By Britt Nelson

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.

Donald Trump’s five-state win Tuesday night is being called “astonishing” and “profound.”

What’s so incredible is that the New York billionaire Republican won each county in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and Delaware and he won all five states with more than 50 percent of the vote. In the history of American elections this win by Trump is unprecedented.

The Republican establishment is in shambles today as Trump – the ultimate Washington outsider — becomes the so-called ‘presumptive nominee’ to secure the party’s nomination for president in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention in July. But behind the scenes the Republican Party elites will be holding closed-door, hush-hush meetings to brain storm how to derail Trump and put in their own establishment candidate during the convention.

“I’m so honored,” Trump said in his victory speech Tuesday night. “In my opinion, this is our biggest night.”

In a Fox News interview Tuesday night on ‘Hannity’ former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said, “Donald Trump represents a very profound rebellion … Republican elites would be foolish to take the nomination from Trump.”

For Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich the end of road has arrived for both. The time has come for them to drop out of the presidential race and go home; but, both Cruz and Kasich say they will stay in the race all the way to the convention hoping that Trump derails.

With five more wins in his column, Trump’s pledged delegate count climbed to 954, while Cruz has 560 delegates to Kasich’s 153. Some 1,237 delegates are needed to win the Republican nomination for president, according to Real Clear Politics.

Meanwhile, Democrat Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State during President Obama’s first term, won four of the five states, losing only Rhode Island to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won there with 55 percent of the vote.

Clinton, too, scored big wins over Sanders with more than 50 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland and Delaware.

Clinton’s pledged delegate count rose to 1,622 against Sanders’ 1,282. Democrats require 2,382 delegates to win the party’s nomination for president.

Sanders gave a defiant speech in West Virginia Tuesday night vowing to stay in the race at least until the California primary June 7 and perhaps all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July.

Some Sanders and Trump supporters are hinting that Sanders should form a third-party and run as an independent in the November general election. Such a move would undoubtedly take votes away from Clinton by splitting the Democratic vote increasing the possibility that Trump would win the presidency.

Coming up next week on May 3 is the winner-take-all Indiana primary in which Trump is polling ahead of Cruz and Kasich, while Clinton is ahead of Sanders, according to polls averaged by Real Clear Politics.

The campaigns of Trump, Cruz, Kasich, Clinton and Sanders will all be hard at work in Indiana trying to sway voters to come their way.

Establishment Republicans need to unite behind Trump and stop the movement to derail his candidacy. They need to realize that Trump is the number one choice of anti-establishment voters. Cruz and Kasich are now insignificant and nothing more than flies in the ointment.

Bill O’Reilly, this week on his Fox News show “The O’Reilly Factor,” said it best : “If Trump is somehow swindled out of the Republican nomination that “All hell will break lose.”

About the author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.
Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.