WASHINGTON — Donald Trump offered himself Wednesday as the inevitable Republican presidential nominee, warning that if party leaders try to deny him the nomination at a contested convention when he is leading the delegate count, "You'd have riots."
The brash billionaire, who won at least three more states Tuesday but doesn't yet have the needed majority of delegates to secure the nomination, predicted he'd collect enough support before the Republican convention this summer.
"There's going to be a tremendous problem" if the Republican establishment tries to outmanoeuvr him at the convention, Trump said. Many party leaders have been concerned about his comments against Muslims, immigrants and women and the violence at some of his rallies.
Democrat Hillary Clinton, who moved closer to becoming the first woman in U.S. history to win a major party nomination after winning at least four states Tuesday, took direct aim at Trump.
"Our commander-in-chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it," Clinton said in a speech that largely ignored rival Bernie Sanders. "We can't lose what made America great in the first place."
With anti-Trump Republicans frantically seeking scenarios to deny the billionaire businessman the party nomination, Trump suggested to morning TV shows that the party establishment already was starting to support him.
Without naming names, Trump said some of the same Republican senators who are publicly critical of him have called privately to say they want to "become involved" in his campaign.
Trump also said Clinton, the former secretary of state and first lady, would be "a major embarrassment for the country" and added that she "doesn't have the strength or the stamina to be president."
A new Trump ad posted on his official Instagram account includes footage of Clinton barking like a dog to suggest she's unfit to be president. The footage from earlier this year was of her barking to mimic an ad she'd been describing to supporters.
The Republican front-runner also said he'd skip a debate scheduled for Monday, saying, "I think we've had enough debates." The debate was cancelled after Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he also would not attend.
Trump won Tuesday in Florida, North Carolina, and Illinois but fell in Ohio to Kasich. Clinton triumphed in the Florida, Illinois, Ohio and North Carolina primaries. Votes were also being counted in Missouri, though races in both parties there were too close to call.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out Tuesday after losing his home state to Trump.
With more than half the delegates awarded through six weeks of primary voting, Trump is the only Republican candidate with a realistic path to the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination through the traditional route. Trump's Florida victory brought his delegate total to 621. Cruz has 396 and Kasich 138. Rubio left the race with 168.
While Trump has won 47 per cent of the delegates awarded so far, according to the Associated Press delegate count, that's not good enough. He needs to win 54 per cent of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination by the time the primary season ends on June 7.
Cruz is in better position than Kasich but faces a daunting mathematical challenge after losing four of five contests Tuesday. The fiery conservative needs to claim roughly 75 per cent of the remaining delegates to earn the delegate majority, according to Associated Press delegate projections.
On the Democratic side, Clinton's victories were blows to Sanders and bolstered her argument that she's the best Democrat to take on the eventual Republican nominee. Her win in Ohio was a particular relief for her campaign, which grew anxious after Sanders pulled off a surprising win last week in another Midwestern industrial state, Michigan.
Clinton has at least 1,561 delegates, including the superdelegates who are elected officials and party leaders free to support the candidate of their choice. Sanders has at least 800. It takes 2,383 to win the Democratic nomination.
