‘Are you telling New York City to drop dead?’ de Blasio asks Trump, citing legendary News cover

The mayor called on Trump to make sure funding for cities and states is included in the next stimulus package.

Mayor de Blasio cited the celebrated Daily News front page “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD” in urging President Trump to back additional aid to cities and states in Congress’ next stimulus package.

“Mr. President, are you going to save New York City or are you telling New York City to drop dead?” Hizzoner said at a Sunday press conference.

“You have to speak up now or the Senate will not act and we will not get the help we need. It’s as simple as that,” he added.

The mayor’s comments came as Senate Republicans have called for $250 billion in extra loans for small businesses but have opposed congressional Democrats’ push for funding for cash-strapped cities and states.

De Blasio told Trump to avoid the shame and ignominy of earning a cover like the Daily News' celebrated "Ford to City: Drop Dead."(Patrick Semansky/AP)

De Blasio took a chiding tone with Trump as he cited the Daily News’ 1975 rebuke of former President Gerald Ford’s refusal to aid the Big Apple as it reeled from a fiscal crisis.

“What’s going on, cat got your tongue? You're usually really talkative. You usually have an opinion on everything. How on earth do you not have an opinion on aid to America’s cities and states,” the mayor said.

“I remember famously in the 1970s, when one of your predecessors, Gerald Ford, didn’t care to help New York City during the fiscal crisis,” he continued. “There was that famous Daily News cover that said, ‘FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.'"

De Blasio also noted Trump’s recent retweets supporting anti-quarantine protests with slogans like “liberate Virginia” and “liberate Michigan.”

“How about liberating New York City?” the mayor said. “Right now, you could liberate us by sending test kits. You could liberate us by sending us stimulus aid to make up for our vast budget gap.”

De Blasio said he’s appealed to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to support more budget relief for localities, but has gotten “no response.”

“The conversations have been unusual — I'll put it that way — because sometimes I see something I can make sense of and sometimes I don't,” the mayor said.

“But the strangest part to me is, I put the clearest deed on the table, made it abundantly clear what it would mean to all of us in New York City [and] to everyone around the country and how it fit everything he said he believes in and wants to do and I got no response whatsoever,” he added.