STATESIDE STORIES: TRUMP TROUNCES TED OUT OF RACE
Brown County State Park, Indiana
By Mary Foran
Who would have thought that Indiana would determine Ted Cruz’s chances for the Republican Presidential nomination, or that he would decide to suspend his campaign in the face of a resounding defeat to his arch-rival Donald J. Trump,
who won the state primary by a landslide?
.
And who would have thought that Bernie Sanders would give Hillary Clinton such a run for the Democratic win that the news media said the race was “too close to call”? Actually, Bernie Sanders has beaten Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primary in Indiana by a few thousand votes. Bernie said that the path to the nomination in the Democratic National Convention was narrow, but that he intends to continue his grass-roots campaign and persuade delegates to vote in line with the people’s vote.
The oldest candidate in the race for the White House, Bernie Sanders is making life difficult for Hillary, who is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party.
In a campaign that sometimes has gotten downright vicious, with back and forths between Trump and Cruz, and mutual criticisms between Sanders and Clinton, the people of Indiana came out in droves to cast their votes and determine who would be the two parties presumed nominees for the November general Presidential elections.
Trump, the billionaire Real Estate mogul, who has his own Trump jetliner, his own Trump helicopter, a skyscraper with his name on it, and claims he is “funding his own campaign.” also had his own TV show, and has written a book called The Art of the Deal which he says he will put into practice making deals for America, to “make America Great Again.” He claims he is a businessman, plain and simple, and not an establishment politician, although he has contributed money to campaigns on both sides.
Hillary Clinton is the former First Lady to her ex-President husband Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State for the Obama Administration. She is a lawyer and ex-New York Senator and has been criticized for mishandling sensitive government emails while Secretary of State, and for the exorbitant speaking fees she has charged. Critics say she will continue Obama’s policies if she becomes President, which isn’t a bad idea to her supporters.
Sanders, for the young and disenfranchised
Sanders is appealing to the young and disenfranchised and the more liberal states, who find his Democratic Socialist agenda against the Wall Street billionaires in sharp contrast to the overtly Capitalistic approach of Trump and even Clinton.
There are many more primaries to go, and Trump needs 41% of the remaining delegates to achieve a majority in time for the Republican National Convention and receive the nomination for President, but he is confident that he will be the winner, and beat Hillary Clinton to the White House.
If self-confidence was the only requirement for winning the Presidency, then Donald J. Trump is a serious contender. The more outrageous his comments and tweets, the more his supporters love his non-political correctness.
Hillary, on the other hand, is more the polished politician, and a woman to be reckoned with. Ted Cruz had played the “woman card” by picking, very early, Carly Fiorina as his choice for Vice-President, but even with a woman as his running mate, Cruz couldn’t stop Trump’s momentum.
Washington, Oregon, California and a smattering of other states are still in contention, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top in these primaries.
Remember, all votes count, so send in your ballots and make your choice known!
Images
Featured image: Brown County State Park, emblematic of the southern Indiana landscape by Diego Delso (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Poco_a_poco), CC BY-SA 3.0
The Art of the Deal, fair use
Bernie Sanders, PD
