Reuters, Bismarck :
Trump’s critics say he is the least prepared candidate for president in modern American history; a man whose isolationist and xenophobic rhetoric is alarming to many at home and abroad.
He called Mexicans “rapists”, promised to build a wall between the US and Mexico and proposed banning most Muslims from the US for an indeterminate time. He criticised women for their looks.
Yet his message resonates with many Americans.
Trump fought 16 other Republican contenders in the primary race. They fell one by one – leaving Trump the sole survivor of a riotous Republican primary.
Trump, 69, the son of a New York City real estate magnate, had risen to fame in the 1980s and 1990s, overseeing major real-estate deals, watching his financial fortunes rise, then fall, hosting The Apprentice TV show and writing more than a dozen books.
Meanwhile, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders on Thursday explored staging an unconventional U.S. presidential debate that would sideline Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton but create a high-ratings television spectacle.
The two men – a billionaire and a democratic socialist – expressed interest in a one-on-one encounter in California even though Republican and Democratic presidential candidates traditionally do not debate each other until the parties have selected their nominees.
“I’d love to debate Bernie,” Trump told reporters in North Dakota, after he secured enough delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination. “I think it would get very high ratings. It would be in a big arena.”
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email that there were no formal plans yet for such an event. But Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told CNN that there had been “a few discussions” between the campaigns about the details.
“We hope that he will not chicken out,” Weaver said. “We hope Donald Trump has the courage to get on stage now that he said he would.”
Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is running far behind Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election.
But a nationally televised debate with the presumptive Republican nominee would be a big boost to his chances in the California primary on June 7, when Clinton is likely to clinch the nomination.
Trump’s critics say he is the least prepared candidate for president in modern American history; a man whose isolationist and xenophobic rhetoric is alarming to many at home and abroad.
He called Mexicans “rapists”, promised to build a wall between the US and Mexico and proposed banning most Muslims from the US for an indeterminate time. He criticised women for their looks.
Yet his message resonates with many Americans.
Trump fought 16 other Republican contenders in the primary race. They fell one by one – leaving Trump the sole survivor of a riotous Republican primary.
Trump, 69, the son of a New York City real estate magnate, had risen to fame in the 1980s and 1990s, overseeing major real-estate deals, watching his financial fortunes rise, then fall, hosting The Apprentice TV show and writing more than a dozen books.
Meanwhile, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders on Thursday explored staging an unconventional U.S. presidential debate that would sideline Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton but create a high-ratings television spectacle.
The two men – a billionaire and a democratic socialist – expressed interest in a one-on-one encounter in California even though Republican and Democratic presidential candidates traditionally do not debate each other until the parties have selected their nominees.
“I’d love to debate Bernie,” Trump told reporters in North Dakota, after he secured enough delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination. “I think it would get very high ratings. It would be in a big arena.”
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email that there were no formal plans yet for such an event. But Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told CNN that there had been “a few discussions” between the campaigns about the details.
“We hope that he will not chicken out,” Weaver said. “We hope Donald Trump has the courage to get on stage now that he said he would.”
Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is running far behind Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election.
But a nationally televised debate with the presumptive Republican nominee would be a big boost to his chances in the California primary on June 7, when Clinton is likely to clinch the nomination.
