i think we’ll beat Hillary Clinton – Trump

Billionaire Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to unify the
fractured Republican Party as he looked beyond the
bruising primary season to a November clash for the
White House with likely Democratic nominee Hillary
Clinton.Trump's path to the GOP presidential nomination is now
clear after his command victory in Indiana's primary on
Tuesday pushed his chief opponent Ted Cruz out of the
race.
His lone remaining rival John Kasich was expected to
throw in the towel later Wednesday, bringing the curtain
down on one of the most contentious, chaotic and
vicious nomination battles in generations, one in which
Trump pummelled no fewer than 16 rivals into
submission.
"Now we'll unify the party. We're going to get people
together," the 69-year-old Trump told Fox News early
Wednesday.
"I think we'll beat Hillary Clinton."
Trump also began discussing the idea of his possible
running mate, telling ABC News he wanted "a person with
political experience" to compliment his own business
acumen.
"I would like to have somebody that could truly be good
with respect to dealing with the Senate, dealing with
Congress, getting legislation passed."
A new CNN poll looking ahead to the next phase of the
White House race however found Clinton, hoping at 68 to
become America's first female commander-in-chief,
leading the billionaire real estate mogul.
The former secretary of state has 54 percent support to
41 percent for Trump, the poll showed -- her largest lead
since July.
Clinton suffered a shock loss in Indiana to her challenger
Bernie Sanders, who has pledged to remain in the race
until the end despite an extremely steep hill to climb, with
the former first lady far ahead in the all-important
delegate race.
"The Clinton campaign thinks this campaign is over.
They're wrong," Sanders said in a statement as he vowed
to "fight until the last vote is cast."
- 'We will get destroyed' -
Several prominent Republicans were nevertheless refusing
to support Trump in November despite his status as the
presumptive White House nominee.
Those refusals highlight the continued tensions within the
GOP, which has been at a loss to describe the stunning
ascent of a brash billionaire who was given no chance of
winning when he launched his campaign last June.
"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed... and we
will deserve it," tweeted Senator Lindsey Graham, a
Trump rival whose campaign fizzled.
Trump expressed optimism he could line up sufficient
support in the Republican ranks -- although he suggested
some wounds were still too raw to heal right away.
"I am confident that I can unite much of it. Some of it I
don't want," he told NBC, citing the harsh verbal attacks
made by unnamed rivals and party grandees during the
primary process.
"Honestly, there are some people I really don't want. I
don't think it's necessary."
- 'She should suffer' -
Trump pivoted to his expected showdown with Clinton on
November 8.
"Bernie Sanders said that she's got poor judgment. And
she does," Trump said on MSNBC, as he poked into the
long-running controversy over Clinton's use of a personal
email account and private server while she was secretary
of state.
"You look at the e-mail scandals, she shouldn't even be
allowed to run," he said.
"She should suffer like other people have suffered who
have done far less than she has."
- 'The voters chose another path' -
Tuesday's contest in the midwestern Hoosier State was
the final firewall thrown up by Republican heavyweights
to keep the brash, name-calling Trump from locking up
the party's nomination.
But as the race was called overwhelmingly in Trump's
favor, Cruz conceded to supporters in Indianapolis that
he no longer had a viable path forward.
"We left it all on the field in Indiana," Cruz said as he
suspended his campaign.
"We gave it everything we've got, but the voters chose
another path."
It was a stunning denouement for the 45-year-old arch-
conservative Texas senator, who had insisted he would
press on to the final day of the Republican race.
Having amassed 1,053 delegates, Trump was already in a
favorable position to reach the magic number needed to
avoid a contested party convention in July.
With Cruz and Kasich out of the race, nominee Trump is
a foreg