Reps. Peter King, Lee Zeldin split on Donald Trump’s potential

Donald Trump’s dominance in Super Tuesday primaries left Rep. Peter King desperately seeking an alternative, but reinforced Rep. Lee Zeldin’s conviction that the New York developer could easily beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in November.

The split between the moderate 12-term King from Seaford and the more conservative freshman Zeldin from Shirley reflects the divide in the Republican Party as it grapples with the charismatic and changeable Trump’s rise to its presidential front-runner.

Zeldin’s willingness to back Trump reflects Trump’s popularity on Long Island, where a Newsday/News 12/Siena College poll a week ago found that he leads rivals Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich by 37 percentage points and leads Clinton 41 percent to 38 percent in a head-to-head matchup.

But like several longtime GOP politicians in Congress, King said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he is worried about the implications for the Republican Party if Trump wins the GOP nomination and becomes its leader.

“I don’t know what Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party means,” said King, who has endorsed Rubio for the nomination. Rubio has won just one primary state, Minnesota.

King said Trump has said he backs Russian President Vladimir Putin, wants to change libel laws to sue reporters, and doesn’t believe Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is a war hero.

“I don’t see any wing of the party [from which Trump’s views are] coming from,” King said. “It’s a one-man philosophy.”

But Zeldin, who hasn’t endorsed anyone, said in a telephone interview he could back Trump or any of the other Republican candidates still in the race.

“If Donald Trump is the candidate against Hillary Clinton, then I will be supporting Donald Trump,” he said.

“If there was an election today between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the 1st Congressional District, Donald Trump would win in a landslide,” Zeldin added, citing anecdotal evidence and internal polls.

Yet both King and Zeldin said there are issues where they sharply disagree with Trump, notably his statement that he’d be “neutral” in negotiating a settlement with Israel and Palestinians.

But Zeldin said, “I can find issues with all seven candidates remaining where I agree and disagree with them, certainly some more than others. There is no perfect candidate.”

King said he would be open to a brokered nominating convention to pick a final candidate other than Trump, but Zeldin was more wary.

And neither promised he would support whoever becomes the nominee of their party.

Zeldin said, “I will never be able to endorse a nominee for president whose name is not known.”

King said, “I certainly want to. Let’s see what happens.”