{"id":76420,"date":"2016-05-26T23:05:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T03:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=76420"},"modified":"2016-05-26T23:05:37","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T03:05:37","slug":"top-trump-sews-delegates-seal-gop-nomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/05\/26\/top-trump-sews-delegates-seal-gop-nomination\/","title":{"rendered":"Over the top: Trump sews up delegates to seal GOP nomination"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cWe've<\/a>
\u201cWe’ve had tremendous support from almost everybody,” Trump said. (Photo by Michael Vadon – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BISMARCK, N.D.\u2014Triumphantly armed with a majority of his party’s delegates, Republican Donald Trump unleashed a broadside attack Thursday on Hillary Clinton’s prescriptions for energy, guns, the economy and international affairs, shifting abruptly toward the general election with his likely Democratic opponent locked in a divisive primary contest.<\/p>\n

The New York billionaire shrugged off signs of discord in his party hours after sewing up the number of delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination, a feat that completed an unlikely rise that has upended the political landscape and set the stage for a bitter fall campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere I am watching Hillary fight, and she can’t close the deal,\u201d Trump crowed during an appearance in North Dakota. \u201cWe’ve had tremendous support from almost everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump’s good news was tempered by ongoing internal problems. Those include the sudden departure of his political director and continuing resistance by many Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, to declaring their support for his outsider candidacy.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Clinton faced fresh questions about her use of a private email server while secretary of state, even as she fought to pivot toward Trump, who she warned would take the country \u201cbackward on every issue and value we care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The State Department’s inspector general released a report a day earlier concluding that Clinton did not seek legal approval for her private email server, guaranteeing the issue will continue nagging her campaign for a second summer. She insisted Thursday that she had done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was allowed. And the rules have been clarified since I left about the practice. Having said that, I have said many times, it was a mistake. And, if I could go back, I would do it differently,\u201d Clinton said, according to an interview transcript provided by ABC News.<\/p>\n

Campaigning before union workers in Las Vegas, she decried Trump’s anti-union comments and his proposal to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. She said he is an \u201cunqualified loose cannon\u201d who should never be president.<\/p>\n

Complicating her election challenge, Clinton’s Democratic rival Bernie Sanders embraced the possibility of a one-on-one debate with Trump. The Republican said he’d \u201clove to debate Bernie,\u201d but would want the debate to raise at least $10 million for charity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with debating Bernie,\u201d Trump noted, \u201che’s going to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just 75 delegates short of her own delegate majority, Clinton remains on a path to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, according to an Associated Press count. But Trump got there first.<\/p>\n

The New York businessman sealed the majority by claiming a small number of the party’s unbound delegates who told the AP they would support him at the national convention in July. Among them was Oklahoma GOP chairwoman Pam Pollard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he has touched a part of our electorate that doesn’t like where our country is,\u201d Pollard said. \u201cI have no problem supporting Mr. Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination. Trump has reached 1,239 and will easily pad his total in primary elections on June 7.<\/p>\n

Many on the right have been slow to warm to Trump, wary of his conservative bona fides. Others worry about his crass personality and the lewd comments he’s made about women.<\/p>\n

Trump said during a press conference Thursday that he would \u201cabsolutely\u201d end his habit of attacking fellow Republicans now that the nomination is effectively his. But that truce appeared to be short-lived.<\/p>\n

Speaking later at a rally in Billings, Montana, Trump said 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, who has refused to endorse him, had \u201cfailed so badly.\u201d His campaign also released a celebratory Instagram video that features a montage of former rivals, including Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz, saying he would never be the party’s nominee.<\/p>\n

Still, millions of grass-roots activists, many of them outsiders to the political process, have embraced Trump as a plain-speaking populist.<\/p>\n

Steve House, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party and an unbound delegate who confirmed his support of Trump to the AP, said he likes the billionaire’s background as a businessman.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership is leadership,\u201d House said. \u201cIf he can surround himself with the political talent, I think he will be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Trump’s pivotal moment comes amid a new sign of internal problems.<\/p>\n

Hours before clinching the nomination, he announced the departure of political director Rick Wiley, who was leading the campaign’s push to hire staff in key battleground states. In a statement, Trump’s campaign said Wiley had been hired only until the candidate’s organization \u201cwas running full steam.\u201d<\/p>\n

His hiring about six weeks ago was seen as a sign that party veterans were embracing Trump’s campaign. The White House contender ignored questions about internal problems on Thursday and instead took aim at Clinton.<\/p>\n

He told a Bismarck audience that Clinton has \u201cdeclared war on the American worker,\u201d that she’s \u201cgoing to abolish your right to own guns,\u201d and that she created a foreign policy legacy \u201cof total chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThe choice in November is a choice between a Clinton agenda that puts donors first or an agenda that puts America first: my agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also entered a new phase on the fundraising front. Having bashed donors for much of the past year, he hosted his first major campaign fundraiser the night before: a $25,000-per-ticket dinner in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

At the Billings rally, Trump offered new specifics on his general election strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I’m going to do is I want to focus on 15-or-so states,\u201d he said, that could go \u201ceither way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those he mentioned: the Democratic bastions of California and New York, which he insists he can put into play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BISMARCK, N.D.\u2014Triumphantly armed with a majority of his party’s delegates, Republican Donald Trump unleashed a broadside attack Thursday on Hillary …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":76421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[10877,10878,1058],"class_list":["post-76420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","tag-gop","tag-gop-nomination","tag-trump","mauthors-stephen-ohlemacher","mauthors-jill-colvin","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}