Donald Trump

A timeline of Rep. Pete King's on-again, off-again support of Donald Trump

Photo by Celeste Sloman

Nobody’s flip-flopped on Donald Trump quite like Rep. Pete King. Here’s what he’s said about the commander in chief in recent years.

July 2015
On MSNBC

“I think that it’s great Donald Trump is in the race. If it goes further, we’ll see. I like Donald Trump, he’s been good to me. He supported me at rough times when I was being attacked by others.”

January 2016
In National Review

“(U.S. Sen. Ted) Cruz isn’t a good guy, and he’d be impossible as president. People don’t trust him. And regardless of what your concern is with Trump, he’s pragmatic enough to get something done. I also don’t see malice in Trump like I see with Cruz.”

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February 2016
In Newsday

“He is not fit to be president – morally or intellectually. … America needs a president with the strength and quiet dignity of George W. Bush, not a feckless pretender like Donald Trump who has descended into a poor man’s imitation of Michael Moore.”

February 2016
On CNN

Wolf Blitzer: “If Trump is the nominee, could you vote for him?”

Pete King: “It would be difficult. He’s the nominee of the party, I’d have to see what happens between now and November.”

April 2016
On CNN

“Donald Trump, to be an effective candidate in the general election, has to show substance. He has to show that he's gone just beyond, you know, the name-calling and the sound bites and, again, he's not my first choice for candidate but he's got to show that he knows what he's talking about.”

May 2016
On MSNBC

“I’m not one of those guys that’s anti-Trump. Yes I endorsed him, as the nominee of the party. I don’t intend to be campaigning for him. I have too many real differences with him. National defense for instance, the way he casually talks about nuclear weapons to Korea and Japan. … He misrepresents the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership).”

“I agree with 90 percent of what he's doing, but then maybe slow down on some of the tweets and just focus on getting the job done.”

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June 2016
On MSNBC

“What he said (about the Hispanic judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuit) was racist, there’s no doubt about it. I make the distinction from all I know and know of him, Donald Trump himself is not a racist. He’s careless in what he says. He’s reckless in what he says. But to me, you have to make a choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. And while I get along personally with Hillary Clinton, I have serious issues with her in the Supreme Court, I’d have serious issues about Syria ... and so, as of this moment, to me that has to tip the balance in Donald Trump’s favor.”

October 2016
On “The Bernie and Sid Show”

“There are people in the party who they resent the style, they resent the fact that even though he may have conservative positions, he doesn't act like the buttoned-down Republican businessman. They would love to have guys come in who act very starchy and very aloof and very sophisticated. Trump is too much like, with all his money, he's still too much like the kid on the Queens street corner. He's too New York for them.”

February 2017
On “The Cats Roundtable” with John Catsimatidis

“I agree with 90 percent of what he's doing, but then maybe slow down on some of the tweets and just focus on getting the job done.”

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