‘Screw the Republicans’: New York’s GOP forgets Trump and angers Giuliani at convention

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — New York Republicans spent two days at their convention hammering on subjects such as crime rates and Covid mandates.

But one subject came up only in passing: The tenure of the New York native who occupied the White House just 14 months ago.

Former President Donald Trump was little mentioned during the festivities on Long Island as Republicans in New York look to win their first statewide seat since 2002 and after Trump fared poorly in his once home state in both presidential elections.

Trump had an ardent pair of backers at the convention, though: The Giulianis.

“President Trump has not been invoked at all, in a Republican convention,” bemoaned gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani, a former aide to the then-president and the only major candidate who regularly praises him.

Giuliani’s father — former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — alleged that state Republican leaders were defiling Trump’s legacy by attempting to rally support behind Rep. Lee Zeldin before a primary. Rudy Giuliani made the rounds at the convention to build support for his son's candidacy, posing for pictures and signing autographs with party leaders.

Zeldin, an outgoing Long Island congressman, easily won the convention with 85 percent of the vote. Andrew Giuliani got a mere 0.75 percent, but is vowing a primary contest in June along with two other candidates: businessman Harry Wilson and former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino.

“Screw the Republicans. A bunch of jerks,” Rudy said. “If you’re going to get nominated based on a dictated compromise, you’re going to govern that way. If you’re the kind of guy that could do what a Reagan did, or a Trump, or a me, you don’t give a damn who you run against.”

Will Zeldin similarly try to tie himself to the Trump brand?

“I’m my own man,” said Zeldin, who built his national profile by defending Trump against impeachment charges on cable television. “I’ve always been my own man. I was ranked most recently as the 19th most bipartisan member of Congress.”

Trump and the New York GOP

It might not be too surprising that Trump would not be a popular talking point as the GOP prepares to sell itself to general election voters in advance of what the party has dubbed a last chance to save the state.

It has long been tough for Republicans to win in New York, where they’ve gone 0 for 24 in statewide races since former Gov. George Pataki won his final term 20 years ago. But it was made an impossible task when Trump was in the White House and Democrats could cruise to victory simply by pointing out that their opponents belonged to the same party as the president.

Democrats outnumber Republicans by a two-to-one margin in New York.

“Andrew Cuomo was a bit of a demented Wizard of Oz,” said 2018 GOP gubernatorial nominee Marc Molinaro. “‘Pay no attention to the corruption, pay no attention to the scandals — Look over there, Donald Trump!’”

Now, Joe Biden is in the White House; Cuomo resigned amid scandal; and Republicans hope they can reverse their fortunes in the nation's fourth largest state.

“Voters are going to vote based on what’s in front of them today and what they look for tomorrow,” said Molinaro, who is now running in a key swing congressional district across the Hudson Valley. “They’re not going to be focused on what was.”

And Republicans have made clear they’re going to attempt to reverse the script of recent elections and try to make this year’s contests into a referendum on Democrats like Gov. Kathy Hochul and the president.

“Joe Biden has been a puppet for [special] interests,” state GOP party chair Nick Langworthy said in his opening remarks on Monday morning. “It is a feckless administration that has presided over disaster after disaster.”

Will Trump endorse Giuliani?

While party leaders might be focused on subjects other than Trump, it’s a safe bet that he could still upend a gubernatorial primary if he decides to endorse a candidate, and most Republicans assume that would be either Giuliani or Zeldin.

Giuliani has regularly polled better than other candidates over the past year. But much of that seems to be due to the fact that most Republicans aren’t paying close attention to a race yet, and his last name is the only one they know: “His father was Time’s Man of the Year,” Langworthy noted.

And that could quickly change once candidates like Zeldin and Wilson start taking advantage of their massive cash-on-hand edges.

Both Giulianis “were with” Trump last week, Andrew said.

But does he have a shot at earning the former president’s endorsement?

“[Trump] is very close to Andrew, they’ve known each other for 20,000 years, they played golf together, and they worked side-by-side together for four years,” Rudy Giuliani said.

He predicts, however, that Trump will stay neutral.

About an hour later, Andrew Giuliani began his remarks to the convention by greeting “the party of Donald J. Trump.”

The former president’s name wasn’t completely absent on Tuesday. There were some brief mentions, such as when the Westchester County chairperson touted candidate Rob Astorino’s refusal to “disavow Donald Trump” when Astorino was on the ballot in 2017.

But praising him certainly wasn’t the main order of business.

“I agree with a lot of his policies. In some cases, we disagree,” Wilson, who entered the race last week and immediately put $12 million of his own money into his campaign, said after his speech.

“In 2016 I voted for him, and in 2020 I wanted to find a way to preserve the policies, but have someone who's more focused on unifying people in different style. And so I decided to write in Nikki Haley, a conservative Republican.”