Trump: I consider myself the presumptive nominee
Donald Trump addresses supporters after winning all five Super Tuesday III GOP primary races
Se acabó. C’est fini. It’s over. Donald Trump should declare victory. He shouldn’t wait. Run, don’t walk Donald. It’s yours, baby. Stake that claim, you won it. Do it right now.
By winning Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and doing so handily, Trump is the only man left standing in the GOP field who can reach the magic number of delegates needed to win the nomination on the first round. So why are the other guys still in?
Senator, meet your Waterloo. This was it, a severe unabashed, unmitigated, painful, scorching, humiliating defeat — the magnitude of which would rise to the level of a “beat down” if it were a sporting event.
It’s actually a very good question, which, when dissected truthfully, leaves a whole lot of people looking stupid, silly or corrupt.
In fact, last night’s speech from “Trump Headquarters” may represent the first time during the campaign (possibly his entire life) that Trump missed the opportunity to brag or exaggerate, when in fact, it was the right moment to do so. Bear Bryant said "it ain’t bragging if it’s true.”
Guess what? It’s true. When Trump said again and again last night that Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich “have zero chance of getting to 1,237 delegates,” he was absolutely 100 percent correct.
He did say, only after being pushed by reporters: “I consider myself the presumptive nominee.” That’s hardly a Trumpian exultation though. And it’s also pretty weak language considering the big mouth from which it was uttered. Presumptive, according to Webster means, “Presumed in the absence of further information.” Doesn’t sound very braggadocio, or for that matter very Trumpian, does it?
Yes Donald, tell it like it is. You won. It’s over. And you did it in part by knowing how to get under the skin of your opponents. Trump got to Kasich during the days leading up to the big Northeast Super Tuesday Primaries by mocking his eating habits. As bizarre as it sounds – yet appropriate for this particular primary campaign – it actually worked. In fact, two things heightened its effect: The media loved it and played it up like a scene from “The Apprentice” and Kasich failed to respond. Remember “low energy?” Kasich got Jebbed.
Then there is Senator Ted Cruz. Senator, meet your Waterloo. This was it, a severe unabashed, unmitigated, painful, scorching, humiliating defeat — the magnitude of which would rise to the level of a “beat down” if it were a sporting event.
What’s worse is that Cruz, like Kasich, was also battling distractions on the eve of the Northeast Super Tuesday. It came in the form of a story ignored by cable news and general media, but not ignored by millions of Americans on another type of media. People by the millions were tweeting, facebooking, moshing, instagraming and then googling stories with actual black and white video of Ted Cruz’s dad Rafael allegedly standing alongside Lee Harvey Oswald.
It’s a tabloid story, and general media was correct to keep it out of their copy — but unfortunately for the Cruz camp, that doesn’t keep it out of the national conversation.
Because he has inserted himself in his son’s campaign so deeply and because he’s also injected himself into the vortex of the American body politic so fervently, Rafael Cruz may have been the final undoing of Ted Cruz. Not because the story is true (it may very well be bogus), but when you are mentioned in a story about the assassination of a beloved American president, people can’t help but talk about it — even if they do so in hushed tones.
First there was an army. Then there were three. And now, there is but one —and his name is Donald Trump. Let me say again, as a Latino American, I remain offended by the very presence of Trump and the horrible, hurtful things he was said. But I’m also a realist who must now say to Trump: “Andale hombre, grita, scream it out — declare victory, dude. It’s over. Se acabó!
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