“New York State is the state that is suing Donald Trump for ripping babies from the arms of their mother[s]. New York State is the state that says, ‘We will not cooperate with ICE. They’re a bunch of thugs,’” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Wednesday night at Long Island’s Hofstra University, debating fellow Democratic gubernatorial nominee Cynthia Nixon, the actress, prior to the primaries on September 13.

“[Donald J. Trump] politicized ICE. They’re a bunch of thugs. We said we will sue them if they violate any criminal laws in the state of New York,” added Cuomo for good measure.

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Nixon accused Cuomo of using the city’s public transit system, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), like his personal ATM machine.

That’s when the following exchange actually happened.

Andrew Cuomo: Can you stop interrupting?

Cynthia Nixon: Can you stop lying?

Andrew Cuomo: Yeah, as soon as you do.

Another jaw-dropper went down when Cuomo called Nixon a corporation — referring to an LLC she allegedly formed to lower her income tax rate, and she countered that she was a person.

Accusations of lying and dissembling flew fast and hard between the progressive pair during the hour-long sparring match.

And if looks could kill — Cuomo and Nixon would have been taken out of the venue in body bags.

The whole mess appeared to be an attempt for one Democrat to “out-progressive” the other and to prove which candidate’s hatred for President Trump and his policies was the more powerful.

“The fringe has become the mainstream,” said conservative pundit Michelle Malkin on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning, responding to Cuomo and Nixon’s commitment, along with many other Democrat nominees, to disband Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“ICE agents are patriots,” Malkin added. “They put their lives on the line for us every single day across this country. And to condemn, in a blanket way, each and every one of them, the tens of thousands that work for Immigration and Customs [Enforcement] agents, as ‘thugs?’ It is astonishing to me.”

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“Most of the American public is for ICE,” said an incredulous host Brian Kilmeade.

“At the ballot box, this is where voters get to choose,” said Malkin, who pointed out that coverage on the open borders topic is often skewed on major networks because network decision-makers are themselves supportive of a borderless country.

“Somebody has to speak up for these ICE agents and Border Patrol, who are doing the work nobody else will do,” said Malkin.

“The thing that Cuomo and Nixon both miss, of course, is that innocent people of all colors, races, backgrounds, and creeds suffer when we don’t have ICE, even in the Big Apple,” she added, pointing out New York’s grievous problems with MS-13.

Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.