Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump waded into politically risky territory this week when he accused Democrat Hillary Clinton of exploiting her gender to win votes and said she would have little support if she were not a woman.
Advertisement
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (VT-I), Democratic Presidential Candidate: We are in this campaign to win and to become the Democratic nominee.
To secure the Democratic nomination, 2,348 delegates are needed. “What a great night”, Clinton told a thrilled crowd of supporters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Clinton loyalists worry that Clinton will suffer general-election consequences from Sanders’ suggestions that she is unqualified and in Wall Street’s pocket.
“She does not has the strength and stamina” to be the president of the United States and successfully handle countries like China, Japan and Mexico, he said.
“California will have the most staff”, Sanders said.
The Vermont senator said earlier Tuesday that “we are going to fight all the way to the Philadelphia convention”.
After a string of primary contest losses in Northeastern states, Sanders vowed to stay in the race “until the last vote is cast”.
His chief rival, conservative Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, has been running circles around Trump in wooing delegates ahead of the convention in the event there is no outright victor. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s over”.
After the latest primary results, Trump’s main Republican rival Ted Cruz has 569 delegates and his path to nomination before the July convention is impossible.
Trump says Clinton is playing the “woman card”.
Clinton’s allies note that Republican Donald Trump has been co-opting Sanders’ pitch against Clinton, which the businessman acknowledged on Wednesday.
For the record, I don’t care that Trump used a teleprompter yesterday.
“I’m not going to be changing. I’m presidential anyway”, he told CNN. He gave a defiant, hour-long speech in which he said he was “taking on the most powerful political organization in America”.
“Donald Trump is truly oblivious”, said Marcy Stech, a spokeswoman for Emily’s List, a group supporting Democratic, female candidates who back abortion rights.
“There isn’t a lot of evidence that sex of voters matters very much in driving the vote choices people make”, said Kathleen Dolan, professor and chair of the political science department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“I will not hesitate to deploy military force when there is no alternative”.
Trump already appears to face an uphill fight to win women voters. “I think the party is seeing me that way”, Mr. Trump declared, after winning more than half the votes in all fives states, and more than 60 per cent in two, on Tuesday. With U.S.-Russian relations strained over numerous issues including Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Trump said “an easing of tensions with Russia from a position of strength” is possible. “I know about dealing with China”. China can be dealt with and you can get along with them.
Advertisement
Even Wednesday morning after his five state electoral sweep, when Trump was asked about his “woman card” comments on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, he responded with what many would construe as a sexist comment – followed by preemptively shrugging off any charges of sexism. “We agree wages are too low and inequality is too high”, among other Sanders’ talking points.
