A former Republican senator from New York on Sunday said Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump “scored big” with his defense of New York at Thursday’s GOP debate.
Al D’Amato said Trump did a “magnificent job” after GOP rival Ted Cruz tried to tie the billionaire businessman to liberal “New York values.”
{mosads}“I think that Donald Trump really scored big time on the shot, which was well thought out, by Ted Cruz,” D’Amato told host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on New York’s 970-AM.
“He and his people obviously said, you know, we’ll try to tie the liberal New York around Donald Trump’s neck and use that to diminish his conservative credentials, and of course it backfired,” he added.
“I think Trump did extraordinarily well. He was the clear winner, certainly, between the battle of Ted Cruz, who’s a great debater, there’s no doubt about it, but Donald scored a real haymaker there.”
The former senator also said Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is struggling to handle challenger Bernie Sanders.
D’Amato said her attacks on Sanders’ healthcare plan make her sound like a Republican.
“Attacking Bernie Sanders because he’s come up with a single-payer tax system, saying we need to have a healthcare plan and Medicare for all, and she’s saying, ‘Well how do you pay for it?’ My God, that’s a Republican line,” he said.
“So she’s sounding more like a Republican, and I think she’s helping to galvanize support for Bernie,” D’Amato added.
“Her campaign is now getting very concerned, to say the least.”