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Trump: I Don't Need GOP Unity to Win
Saturday, April 30, 2016 01:25 PM
By: Sandy Fitzgerald
Donald Trump Friday rejected the idea that he'll need party unity to win the White House this fall, criticizing his conservative critics and his former and current rivals while speaking to party activists at the California Republican Party convention.
"Folks, I'm a conservative, but at this point, who cares?" said Trump, according to The New York Times. "We got to straighten out the country."
Trump's talk came after he was forced to leave his motorcade and traipse through a field before climbing over an embankment with his Secret Service agents after protesters blocked his motorcade.
Once he got to the ballroom the GOP front-runner spoke more about whether he is interested in healing the Republican Party than about California and the June 7 primary, reports The Times, and included mocking his rivals as "disgusting," dumb, and as losers.
But even though he seemed to be impatient about getting along with his critics, he predicted that "ideally" they would come together. He then, though, said he thinks he'll win "even if we're not together. There are some people I honestly don’t want their endorsement.”
Trump then turned to another point, though, saying "there should be and there has to be unity," and added, "Would I win, can I win without it? I think so."
His closest rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and former candidate Jeb Bush met with the most scorn.
He also mocked Cruz's running mate, Carly Fiorina, as having "no votes" when she dropped her own bid, said he doesn't care if Bush endorses him, and also ridiculed his other rival, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, for his eating habits.
However, Trump's speech left at least one strategist cold.
"I didn't think that was particularly helpful," Marty Wilson, a longtime Republican strategist and California Chamber of Commerce official, commented.
