A day before the New Hampshire primary, Donald Trump has won the backing of a legendary New York Republican — who also blasted his own state party’s failure to rally behind the candidacy of its “favorite son’’ presidential hopeful.
“You have in Donald Trump a tremendous New York businessman with thousands of employees, a man who helped remake Manhattan for the better, and one who was always there with a contribution when we needed him to back us,” former state GOP Chairman Bill Powers told The Post.
“Unlike the others he’s a businessman, not a politician, and as a result of that he has a different mind-set, which I believe would be good for the party and good for the nation. He’s smart and tough and knows how to make decisions.
“If I was still the chairman, I’d be enthusiastically supporting him and I’d be working for him and I’m endorsing him now,’’ continued Powers, during whose tenure George Pataki was elected governor, Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor, and Alfonse D’Amato was reelected to the US Senate.
Powers, a tough-talking exMarine widely seen as the best New York GOP leader of modern times, called current state GOP Chairman Ed Cox “a nice guy’’ but criticized him for not backing Trump, if only as a New York “favorite son’’ contender.
“Ed is tied up with [national GOP Chairman] Reince Priebus, who I think has been telling him to stay neutral in the presidential contest,” Powers said of Cox, who is officially neutral but who has been repeatedly criticized by Trump as hostile to his efforts.
“If I was Ed,” Powers continued, “I would tell Reince, ‘Good luck, pal, I’m announcing for Donald tomorrow, whatever you may think about it.’ ”
Powers said he feared Trump was already angry enough at the New York GOP that if he becomes president he’ll deny the party the rewards of having power.
“There are so many jobs and resources that can go to the winning party as a result of electing a president, but if you piss him off now, as they have, do you think he’s going to give them jobs and help New York Republicans rebuild the party?” asked Powers.
Powers, meanwhile, said that if Trump becomes the GOP nominee he hoped he would pick Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio as his running mate.
“Trump and Rubio, that’s the winning ticket,’’ said Powers, noting he had met and been impressed by Rubio, who scored a close third-place finish right behind Trump in the Iowa causes.
Powers also said he would “never’’ support Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has criticized Trump’s “New York values’’ and whose campaign appeared to have used a dirty trick to undermine Dr. Ben Carson right before the Iowa balloting.
“That was a dirty trick he used on Ben Carson and he knows it and he apologized for it, but I don’t like him and I will never vote for him,’’ said Powers.