Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop on April 18 in Buffalo, N.Y. | AP Photo Trump sermonizes on New York values on primary eve But he accidentally refers to 9/11 as ‘7/11’ in the process.

You could call it the sermon on the lake.

On the eve of Tuesday’s primary, Donald Trump ditched his usual off-the-cuff delivery to read an extended ode to “New York values” at rally in Buffalo, on the shores of Lake Erie, delivering a final rebuke to Ted Cruz and accidentally referring to 9/11 as “7/11” in the process.


“I wrote this out,” Trump said, “And Its very close to my heart. Because I was down there, and I watched our police and our firemen down on 7-11. Down at the World Trade Center right after it came down.”

Reading from cards covered in black ink, Trump praised New York for its bravery, honesty, work ethic, and love of family, “The values that make us love this state despite our problems.”

“We see the values with our New York police and firefighters. They don’t get enough credit. These are great, great people,” he said.

Trump even saw the state’s values in its outdoor parks. “We see it with the families that go to your parks. Central Park, all of your parks,” he said.

Trump happened to see the state’s positive values reflected in himself. “And what are New York values? Honesty and straight talk,” he said. “People say, ‘Oh you tell it too straight, Mr. Trump.’ I think that’s what you like.”

“We’re builders. We build things,” he went on. “We build great, great things for our communities. We have great community service.”

Trump said the state’s values were on full display when planes hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, in the first responders who ran into the burning towers, the shop owners who stayed open to service victims, and the people who cleared rubble from Ground Zero.

Trump also praised New York’s factory workers, deli workers, and transit workers.

The appearance capped off two weeks of campaigning in which Trump has seized on Ted Cruz’s criticism of his “New York values” at a debate in January. Setting expectation for his performance Trump took a shot at Cruz for winning Texas with a plurality, rather than a majority, of votes. “He didn’t even get 50 percent in his own state,” Trump said at the rally, where he was introduced by Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan.

New York is expected to deliver some much-needed good news for the real estate mogul on Tuesday.

He has a commanding lead in the state’s polls, with recent surveys showing him topping 50 percent, while Cruz and John Kasich are both hovering around 20 percent.

If Trump is able to walk away with a majority of the vote, he will snatch up 14 delegates outright and will likely score a number of delegates at the district level. If a candidate wins a majority in any of the 27 congressional districts, he will be awarded all three of its delegates.

Trump needs to win — and win big — in the upcoming contests to keep alive his hope of securing the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the GOP nomination outright.

In recent weeks he has been outmaneuvered by Cruz in the fight for unbound delegates, raising the odds that Cruz could win on a second ballot at a contested convention.

Trump’s campaign has been roiled by that realization. The Republican front-runner has brought on new hands, namely Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, in a late attempt to supercharge his delegate operation, while shrinking the role of his volatile campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.

Publicly, Trump has railed against the “rigged” system and targeted Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus for his role in the “crooked” process.

The flogging has again put pressure on the already strained relationship between Trump and the RNC, putting the party on the defensive.

Sean Spicer, the RNC’s communications director, on Monday morning hit back at Trump’s recent suggestion that Priebus may not be around much longer.

“Under this chairman we've put together the best resource and staff and equipped political party in the history of the United States,” Spicer said. “We are the gold standard of political parties. I think any candidate would be lucky to have Reince Priebus as a chairman, and they should be begging him to keep continuing the success that he's had.”

But Spicer did acknowledge some common ground with Trump, who over the weekend said it was outrageous that candidates are "buying" support through fancy plane rides and hotel stays.

“I think you should be going to delegates and explaining why you're the best candidate, why your solutions will put America moving forward again, but I can't — so, yeah, I agree with Donald Trump,” Spicer said. “I think going out and lavishing delegates with gifts is probably not the best way.”

