Paul Singer, and Donovan Slack

USA TODAY

Donald Trump clobbered his opponents in Indiana, knocking out Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Cruz — whom Trump labeled "Lyin' Ted" — acknowledged Tuesday that he had no path left to the nomination and suspended his campaign, and Kasich threw in the towel Wednesday. Even RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has called the fight for Trump, declaring the billionaire the presumptive nominee.

Here’s how Trump has dispatched the contenders who stepped into the ring with him during this year’s presidential contest:

Rick Perry: Sept. 11, 2015

The former Texas governor never broke 10% in the polls and was relegated to the undercard stage in the first Republican debate. Perry was among the first to directly attack Trump, saying in July that what the real estate mogul was offering was "not conservatism, it is Trump-ism – a toxic mix of demagoguery and nonsense." Trump unleashed a flurry of attacks on Perry, making fun of his glasses, saying he “did a horrible job” securing the border and should “be forced to take an IQ test” before being allowed to debate. When Perry gave up his bid this time, he decried “nativist appeals” and said, "Demeaning people of Hispanic heritage is not just ignorant, it betrays the example of Christ."

Scott Walker: Sept. 21, 2015

The Wisconsin governor burst onto the scene in early 2015 with a convincing lead in the important state of Iowa, as well as executive experience as a governor. Walker had some stumbles — memorably saying he would consider the idea of building a wall along the Canadian border. And Trump steamrolled right over him in the tell-it-like-it-is lane among the crowded field. When he dropped out, Walker lamented the personal attacks (though he did not mention Trump by name) and urged other Republican candidates to get out of the race so voters could coalesce around “a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner."

Bobby Jindal: Nov. 17, 2015

The former Louisiana governor entered the race in June 2015 pledging to rock the boat in Washington. Jindal, known as a policy wonk, cast himself as an outsider running “without permission” from the Republican establishment. But he got little traction. In September, he tried a direct hit on Trump, calling him a "substance-free narcissist” who looks “like he’s got a squirrel sitting on his head.” Trump responded in kind, saying Jindal is a “lightweight governor” with less than 1% in polls. Jindal said on the way out that “it’s not my time.”

Lindsey Graham: Dec. 21, 2015

The South Carolina senator had spent seven months in the race pushing hard for a more hawkish foreign policy, but he never polled above single digits. He tangled with Trump early and often. Graham called him “the world’s biggest jackass” after Trump said in July that Sen. John McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured. Trump fired back by giving out Graham’s cellphone number at a South Carolina town hall and urging his constituents to call it. ("Your local politician, you know? He won't fix anything but at least he'll talk to you.”) Graham destroyed the phone in a video the next day. Trump said in November that he wanted Graham to stay in the race because he was “so easy to beat!” But alas, Graham ended his bid a month later — on the last day he could and have his name removed from the ballot in South Carolina.

George Pataki: Dec. 29, 2015

The former New York governor called the Republican race a “reality gong show” in November, and the gong sounded on him several weeks later. The three-term governor couldn't even reach the 1% threshold in national polls to make the undercard debate stage in November. He was among those Trump didn’t want to drop out because they were beatable. When he did, Pataki said the country needed the unity it had on 9/11. “"On that day and the days that followed, we weren't black or white, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, we were just Americans. We need to recapture that spirit."

Mike Huckabee: Feb. 1, 2016

The former Arkansas governor had won the Iowa caucuses the last time he ran, in 2008, but he barely made a showing this time around and dropped out on the night of the caucuses because, he joked, “voters are sick of me.” He said in January that he found the race “bewildering … because it’s almost as if the more experience, the more preparation one has had for this job, it’s almost like it’s a detriment.” A few days before quitting the race, Huckabee lamented media coverage of Trump, saying it was drowning out his message.

Rand Paul: Feb. 3, 2016

The Kentucky senator also dropped out after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses. He had hoped Libertarian support would help propel him toward the nomination, but he never built the kind of following he needed. Paul issued a three-page statement in August accusing Trump of being a “fake conservative,” and the billionaire quickly hit back calling Paul “truly weird” and likening him to a “spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain." Notably, Paul is one of the few candidates who has said he will support Trump if he’s the nominee.

Rick Santorum: Feb. 3, 2016

In 2012, the former Pennsylvania senator ran as a crusader for Christian values in 2012, scored an upset victory in the Iowa caucuses and was the last major candidate standing between Mitt Romney and the nomination. In 2016, Santorum could not catch fire a second time. He never got high enough in the polls to stand on the same debate stage as Trump, though he and Huckabee weirdly showed up at a Jan. 28 veterans fundraiser Trump organized as part of a boycott of a Fox News debate. Santorum took only 1% in the Iowa caucuses Feb. 1 and quit the race a few days later. Santorum promptly went on MSNBC to endorse Marco Rubio, only to admit that he could not name anything Rubio had accomplished.

