![\"View](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CnxS-6LVMAAzLSp.jpg:small\" "\\"View")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nThe official confirmation of the 2016 nominee was in little doubt after a last-minute procedural rebellion was quickly killed off on Monday, but the ceremonial \u201ccall of the roll of states\u201d served as a powerful reminder of the scale of his victory over 16 competing candidates with the largest ever vote haul in a Republican primary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my honour to throw Donald Trump over the top with 89 delegates,\u201d said his son Donald Trump Jr as he announced the results from his home state of New York. \u201cCongratulations Dad, we love you.\u201d \u201cToday has been one special day, watching my children put me over the top earlier,\u201d his father told the hall later. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget it. It\u2019s something I will never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n Each of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and far-flung Pacific territories took turns to read out their delegate split, inducing huge cheers and the occasional jeers when the turn came to the handful of contests won by rivals Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and John Kasich.<\/p>\n \u201cTo paraphrase Buffalo Springfield, there is something happening here and what it is is exactly clear,\u201d said the South Carolina lieutenant governor, Henry McMaster, as he seconded the proposed nomination of Trump. \u201cThis is not a dream. This is the real thing. This is deadly serious,\u201d added McMaster, who wasthe first elected official in the country to endorse Trump in January.<\/p>\n Those closest to the campaign greeted Trump\u2019s vindication by pointing out just how few politicians, pundits and journalists ever thought his national victory \u2013 secured in a total of 38 states \u2013 was possible.<\/p>\n Earlier in the day, campaign chairman Paul Manafort said the nomination was the \u201cculmination of a one-year campaign by Mr Trump, a campaign that defied expectations of pundits and the political class\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is excited that his quest will finally come to an end and all of you who doubted him will no longer be able to say \u2018yes, but it may never happen\u2019,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cSo we are excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n The few figures of the party establishment who have travelled to Cleveland were also paraded on stage on Tuesday to give their blessing to the Trump coronation.<\/p>\n House speaker Paul Ryan, a longtime critic of Trump\u2019s divisive rhetoric on race and immigration, was required to oversee the proceedings in his capacity as convention chair.<\/p>\n Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who was also slow the endorse the nominee at first, was due to lead a group of 10 freshmen senators on stage to pay their respects.<\/p>\n Later Ryan, the most senior Republican in Congress, addressed the hall, but his speech offered no tribute to Trump personally and no affirmation of the nominee\u2019s ideas, which in many cases have radically broken with Republican orthodoxy.<\/p>\n Ryan\u2019s first mention of Trump was his promise that at the next state of the union address, \u201cyou\u2019ll find me right there on the rostrum with Vice-President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump\u201d, at which the crowd began chanting Trump\u2019s name.<\/p>\n The House speaker alluded briefly to his public disagreements with the nominee \u2013 he has called Trump\u2019s comments about a judge of Mexican heritage \u201cthe textbook definition of a racist comment\u201d, for example \u2013 saying: \u201cHave we had our arguments this year? Sure we have \u2013 and you know what I call those? Signs of life.\u201d<\/p>\n But he returned to Trump only once more in his speech, after a long attack on Hillary Clinton and a discourse on Republican values. \u201cOnly with Donald Trump and Mike Pence do we have a chance at a better way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n McConnell also launched an attack on Clinton, who he said would \u201csay anything, do anything, and be anything to get elected president\u201d.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIf Hillary is president, we will continue to slide, distracted by the scandals that follow the Clintons like flies.\u201d<\/p>\n The Senate majority leader listed a number of conservative issues he said Trump would take action on, including repealing Obamacare and defunding women\u2019s health organization Planned Parenthood. But he also took care to point out that Senate Republicans \u201cwould never hesitate to confront this president\u201d.<\/p>\n Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey who risked his reputation by becoming an early backer of Trump, was more effusive. \u201cWe are about to be led by not only a strong leader but by a caring, genuine and decent person,\u201d said Christie, who had hoped to be chosen as Trump\u2019s vice-president.<\/p>\n The former New Jersey US attorney used his speech to lay out an imaginary legal case against Clinton for perceived foreign policy failures and crimes such as \u201clying to the American people about her selfish, awful judgment\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHillary Clinton, guilty or not guilty?\u201d he asked repeatedly, prompting a bellow of \u201cGuilty!\u201d from the crowd each time, often followed by chants of \u201cLock her up!\u201d<\/p>\n Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who began the lengthy nominating process at 6pm in Cleveland by formally proposing Trump, explained the once shocking outcome as a product of the troubled mood among American voters.<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans love our country like no other country on earth, but we have gotten off course and the American people know it,\u201d said Sessions. \u201cThis time it is different. One man, Donald Trump, was not intimidated … He could not be silenced, he gave voice to the people\u2019s concerns,\u201d he added. \u201cHe said that trade deals had hurt our people, that our border must be strong, that we must defeat the terrorists who have attacked us.\u201d<\/p>\n The Alabama senator also hailed Trump as a unifier in the face of partisan gridlock in Washington: \u201cWe operate like the tench warfare system of World War One, where hundreds of thousands die but no ground is won.\u201d<\/p>\n But the competing passions among even Republican activists were on display in the convention centre as they booed the few states that had a majority of delegates against Trump.<\/p>\n Others took the opportunity to list their state\u2019s attributes before a primetime TV audience \u2013 \u201cAlaska – energy, tourism, fishing!\u201d \u2013 or boast of their loyalty: \u201cWestern Samoa, the whole kit and caboodle \u2013 all nine delegates to the future president of the United States, Donald J Trump.\u201d California boasted that it was \u201c100% rock solid\u201d with 172 votes, even though all other candidates had dropped out of the race by the time it reached this most populous state.<\/p>\n McMaster recalled the long lines at Trump campaign rallies all year, with supporters \u201cwaiting nine, ten hours just for a chance to get inside the building\u201d. \u201cHe may be the only man perfectly equipped the win the ferocious battle ahead,\u201d said McMaster.<\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump is not merely a candidate. Donald Trump is a movement,\u201d concluded New York congressman Chris Collins as he also seconded the formal proposal of the candidate. \u201cWestern New York has been devastated by unfair trade deals, allowing countries like China and Mexico to steal our jobs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Donald Trump supporters celebrated their once unthinkable capture of the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday night as state delegates took turns to count up the votes from his remarkable sweep of the party\u2019s 2016 primary election. Crossing the threshold of 1,237 votes, Trump officially became the Republican party\u2019s nominee for president, as the stage in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":217317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d97c75d9bd7ecc4362213cb83e665c46b5d987a9\/353_0_4647_2789\/master\/4647.jpg?w=620&q=20&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&dpr=2&s=78beafd8cc47433096f254debbae0882)
![\"New](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/a1fdc7942ff3f1077361f7783091a1512b3bce8d\/119_512_5227_3136\/master\/5227.jpg?w=620&q=20&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&dpr=2&s=6c6b56c0ead6b76697e1c8c60a02a407)
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