Cruz folds his tent, Trump is GOP nominee

Indianapolis: Donald Trump has become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, setting up a likely battle with Hillary Clinton in November, after a decisive victory in Indiana that forced Ted Cruz to abandon his campaign.

“It is a beautiful thing to watch and a beautiful thing to behold and we are going to make America great again,” Trump said at Trump Tower in Manhattan. “We had a tremendous victory tonight .  we’re going after Hillary Clinton.” Cruz suspended his White House campaign after a disastrous performance in the Midwestern ‘Hoosier’ State.

Trump won 51 of the 57 delegates at stake in Indiana and now has 1,047 delegates in his kitty. He is just short of 190 delegates
Cruz, who has engaged in a nasty war of words with Trump, announced his decision to drop out of the race

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump was declared the "presumptive GOP nominee" by Republic National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Tuesday after his sweeping victory in Indiana forced his main rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, out of the race.

By becoming the presumptive nominee, Trump, who joined politics only last year, has scripted history as he is now on course to be the first standard-bearer of the party since Dwight D Eisenhower, a five-star general and the commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, who had not served in an elected office.

"I am honoured to be the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party. It is time to unite our party and defeat Hillary Clinton," 69-year-old real estate tycoon, unpopular with many in his own party, said in a message to his supporters after winning the Indiana primary.

"His victory amounts to a stunning takeover of the Republican Party by a candidate with no political experience," CNN commented. Cruz tried everything to pull off a last-ditch win in Indiana, including the unusual move of selecting Carly Fiorina as his running mate even though he was not the nominee.

He also forged a pact with John Kasich that would allow him to focus on Indiana while the Ohio governor would devote his time to later states. But none of the moves worked, it noted. Trump won 51 of the 57 delegates at stake in Indiana and now has 1,047 delegates in his kitty. He is just short of 190 delegates.

Cruz, who has engaged in a nasty war of words with Trump, announced his decision to drop out of the race. Trump, however, still faces opposition from Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has less than 200 delegates. Kasich has made it clear that he is not dropping out of the race.

After Trump's win, the Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus said that Trump would be the presumptive nominee and asked his party to rally behind him to defeat Clinton in the November 8 polls.

"We are going to make America great again," a confident Trump told supporters at his campaign headquarters in New York. "We are going after Hillary Clinton. She will not be a great president. She will not be a good president. She would be a poor president.

She does not understand trade," Trump said. Talking about Cruz, Trump described him as a tough competitor and appreciated his decision to quit the race. "I want to congratulate Ted Cruz. He is a tough smart competitor," he said of the Texas Senator.

In his speech that lasted for a little less than 20 minutes, Trump spoke about uniting the party and focusing on trade and economic issues. "We are going to bring back our jobs," Trump said as he warned the US companies with "consequences" if they moved out of the country.