Republican front-runner Donald Trump amped up his rhetoric against his chief rival for the GOP presidential nomination Sunday by saying Sen. Ted Cruz “hates” New Yorkers.
In an interview with supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York, Trump cited Cruz’s votes against relief for Hurricane Sandy victims as proof of the Texan’s hostility to New York.
“He’s a guy who hates New York. He voted against appropriations for New York,” Trump said. “He voted against some very important appropriations for New York, for Sandy and for other things.”
Trump is leading by 32 points in the New York primary, according to the polling average done by RealClearPolitics. Cruz trails badly, sitting in third with just 18 percent of the vote, while Trump is north of 50 percent.
Cruz made headlines earlier this year when he faulted Trump for representing “New York values.’ Cruz said he meant that Trump is a liberal pretending to be a conservative. But Trump, and many New York City residents, treated it as an affront. Trump ran with it Sunday, saying that if Cruz was president New York would be abandoned.
“He’s a very anti-New York guy and if he ever made it to president, I guarantee New York can forget about the federal government,” Trump said.
Trump also took shots at Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Trump wondered aloud why Kasich remains in the race.
Trump said he would hit former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her emails and promised to support the military more than her. He said Bernie Sanders was “not a very effective senator.”
