Smug Trump says only he can beat Hillary

WASHINGTON

Only five Republicans were left in the race for the White House on Monday, and frontrunner Donald Trump hammered home the idea that he is the only one who could defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in November.

Mr Trump’s victory lap came after his resounding win on Saturday in the South Carolina primary — a contest that helped whittle down the field when former Florida governor Jeb Bush called time on his White House bid.

Mrs Clinton defeated rival Bernie Sanders in the Nevada Democratic caucuses on Saturday, but their duel looks set to last, with the former secretary of state’s campaign showing some weaknesses, especially among young voters.

“Nobody is unstoppable,” Mr Trump told CNN, even paying tribute to Bush — who he repeatedly savaged on the campaign trail — as “very capable.”

“I have some advantages but it will be hard,” the 69-year-old billionaire businessman told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Speaking from Palm Beach, Florida, where he owns a resort, Trump made the rounds of the Sunday political talk shows, repeating that his Republican presidential rivals — especially Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio — were formidable foes.

“He’s very talented,” the real estate tycoon told CNN. “And certainly he could beat me, and so could Marco, and so could the others that are running. You know, crazier things happen in the world of politics.”

But he insisted he did not think the race would come down to a so-called brokered Republican convention in July — a situation in which none of the candidates has an absolute majority of delegates.
So far, according to the New York Times, Mr Trump has 61 delegates, while Mr Cruz has 11 and Mr Rubio has 10. A total of 1,237 are needed to win the nomination.

Mr Trump made the case that he could be the consensus candidate.

“I’ll bring over a lot of Democrats, bring over a lot of independents,” he said