US Presidential Election 2016: Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton “crooked” and insists he can act like a president
Donald Trump has been at it again in his latest bombastic media appearance, as he blasted Hillary Clinton for being “crooked” and said she sets a bad example for other women.
But don’t worry everybody, the Donald is just playing the fool to get attention – he can become a regular politician anytime he wants, according to his latest campaign rally.
Read more: Do Donald Trump’s economic policies stack up?
In an interview to be broadcast later today on Fox News, Trump said that Clinton, who is currently leading Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, “is a person who has got many many flaws.”
The billionaire, who won a convincing victory in the New York republican primary with 60 per cent of the vote, said, “the only thing she’s got going is the woman card … [but she’s] the worst possible representative a woman can have”.
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He also accused Hillary Clinton of being “crooked”, saying, “we call her ‘crooked Hillary’ because she’s a crooked person. She’s always been a crooked person.”
Presidential Trump
However, donning his famous “make America great again” red cap, Trump hinted that his numerous outrageous statements on the campaign were simply a way to make sure he got attention and fans (a timely admission he is just playing the fool given today marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare).
Read more: If Trump wins now, Clinton wins the General Election
“I don’t want to be too presidential yet,” he said. “Being presidential is much easier for me than doing this. If I was totally presidential, we have 10,000 people here, we’d have 300 and you’d be falling asleep after 20 minutes.”
In a defiant speech, Trump also attacked his Republican rival, Ted Cruz, as the battle for the 2016 presidential nominations enters its final stages.
“She [Clinton] would beat him [Cruz] so badly, he’d lose so many states where he has no chance. There’s no path to victory for Cruz, so he should get out.”
“I will win New York against Hillary Clinton … and I’ll win Michigan, and I’ll win Pennsylvania … and, I’ll win Florida.”
State of the race: Republicans
Trump is leading his opponents, Cruz and the governor of Ohio, John Kasich, in the polls and in the number of delegates he has secured, though commentary has turned to the idea of a “contested convention” if Trump does not secure enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot at the Republican Party convention at the end of July.
He needs the backing of 1,237 delegates to secure the nomination in the first round and has so far secured 845 through his victories in the primaries. There are 620 delegates up for grabs in the votes still to come, with another 113 floating between candidates that have now dropped out and the superdelegates who are not bound to any candidate.
By far the most important will be the vote in California, which takes place on the final round of primaries on 7 June, where 172 delegates will be committed.
The odds: Trump is around a 2/5 odds-on favourite to scoop the nomination – an implied probability of 71 per cent. Tez Cruz is 3/1.
State of the race: Democrats
Hillary Clinton is closer to the finish line than her loudmouthed Republican counterpart. She needs the support of 2,383 delegates to see off her opponent, Bernie Sanders.
Clinton currently has 1,930 – including some superdelegates that have already said they will back her – compared to Sanders’ tally of 1,191. That means she needs just over one-quarter of the remaining 1,644 delegates.
The odds: Betting is all but suspended on Hillary Clinton securing the Democratic nomination. If you shop around you can find best odds of 1/16 – giving her a 94 per cent probability of being on the ticket in the General Election.