hehehehe....Donald Trump has the delegates to clinch the GOP presidential nomination, according to a CNN delegate count Thursday.
While
Trump has had the nomination locked down for weeks, he has now reached
the threshold of 1,237 delegates with the help of previously uncommitted
delegates who now support his candidacy. A handful of states, including
the large prizes of California and New Jersey, will hold the final
primaries on June 7.
While Trump
will not formally accept the party's nomination until the delegates cast
their votes on the convention floor in July, crossing the threshold
effectively puts to rest any remaining suspense about the possibility of
a messy and contested convention. For months, drama and tumult have
rocked the Republican Party, as a fervent anti-Trump movement launched a
full-on onslaught to derail his candidacy.
But
the flurry of "Never Trump" activities, including a slew of negative
ads against Trump and efforts to draft a third-party candidate,
ultimately proved unsuccessful.
Thursday also marks an extraordinary accomplishment for Trump.
The launch of his unlikely presidential campaign last
summer was met with widespread ridicule. His wholly unorthodox campaign
and rhetoric not only unsettled and alarmed GOP party leaders, but also
convinced many that the first-time political candidate would soon lose
steam. But if his campaign was initially underestimated by the party and
political media, it soon became clear that Trump's anti-establishment,
populist rhetoric had struck a nerve across the country.
"No
one in American history has moved from a June 16 announcement to a May
26 winning of a majority," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, rumored
to be among the candidates on Trump's vice presidential short-list,
wrote on Twitter Thursday. "Trump's achievement is remarkable."
But
even as Trump and his campaign celebrate, they now have a more daunting
task ahead: defeating Hillary Clinton in the general election.
Trump
is up against historically high unfavorability ratings and faces
immense challenges as he looks to broaden his appeal and base heading
into November. The primaries revealed his weaknesses with constituencies
like women and minorities.
And
since essentially locking up the GOP nomination after the Indiana
primary, Trump has confronted various setbacks. He must still to win
over key GOP leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan,
and while he's begun to build out a national finance team, many major
party donors and financiers still remain opposed to his bid.
Meanwhile,
his campaign has been fraught with internal divisions — culminating in
the sudden departure of top campaign aide Rick Wiley this week — that
have highlighted the grave challenges Trump faces as he attempts to
transition into a more professional general election candidate.
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