point- and I can only imagine the suffering that has yet to come.