Donald Trump's win in Indiana was a "great victory," New York Rep. Pete King said Wednesday morning, but he still has a number of issues about the New York real estate mogul becoming the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
"It's important for the party to find a way to get behind Donald Trump," the Republican congressman told Fox Business Network's
"Mornings with Maria Bartiromo" program, noting that he has problems with Trump on several issues, especially on national security and trade policy.
His words were slightly kinder, though, than they had been in recent weeks about Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but he told the program that he is "honestly not a fan" of the lawmaker, even after he pulled out of the race just weeks after King joked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show that he hated the senator and would
swallow cyanide if he became the nominee.
"I hope that Ted Cruz can find a way to work within the Republican Party," said King. However, he does not think that will happen by his agreeing to become Trump's running mate.
"Maybe go to Marco Rubio, or John Kasich even though he said he would never accept it," said King. "There's too much bad blood. I know that Donald reached out [to Cruz] last night but it would be very hard to put those two on the same ticket. Anything can happen."
Meanwhile, King said he thinks many "Reagan Democrats" will end up backing Trump's campaign.
"He has to worry about losing the more moderate, the Republican women, for instance, some of the Republicans in the suburbs," said King. "Trump can still win this. He has the energy and again the Democratic base and hopefully get as much as he can. He's got to stop talking about George Bush lied about 9/11 and lied about the Iraq War."
And once Trump becomes the nominee, said King, he'll endorse him, even though he had initially endorsed Marco Rubio and he still has issues with Trump.
"The extent of my support will be how much he modifies, or not modifies, or salvages positions," said King. "I have real issues on trade."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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