Donald Trump, the maverick billionaire who mounted an unlikely presidential bid as a political outsider and touched off one controversy after another over the past year, was on Tuesday formally anointed as the Republican nominee at the party convention in Cleveland.
“This is a movement, but we have to go all the way. I'm so proud to be your nominee for President of the United States,” Trump said in a brief video message, vowing to create jobs, strengthen the military and “restore” law and order. He is set to deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday.
“Congratulations, Dad. We love you,” shouted Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., from the convention floor as his siblings Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany joined in the jubilation. Trump won comfortably with 1,725 delegates, followed by Senator Ted Cruz (475), Ohio Governor John Kasich (120) and Senator Marco Rubio (114).
After a year-long battle that saw Trump eliminate 16 fellow-contenders and marginalise naysayers like the #NeverTrump formation that kept up the pressure till the very end, party bosses now face the challenge of unifying the party in order to mount a credible battle in November.
“Fellow Republicans, what we have begun here, let’s see this thing through, let’s win this thing, let’s show America our best and nothing less,” said House Speaker and convention chairman Paul Ryan. “Our candidates will be giving their all…and every one of us has got to go and do the same.”
For the second day running, speakers at the convention continued to rail at Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, to frequent chants of "lock her up" from the assembled delegates and party members.
In contrast to the previous night's unseemly row over plagiarism involving the speech delivered by wife Melania, Trump had reasons to be upbeat with the poise shown by his two children, Don and Tiffany, as they took the podium.
"I know we'll get it (the White House) back because I know my father. I know that when someone tells him that something is impossible, that's what triggers him into action," Trump Jr. said to cheers from the audience.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a long-time friend of the Trumps and one who was in the short-list to be the vice-presidential running mate before Trump settled for Indiana Governor Mike Pence, delivered a hard-hitting speech against Clinton.
"We cannot promote someone to Commander-in-chief who has made the world a more violent and dangerous place with every bad judgment she has made," Christie said, arguing: "The facts of her life and career disqualify her (to be President)."
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell commented that Clinton has changed her position on key issues so many times that it was "impossible to tell where the conviction ends and the ambition begins."
Retired neurosurgeon and former presidential hopeful Ben Carson attacked Clinton over her private email server. "Classified information was recklessly revealed. Intelligence officers were exposed," he said.