Zimpapers Logo

Donald Trump

Washington — Newly minted Republican presumptive frontrunner Donald Trump predicted on Tuesday he would win the 2016 presidential race “bigly” against his Democratic challenger, likely to be Hillary Clinton.

“We’re going to win in November, and we’re going to win bigly and it’s going to be America first,” Trump said after he won the Indiana primary and his chief rival Senator Ted Cruz dropped out of the race.

Trump scored a resounding victory over Republican rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich, attaining more than 52 percent of the vote in the Indiana primary.

Trump still needs about 200 delegates to formally secure the nomination, but Cruz’s decision to end his campaign removed his last major obstacle.

The firebrand New Yorker, who struck a far more sombre tone on Tuesday than in his rallies, also said Hillary Clinton “will be a poor president”, AP reported.

Trump also saluted Ted Cruz, saying his decision to drop out was “a brave thing to do” in the name of party unity.

He also saluted the Reince Priebus, the chairperson of the Republican National Committee, who Trump joked had started the primary process “with 17 egos” — the number of GOP candidates — and was now “down to one.”

Donald Trump Jr meanwhile has described his father’s emergence as the presumptive Republican nominee as “surreal”, AP reported.

Trump’s son said he was with his father, watching TV with the rest of their family when the news that rival Ted Cruz was dropping out of the race broke.

“I think it was just sort of a collective, ‘Wow.’ I don’t think there were a lot of words spoken,” he describes. “I think we’re just incredibly shocked.”

Trump Jr says they’d assumed Trump’s rivals would “be in it all the way ‘til the end.”

He said his father’s message is now focused on “party unity, bring everyone together. Let’s focus on the real prize.”

Trump now has at least 1,047 delegates, and will now likely reach the 1,237 he needs for him to automatically assume the party’s nomination. – AFP