Rep. Peter King predicted a big win for Donald Trump ahead of the New York Republican primary, joking that if Ted Cruz were the Republican nominee that he would “take cyanide.”
“First of all, in case anybody gets confused, I’m not endorsing Ted Cruz. I hate Ted Cruz, and I think I'll take cyanide if he got the nomination,” King said to laughter on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
King is a Republican Congressman from New York, representing the second district. He admitted that he cast an absentee vote for John Kasich, but expected Donald Trump to win the state.
“In fact, I actually voted by absentee ballot for John Kasich. I’m not endorsing John, but I voted for him to really send a message. But I think Trump is going to win big.”
This is not the first time that King has threatened suicide-by-Cruz-nomination, saying in March that he would jump off a bridge if the Texas senator were nominated.
“We need intelligent debate in the country. Ted Cruz may be an intelligent person, but he doesn’t carry out an intelligent debate,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
Blitzer asked King if he would support Cruz if he were the Republican nominee.
“I hope that day never comes,” King told Blitzer. “I will jump off that bridge when we come to it.”
He’s not the only Republican representative to have expressed a dislike with Cruz. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has threatened suicide and/or bodily harm at the thought of either Trump or Cruz being nominated, comparing the choice to being “shot or poisoned.”
Graham later went on to endorse Ted Cruz saying: “I think he’s the best alternative to beat Donald Trump, I’m going to help Ted in any way I can.”
Donald Trump is poised to win big against Cruz in the New York primary—maintaining a decisive 30 percent advantage in the RealClearPolitics polling average in his home state.
Trump has already planned a press conference at 9 p.m. to discuss the results of the primary on April 19.
