Trump: Get Over It, I’m the Nominee

Donald Trump on Saturday called out Republicans who have been scheming frantically to award the party’s nomination to a different candidate, saying he is the rightful nominee because he “beat the hell” out of his 16 challengers.

During his fiery speech at a rally in Las Vegas, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee mercilessly mocked his former contenders and their supporters for even thinking that they could steal the nomination from him. Ridiculing them for entertaining such notions after everyone else failed to rack up the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination, Trump condemned the GOP for its divisiveness and reluctance to rally around him before the Republican National Convention next month.

“Who are they gonna pick? I’ve beat everybody. But I don’t mean beat, I’ve beat the hell out of them. Right? Beat the hell out of them.”

“And now you have a couple of guys that were badly defeated, and they’re trying to organize, maybe, like, a little bit of a delegate revolt? Maybe?” Trump said. “But think of this: so we got almost 14 million votes, we won 36, 37 states – others won none! People that won none are saying, ‘Maybe we can get something at the convention?’ Doesn’t work that way, folks.”

After dismissing his critics’ claims that the Republican nomination could be handed over to a different candidate at the Convention – a candidate that would be more suitable for the GOP Establishment’s comfort – the businessman pointed out that no other suitable candidate really existed because all had already failed.

“Who are they gonna pick? I’ve beat everybody. But I don’t mean beat, I’ve beat the hell out of them. Right? Beat the hell out of them,” Trump said. “And we’re gonna beat Hillary, and it would be helpful if the Republicans could help us a little bit, you know? OK. Just a little bit.”

"And we’re gonna beat Hillary, and it would be helpful if the Republicans could help us a little bit, you know? OK. Just a little bit.”

Trump also hinted at the possibility of a revolt of some sort if the Republican National Committee refused to honor the will of the people and chose a different nominee. Noting the intense loyalty of his millions of supporters, Trump asked the GOP to come together and join forces to beat Hillary Clinton in the general election this November.

“If the Republican Party – and I hope they all come together because I want them to come together, it’s great – but, if for any reason they get a little bit like they don’t want to help out as much, then I’ll fund my own campaign. I’d love to do that,” Trump declared. “But we have to have help. We have to have help. They have to be….you know, life is like a two-way street, right? It’s a two-way street. Otherwise I’ll have to keep doing what I’m doing. I’ll just keep funding my campaign.”

Trump’s remarks come the day after the RNC Chairman Reince Preibus announced the selections of chair and co-chair for the rules committee at next month’s national convention. Enid Mickelsen, former Utah congresswoman, will act as chair for the rules committee, and Ron Kaufman, an RNC committeeman from Massachusetts, will be the co-chair. The rules committee, which will analyze and restructure the rules for the party’s operations, could have the power to drastically alter the delegate system and nomination requirements.