It’s official: Donald Trump has clinched the US Republican Party’s presidential nomination. On Thursday, Trump hit 1,237 delegates — the magic number that gives him a majority — after a small number of unbound party delegates said they would support him.
Trump has had the nomination locked up for weeks after his only remaining GOP rivals in the race dropped out early this month. But crossing the threshold effectively puts to rest any remaining suspense about the possibility of a contested convention, while efforts to draft a third party candidate have thus far proved unsuccessful.
Whatever one might like to say about Trump – and there is plenty of subject matter - there is one certainty: his capturing the nomination of one of the only two major parties in the US is one of the biggest political earthquakes in America’s history. When he launched his outsider campaign on June 16 last year, nobody, including the egotist Trump himself, could have predicted that he would get this far. It was an unlikely presidential campaign, not surprisingly met with widespread ridicule. His wholly unorthodox campaign and rhetoric convinced many that this first-time political candidate would quickly lose steam. But it soon became clear that Trump’s anti-establishment, populist rhetoric had struck a nerve across the country.
He knocked off 16 GOP rivals in his bid to secure the nomination. And in the process, he without question ran one of the most raucous and divisive presidential campaigns in recent memory. From Mexicans to women to Muslims to war heroes to the disabled to white supremacists to abortion to violence at his rallies, to crass debates, at least a dozen times Trump said things that would have easily felled other candidates. Each time he was presumed dead and buried, only to come back to life, even stronger than before.
Throughout, Trump has shown a profound lack of understanding of global affairs. He has attacked America’s closest ally, Britain. He has praised the dangerous dictator of North Korea. He has advocated pulling out of NATO, America’s strongest military alliance. He has suggested that it is okay with him if more countries get nuclear weapons. He’s even gone so far as to say he would use nuclear weapons against Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) and kill Daesh families. He has said the US should return to torture and he wants to ban all Muslims from coming into the US, a country founded on religious freedom.
He has mocked, disparaged and ridiculed anybody, rival candidates and journalists in particular, who has treated him “unfairly,” which to him means any kind of criticism, disagreement, or, if it comes from the press, tough questioning.
Many commentators have argued that Trump’s dominance in the GOP presidential race can be largely explained by ignorance. His candidacy, after all, is most popular among Republican voters without college degrees.
And many of them are considered racist and xenophobes, much like he is.
One more explanation: he has been able to dominate the news almost constantly. He need only open his mouth to have 20 microphones shoved in his face waiting for the next crazy thing he will say. Because he has done wonders for sagging TV ratings and print advertisements, the media industry has unabashedly utterly caved in to Trump.
Even as Trump and his campaign celebrate, they now have a more daunting task ahead: defeating Hillary Clinton, his likely Democratic Party rival, in the general election in November. To those who insist Trump cannot beat Clinton, they should think again. In recent polls, they are in a dead heat.
Trump is completely unlike ordinary politicians. He is a pathological liar whose judgment, temperament and utter lack of discipline make him unfit for the presidency. And yet, he’s come this far. He could go all the way. One underestimates Trump at one’s own peril.