Chris Christie: Feb. 10, 2016

Chris Christie's 2016 presidential campaign was marked by two polar opposite roles: attack dog and lap dog. As attack dog, Christie destroyed Marco Rubio's campaign during a New Hampshire presidential debate, accusing the Florida senator of being robotic, with nothing to offer but a "memorized 25-second speech." Christie dropped out of the race after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary, and then became Trump's lap dog, endorsing the billionaire who he had previously said was running for "entertainer-in-chief." Christie stood stone-faced behind Trump during a lengthy Super Tuesday victory press conference, leading some on social media to wonder whether the New Jersey governor had been taken hostage.

Carly Fiorina: Feb. 10, 2016

Donald Trump provided Carly Fiorina her best moment of the presidential race, but she couldn't make it last. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Trump appeared to criticize Fiorina's appearance, saying "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?" At a September debate, Fiorina turned the insult into an advantage. "I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said," she said to thunderous applause. Trump lamely responded "I think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman." Fiorina jumped to second place in New Hampshire polls, but she quickly faded, and dropped out of the race after taking less than 5% in the New Hampshire primary.

Jim Gilmore: Feb. 12, 2016

The former Virginia governor sort of ran for president, and he attacked Trump in December for "talking like a fascist." But Gilmore barely registered in the polls, hardly campaigned, and collected only 12 votes in the Iowa caucus and 133 votes in the New Hampshire primary before dropping out.

Jeb Bush: Feb. 20, 2016

A year ago, Jeb Bush was at the forefront of an historic fundraising juggernaut, with a super PAC that raised more than $100 million by June. But Bush could never generate the passion and enthusiasm of Trump. The billionaire branded Bush a "low energy" candidate and proceeded to tie George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq around Jeb Bush's neck like a lead weight. During a February debate in South Carolina, Trump said President Bush had lied about the pretext for the Iraq War. Jeb rose to his brother's defense. "While Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe and I’m proud of what he did," he said. But Trump fired back: "The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. That's not keeping us safe." A week later Trump won the winner-take-all Palmetto State primary and Bush dropped out of the race.

Ben Carson: March 4, 2016

You would be forgiven for forgetting that at one point last fall, Dr. Ben Carson was tied with Trump for first place in national Republican presidential preference polls. They were two different versions of the "outsider" candidate — Trump, the brash billionaire and reality TV star; and Carson the quiet doctor propelled by faith. In November, Trump went on the attack. He turned to Carson's own autobiography for ammunition, noting with skepticism Carson's story of how his religious conversion began when he attempted to stab a friend only to have the knife blade break on the friend's belt buckle. "How stupid are the people of Iowa?" Trump asked. "How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?" At the time it seemed a direct challenge to evangelicals that could only hurt Trump, but it was Carson who began to slip in the polls. The doctor did poorly in the early primaries and dropped out after Super Tuesday. A week later he endorsed Trump, saying the two had "buried the hatchet" and that he believed there are "two Donald Trumps" — the bombastic public figure and the private man who is "cerebral" and willing to consider other views.

Marco Rubio: March 15, 2016

Rubio's political epitaph may simply read "small hands." Already damaged by his confrontations with Christie and Trump's derisive moniker "Little Marco," at the end of February the Florida senator turned to personal attacks on Trump. At a rally in Salem, Va., he said Trump has little hands. "You know what they say about men with small hands," Rubio said, "You can't trust 'em." This line of attack led to the campaign's weirdest moment, in a March 3 presidential debate. "Look at those hands," Trump said holding his paws aloft. "Are they small hands? He referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee." The dive into gutter politics did Rubio no good; Trump crushed him by nearly 20 points in the March 15 Florida primary, and Rubio dropped out of the race.

Ted Cruz: May 3, 2016

Cruz was the first candidate in the Republican presidential campaign, kicking off his bid at Liberty University in March 2015. And early in the campaign, Cruz was perhaps Trump's biggest ally. In September, they appeared together at a rally in Washington to blast the Iran nuclear deal. But after Cruz won in Iowa and other candidates dropped out, Trump turned his venom on Cruz, calling him "Lyin' Ted." Cruz responded in kind, calling Trump "a pathological liar." It all culminated on Tuesday when Trump was asked to respond to remarks by the Texas senator's father, Rafael Cruz, suggesting Trump's election “could be the destruction of America.” Trump responded by falsely insinuating that the elder Cruz may have played some role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Sen. Cruz went on a tirade, calling Trump a "serial philanderer" and a "narcissist." But by Tuesday evening, he gave up. "We gave it everything we've got, but the voters chose another path," Cruz said.

John Kasich: May 4, 2016

When Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced in July 2015 that he was going to run for the Republican nomination, he said: “I do believe that I have the skills. I have the experience and the testing, the testing which shapes you and prepares you for the most important job in the world." What he didn't have was the knowledge of how Trump would dominate the GOP campaign. While Kasich lasted longer than any of Trump's other rivals, his appeal to moderates in the party won him only his home state. As recently as last week, nearly half of Ohio voters said it was time for Kasich to drop out of the race, compared with only 38% who wanted him to stay in. On Wednesday, he agreed to go.

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