2020 prospects

Trump to 2020 prospects: You don't have a chance

By Nolan D. McCaskill

Donald Trump is the only candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton, he suggested Tuesday, laughing at Republicans who may be considering mounting a run in 2020.

Hailing his campaign as a movement during his rally in Sanford, Florida, Trump told supporters this would be the last chance they have.

“Four years, it’s over. It’s over,” he said. “In four years, you don’t have a chance.”

Trump was seemingly sending a message to people like House Speaker Paul Ryan, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and vanquished GOP primary rivals Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, household names considered likely to challenge a President Clinton for the White House in 2020.

“All these characters, they wanna run in four years,” Trump said. “They can forget it. They’re wasting their time. You don’t have even a little bit of a chance. This is it, and we’re really close.”

Trump suggested in an interview last week that Ryan in particular may be rooting for his downfall, surmising that the Republican House leader abandoned Trump's campaign because he either wants to run in 2020 or doesn’t know how to win.

On Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee called on the entire Republican Party to coalesce behind his candidacy, a sign of how fractured the party is given that its nominee is still pleading for its leaders to back him just weeks out from Election Day.

“Republicans have to finally get smart and come together. This is our last chance,” he declared. “This is bigger than me or any of us. It’s about our country. This is about ending Obamacare. This is about the Supreme Court. This is about rebuilding our military and taking care of our vets, strengthening our borders and keeping our companies and jobs from leaving our beloved country. This is about restoring the rule of law, saving our Constitution and keeping radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country.”

Trump accused the media of suppressing the vote by reporting that he is losing, although he is currently on track for a landslide loss given his standing in most national and battleground state polls.

“These people up here, they are the worst. And you know what it’s called — by the way, you know what it’s called, don’t you? It’s called voter suppression because people give up,” Trump said. “People give up.”

Even so, he vowed to win Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. But while he leads in Iowa and narrowly edges out Clinton in Ohio, he trails by an average of 3.1 percentage points in Florida, 5.7 points in Pennsylvania and 2 points in North Carolina.

“We’re gonna have a lot of victories,” he predicted anyway. “Just keep it going, folks. We’re fighting a crooked establishment, and just about the biggest part of the crooked establishment are these people right there with the phony cameras. They’re a bunch of phony lowlifes.”

And anybody backing Clinton, he added, is crazy.

“You vote for her, you’re crazy, OK?” he said. “I’ll tell you, she is the worst.”