Businessman and former reality tv star Donald J. Trump took his biggest step yet towards becoming the Republican nominee for President after a huge win in Indiana led to his main rival dropping out of the race.
Trump won the Hoosier state’s primary, held Tuesday night, by a landslide 17 points- 53%-36% for Ted Cruz. The victory in the winner take all primary handed him all the state’s 51 delegates, making it virtually impossible for any remaining candidate to stop him from garnering the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination on the first ballot at the convention.
Texas Senator Cruz dropped out immediately after, finally admitting the folly of the effort to stop Trump from securing the nomination. With the senator’s withdrawal, Trump is all but guaranteed to be the Republican Party’s nominee for the general election.
His opponent is still likely to be Hilary Clinton, despite the former Secretary of State losing the Indiana Democratic primary to upstart senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders picked up a five point win, 52%-47%; but Clinton remains the heavy favourite with a near unassailable lead in both pledged and unpledged delegates.
Therefore, the candidacy that was universally written off when it was launched a year ago has triumphed, and Trump would now wait for the Democrats to sort out their issues for his opponent in the November elections to emerge.