Donald Trump will clinch the Republican nominee for president by MARCH 19, his campaign says
Former President Donald Trump will secure the Republican nomination for president by March 19 due to his huge lead in the polls, his campaign said Monday.
The Trump team believes Trump will have 1,478 delegates just two weeks after the crucial Super Tuesday primary, a senior aide said.
That would be more than enough delegates needed to secure a majority of the total 2,429 delegates who will select a candidate at the Republican National Convention, which will take place in Milwaukee in July.
The former president is as much as 50 points ahead of nearest rivals Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis in some polls and still dominates in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Former President Donald Trump will secure the Republican nomination for president by March 19 due to his huge lead in the polls, his campaign said Monday
Ron DeSantis, flanked by wife Casey (center) and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (left), still trying to close the gap on Trump with just 27 days until Iowa
Although his opponents have closed the gap, they are still far behind the 77-year-old who is seeking his second term in the White House.
During the last competitive Republican presidential primaries, in 2016, Trump did not formally win the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination until late May.
The campaign aide made the prediction as Trump attacked President Biden on Monday for being its “worst ally.” Israel — as Biden comes under fire for his administration's difficulties in pressuring Israel to reduce the impact of its war against Hamas on civilians Gaza.
“Biden has been the worst ally to Israel that anyone has ever had because he allowed Iran to get rich again,” Trump said Monday.
He generally weighed in on Biden's foreign policy during off-the-cuff comments at Trump National Golf Course in West Palm Beach, where his campaign team briefed reporters on his efforts to win back the White House and where Trump pledged to cancel his primaries. lead slips due to excessive caution.
Trump said that “the worst president ever – ever – for Israel is Biden, because he allowed Iran to get rich.”
“And one thing I've learned about Biden is no matter what he says, do the opposite, because he's the worst foreign policy person I've ever seen,” Trump said. He was asked about the increasing pressure on the Biden administration over the war, amid Israel's continued attacks on Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Israel for talks on Monday.
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu is also facing internal pressure after the Israeli army acknowledged the accidental killing of three Israeli hostages in Gaza days ago.
Campaign officials limited the comments reporters could put on the record during a brief question-and-answer session that began when Trump entered a conference room after a round of golf, wearing his signature red “Make American Great Again” cap.
“I just shot a 71 so I don't have any cognitive impairments,” Trump joked.
He also commented on the fate of his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, days after a Washington DC jury returned a $148 million award for defaming two Georgia election workers during Trump's attempt to overturn the state's election throw.
“I think it's so sad what happened to Rudy,” Trump said in response to a question from DailyMail.com. “He's a great patriot, he's the greatest mayor in the history of New York. I think it's a very, very unfair situation.'
Nikki Haley has also seen a rise in the recent polls, surpassing DeSantis into second place in some of the crucial early state surveys
Former President Trump clashed with his predecessor, promising not to play 'prevention defense' while on the line during the primaries
He spoke as the government is under pressure over Israel's war against Hamas
He did not say whether he would provide financial support to help Giuliani with staggering legal bills, while also appearing as a defendant in other cases. The former New York mayor has vowed to appeal, and the judge in the case has the option to try to modify the ruling, including damages.
Trump's comments came after a weekend in which he spoke in New Hampshire and doubled down on previous comments that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” despite critics calling the comments xenophobic.
During the event, he also brought up approving comments from Hungarian President Viktor Orbán and quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin after criticizing his “dictator” comments during a conversation with Sean Hannity.
The comments prompted criticism from the Anti Defamation League, and the White House blasted him for “repeating the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists.”
In his Israel comments, Trump referenced the scrapped Iran nuclear deal, saying Tehran lacked the financial clout during his term.
'They were bankrupt. They had no money for Hamas. They had no money for Hezbollah. They didn't have money for anything they wanted to survive.”
He said Biden “allowed Iran to get rich” and that Hamas was “bankrupt.”
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Israel had obtained intelligence in 2018 showing that Hamas had amassed a financial portfolio worth half a billion dollars, but that US and Israeli intelligence services had failed to act decisively on the information.
Trump is also looking ahead to Iowa, where the caucuses are less than a month away. Polls show him more than 30 points ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
He said it appears the campaign is “performing quite well,” but “you never know, right?”
“Do you know what it's like to play a certain defense called 'prevention defense' in the NFL? We are not going to play preventatively. … We don't want to play preventive defense,” he said — referring to a conservative style of play that can sometimes lead to nail-biting deep throws across the field when a team is ahead during the final minutes. of a football match.