#Cuomo rants Trump is in coronavirus ‘denial,’ time to ‘put a mask on it’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo went on a rant about President Trump Wednesday, saying the commander-in-chief has been “in denial” of coronavirus since the outbreak in the US began — and that it’s time for him to “change course,” “tell the truth” and “put a mask on it.”

“He was in denial of the COVID virus from day one,” Cuomo said of Trump, who was just one target of the governor’s rage during a press briefing in Manhattan where he also went after Mayor Bill de Blasio over social distancing in the Big Apple and railed against both the NYPD and efforts to reform it.

“He denied the reality of this situation from day one — ‘Reopen right away, liberate those states, you’re artificially keeping the economy closed, there is no reason’ — that came from him,” Cuomo said of Trump.

“States are now having to roll back their reopening plan,” said Cuomo, adding, “The buck stops on the president’s desk — that is a fact.”

Cuomo continued, “Sometimes if the president speaks, people listen — even if the president is Trump — and sometimes they listen and those Republican governors listened.”

The Empire State’s Democratic governor, who touted New York’s progress in containing the virus, also ripped Trump for holding a campaign rally amid the coronavirus crisis and “bringing thousands of people together” with “no masks.”

“What signal did that send to the American people?” Cuomo asked.

Trump “denied the reality of the virus” and “has lived in denial and has been denying the scientific facts since day one,” said Cuomo. “He’s been denying what every health expert in the United States of America was saying. He denied what his own CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] said.”

“Well, you know what, Mr. President? Reality wins, every time,” Cuomo said. “You don’t defeat reality. Denying reality does not defeat reality.”

“Reality wins and reality won — and now the country is suffering because of the president,” Cuomo railed.

Cuomo said now is the time for Trump to “change course” and “actually tell the truth.”

“The first thing he can do, come clean with the American people, admit the threat of this virus, admit you were wrong — everybody knows you were wrong,” he said. “At least have the courage to admit what everybody else knows. You were wrong.”

Then, Cuomo said, Trump should “send a message to this nation” to “mobilize” citizens and governments to fight back against the virus — and finally “put a mask on it.”

“Next time you’re smiling at the camera, put a mask on it, Mr. President,” Cuomo said as he flashed a Photoshopped image of Trump wearing a face mask on a PowerPoint slide. “It’s the best thing he could do.”