Ted Cruz insulted New Yorkers while trying to raise his poll numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire. But the Republican presidential hopeful forgot that while insulting the entire state, there are Republicans and Republican donors in the state too, and these people just might not like the fact that he is demoralizing them.
Longtime New Yorker and Republican donor John Catsimatidis is one of these people. In an interview, Catsimatidis told MSNBC that Ted Cruz should be ashamed for insulting New Yorkers with his slam at “New York values.”
“I think that whether you’re a Democrat or whether you’re Republican, that every New Yorker was upset about it. Because it was nuts!” the grocery store mogul and Republican donor told MSNBC on Friday afternoon. “A presidential candidate should not try and tear up the country by tearing up section by section.”
Catsimatidis — best known in politics for big donations to conservatives and a failed mayoral bid in 2013 — gave the maximum $5,400 to Cruz this spring (as well as donating thousands to many other 2016 candidates, including Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Lindsey Graham), but said he was upset to hear the remark, which seemed to insinuate that the city was too socially liberal.
“I think he’s trying to say that ‘Hey, you guys are New York: You got too many gays, you got too many transgenders, you got too many this, you got too many that.’ Look, we live in the greatest city in the world, New York, and I think he should be ashamed,” he said, calling the remark a “mistake” but saying he’d considering hearing the senator out more if he apologized.
