“We know that our problems go beyond the COVID virus: COVID is the symptom, not the illness,” Cuomo said in a live speech broadcast without a physical audience. “Our nation is in crisis, and in many ways COVID is just a metaphor.
“A virus attacks when the body is weak, when it cannot defend itself,” Cuomo continued. “Over the past few years America’s body politic has been weakened…Only a strong body can fight off the virus, and America’s divisions weakened it. Donald Trump didn’t create the initial division, the division created Trump: he only made it worse.”
Cuomo went on to compare the country’s government to an “immune system,” and blamed the federal government for failing to contain coronavirus. With over 32,000 coronavirus deaths, New York has suffered the highest death toll of any U.S. state during the pandemic.
The speaker following Cuomo, Kristin Urquiza, compared Trump to a “preexisting condition,” blaming the president for her father’s death from coronavirus.
“My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that, he paid with his life,” Urquiza said. “One of the last things that my father said to me was that he felt betrayed by the likes of Donald Trump. And so, when I cast my vote for Joe Biden, I will do it for my dad.”
