Trump campaign takes on new focus
INDIANAPOLIS — Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nomination virtually in hand, is signaling a new phase of his outsider campaign, searching for a running mate who could help him govern and reaching out to one-time competitors in an effort to heal the fractured Republican Party.
On that, though, there are exceptions.
“I am confident I can unite much of” the GOP Trump said this morning on NBC’s “Today Show, as several prominent Republicans said they’d prefer Democrat Hillary Clinton over the New York billionaire. In a shot at his critics, Trump added: “Those people can go away and maybe come back in eight years after we served two terms. Honestly, there are some people I really don’t want.”
His comments on several networks came a few hours after Trump, once dismissed as a fringe contender, became all-but certainly the leader of the Republican Party into the fall campaign against Clinton. The former secretary of state suffered a defeat Tuesday in Indiana to her rival, Bernie Sanders, but holds a definitive lead in delegates.
The Republican competition changed dramatically with Trump’s Indiana victory and Ted Cruz’s abrupt decision to quit the race. Trump’s surge toward the nomination — he still is about 200 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to win — left the GOP in a deep state of uncertainty. Some Republican leaders remain acutely wary of Trump and have insisted they could never support him, even in a faceoff against Clinton.
“The answer is simple: No,” tweeted Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who has consistently said he could not support Trump.
Such Republicans worry about Trump’s views on immigration and foreign policy, as well as his over-the-top persona. Hours before clinching victory in Indiana, Trump was floating an unsubstantiated claim that Cruz’s father appeared in a 1963 photograph with John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald — citing a report first published by the National Enquirer.
Trump said Wednesday he respects Cruz and may call him to mend the one-time alliance. On finding a running mate, Trump told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he’ll “probably go the political route,” saying he’s inclined to pick someone who can “help me get legislation passed.” Trump didn’t identify any of the names under consideration.
He also said he’s hoping to decide within a week how to fund a general election campaign, but said he didn’t want to accept money from super PACs.
Sanders eked out a victory over Clinton in Indiana, but the outcome will not slow the former secretary of state’s march to the Democratic nomination. Heading into Tuesday’s voting, Clinton had 92 percent of the delegates she needs.
She and Trump now plunge into a six-month battle for the presidency, with the future of America’s immigration laws, health care system and military posture around the world at stake.
