Frontrunner still faces an uncertain path to getting delegate majority but says ‘there’s going to be a tremendous problem’ if a contested convention arises

Donald Trump proffered a truce to the Republican establishment on Wednesday as party leaders faced the reality that they may soon have to get behind a reality television star as their most divisive presidential candidate in a generation.



A night of dramatic election night victories in Florida, North Carolina and Illinois, with another anticipated once the question of a recount is resolved in Missouri, left the billionaire celebrity and property developer in an increasingly unassailable position at the head of a dwindling field of candidates for the party nomination.

Only defeat by Governor John Kasich in his home state of Ohio marred an otherwise clean sweep of Tuesday’s five primary states for Trump, who forced Florida senator Marco Rubio to drop out of the race entirely and prevented his main rival, conservative Texan Ted Cruz, from winning any new states.

Trump still faces an uncertain path to achieving the outright majority of delegates needed to seal his victory before the party meets at a national convention in July, though the chance that opponents could unite there to deny him the nomination if he keeps winning primary victories now looks slim.

“There’s going to be a tremendous problem” if the Republican establishment tries to outmaneuver him at the convention, Trump told CNN in a series of morning television interviews. “You’d have riots.”

Asked if he was now ready to make peace with the establishment, Trump said he would be happy to turn toward reconciliation but made clear there would little compromise in his bombastic campaign style. “With the party, yes,” he told MSNBC. “I’m fine with a turn. At the same time, we don’t want to lose the edge.”



The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is one of a number of senior figures to have held private talks with Trump in recent days as the party anxiously ponders the prospect of an outsider at the top of its ticket for crucial congressional races too.

But despite pressure for him to tone down his rhetoric and denounce violence at recent rallies, Trump made clear his determination to continue a highly combative approach while discussing Rubio’s departure.

“I liked him until about three weeks ago, when he started getting nasty,” said Trump on Wednesday. “And then, the problem is, I get nastier than him, and then I win, and then, you know, my numbers get hurt a little bit because you’re so – you’re so tough that people don’t necessarily like it. But you do what you have to do. You know, we have to win.”

The bombastic star of Celebrity Apprentice also refused to bow to pressure to name his foreign policy advisers amid concerns that his erratic comments on the Middle East were alarming US allies.

“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things,” he said. “My primary consultant is myself and I have – you know, I have a good instinct for this stuff.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump: advising himself on foreign policy. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Not since controversial Arizona senator Barry Goldwater seized the party nomination in a conservative revolt in 1964 has the Republican party faced the prospect of such a divisive candidate.

Although Trump has shown stronger appeal among independent and first-time voters who have boosted turnout, many party strategists fear a repeat of the 1964 outcome: Goldwater lost in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson after carrying just six states in the general election.

On Tuesday night, Trump’s remaining opponents sought to argue they still offered a viable alternative.

“I want to remind you tonight that I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land,” said Kasich at his victory party.

Ohio’s winner-takes-all primary awards 66 delegates and, by winning those, Kasich will stay in the race and be able to play spoiler in a fierce contest between Cruz and Trump.



Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, told reporters that Kasich’s presence in the race was “a jumpball” from his perspective. On one hand, it meant the Ohio governor had kept Trump from earning 66 delegates in Ohio. On the other, it meant that the anti-Trump vote in the party would continue to be divided.

With Trump’s win in Florida and his loss in Ohio, the current frontrunner still needs to win 51.4% of the available delegates to become the GOP’s nominee before the convention.

In this fiercely contested and still splintered field, that is a difficult task for Trump, but his continued dominance of the media coverage is likely to work in his favour.

Cruz bashed Trump as a weak candidate foisted by a pro-Clinton media on to the Republican electorate. “The mainstream media network suits want Donald Trump as the Republican nominee … They are partisan Democrats ready for Hillary.”

The Texas senator, however, was circumspect about his own treacherous path to reaching the majority of delegates needed to clinch the nomination in Cleveland, saying only: “We continued to gain delegates on our march to 1,237.”

The Cruz campaign was optimistic that with many forthcoming primaries only allowing Republicans to vote, the Texas senator would fare better. The campaign has already written off Arizona’s winner-takes-all contest next week, where a majority of voters have already cast ballots, and instead is looking ahead to win coming races in Utah and Wisconsin.

However, Cruz is ready for a contested convention if it gets that far. When asked if he was confident that all the pledged Cruz delegates would support the Texas senator on a second ballot, top Cruz strategist Jason Johnson said with a smile: “All of them and more.”

But Rubio struck a more sombre tone. Speaking in his home town of Miami – the only part of the state the once promising senator won – he congratulated Trump on his victory in the Florida primary and acknowledged the grassroots uprising that had propelled the brash billionaire to frontrunner status.

“People are angry and people are very frustrated,” Rubio said, before criticizing the political establishment as being out of touch with the American public.

“America is in the middle of a real political storm, a real tsunami,” he added. “People are angry and we should have seen this coming.”



Trump meanwhile, stuck to the central theme of his campaign: that his record in business makes him a deal-maker who can broker wins.

Pressed on who he might pick as a vice-presidential running mate, he replied on Wednesday: “I don’t like to talk about it … I’m a closer, I like closing deals first.”

Additional reporting by Sabrina Siddiqui in Miami.