Ex-New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, who has been checking the country’s political pulse while stumping for the GOP, says four-time indicted Donald Trump has a real shot at the White House.
Policy fumbles by President Biden and a backlash against the partisan prosecutions of Trump have only made the embattled real-estate tycoon more of a contender, Zeldin told The Post.
“Absolutely Trump can win. The indictments made him stronger,” said Zeldin, who has been traveling across the country to help push conservative policies and Republican candidates.
Zeldin said too many voters believe partisan prosecutors have gone overboard in going after the ex-president and that it seems to be backfiring.
“They were set on taking down Trump at all costs. Many people see the prosecutions as political,” Zeldin said.
“Trump has gotten stronger — not weaker,” he added.
He said the indictments brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg over Trump’s hush payments to porn actress Stormy Daniel and the mishandled-classified-documents case brought by the federal special prosecutor Jack Smith don’t pass the smell test.
Just as importantly, Biden’s policy flubs also are what’s also giving front-runner Trump — or any candidate who wins the GOP nomination — a real chance to defeat the Democratic incumbent, he said.
Zeldin noted, for example, how Biden lax border policies put in place when he first took office helped trigger the migrant crisis that is hurting his standing even in Democratic states such as New York and Illinois, which are overwhelmed with sheltering an unrelenting crush of asylum seekers.
“The No. 1 issue I hear about is the need to secure our borders,” Zeldin said.
Democrats are now playing defense, Zeldin said, because Biden had previously stopped construction of the border wall started by Trump and lifted the more restrictive entry policies at the Mexican border. The president is now reversing course after a backlash over the migrant crisis coming from national figures in his own party — including New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Zeldin, who ran against the New York governor, also said Hochul’s shifting on the migrant issue has been “embarrassing.”
Meanwhile, Zeldin said Biden’s clumsy retreat from Afghanistan and agreeing on the Sept. 11 anniversary to release $6 billion of frozen Iranian assets as part of a prisoner swap deal could have encouraged Hamas to invade Israel.
“Adversaries become emboldened when we respond so poorly,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin, who is Jewish, added that the pro-Palestinian Democratic Socialists’ support for the Hamas attacks against Israel is disgraceful.
“When we said, `Never Again’ after the Holocaust, we meant it,” he said.
Zeldin, who runs his own consulting firm and a charity called Zeldin Cares, has been speaking at and will continue to address GOP gatherings across the country, including last weekend in New Hampshire as well as Pennsylvania, Dallas, Nevada, Tennessee, Vermont, California, Florida, Ohio and Maryland.
He also continues to stump across New York on behalf of GOP candidates, county Republican clubs and his former running mate for lieutenant governor, retired city cop Alison Esposito, is now running for Congress against upstate Democratic incumbent Rep. Pat Ryan.
Zeldin ran a strong campaign for governor, losing to Democrat Hochul in heavily blue New York by just 4 percentage points last year, carrying key suburban battleground areas in Long Island and the Hudson Valley that helped Republicans win congressional seats to secure the House majority — making him a star in the GOP.
Zeldin, who also considered in the running to become the Republican National Committee chairman, said he’s kept in close contact with his campaign team and expects to re-enter public service in the future.
“I will likely be re-entering public service before too long. There are many possibilities on the horizon,” he said.
For the time being, Zeldin said, he’s spending a lot of time with his wife, Diana, and twin daughters Arianna and Mikayla, who are in high school and preparing for college.
