Cuomo: ‘America’s only threat is from within’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) took clear shots at President Trump and his agenda on Wednesday as he delivered his inaugural address at the state’s historic Ellis Island landmark.

In his speech, Cuomo vowed that his administration in New York would work to counter Trump’s efforts to “demonize our differences and make our diversity our greatest weakness rather than our greatest strength,” according to The New York Times.

{mosads}“America’s only threat is from within: It is the growing division amongst us,” Cuomo said, adding that New York would be “the light to lead the way through the darkness.”

“We will make history and New York will move forward, not by building a wall, my friends, but by building new bridges,” he added, according to NBC 4.

Cuomo, who was elected to a third term as New York’s governor in November, vowed in his speech to build a progressive agenda in the state that would serve as a foil to the conservative policies pushed by the Trump administration.

It will be “the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen, period,” Cuomo said Wednesday.

“Just as [President Franklin Delano Roosevelt] turned the frustration of the economic depression into a movement to pass the New Deal, let New York use the frustration of the social depression to pass a new justice agenda,” the governor added, according to the Times.

The governor won reelection in 2018 with 58 percent of the vote, slightly outperforming his 2014 vote share after facing a primary challenge from actress and liberal activist Cynthia Nixon, who challenged Cuomo on issues such as the problems with the New York City subway system and income inequality.

In the months since the primary, Cuomo has staked further-left positions on key issues supported by Nixon, including marijuana legalization.