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.

Washington, May 26 (EFE; additional reporting and opinion by The Costa Rica Star). Real-estate mogul Donald Trump has exceeded the minimum number of delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination, the Real Clear Politics news portal reported Thursday.

By securing 1,238 delegates, one more than the magic number required, Trump has wrapped up victory in the Republican primary season and avoided a contested convention that some of his political enemies within the GOP had been seeking.

Trump may even debate Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders in California before the June 7 primary and that’s the most interesting political news of the week, aside from the mounting troubles that fellow Democrat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is facing.

Clinton declined a potential debate — sponsored by Fox News — with Sanders citing her large delegate lead over Sanders and her 10-point average lead in California Primary polls. Previously, Clinton had agreed to debate Sanders before the California primary but not now.

Of all places, the idea of a Trump versus Sanders debate popped up on Wednesday night during Jimmy Kimmel Live, according to ABC News and Associated Press reports filed early Thursday.

Trump appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the comedic discussion turned to Clinton and her decision not to debate Sanders. Kimmel suggested, in a laughing manner, that Trump step in and debate Sanders, but Trump took to the challenge right away saying the ratings would be high and he wanted to see profits from the debate network’s advertising go towards charity.

Then, and here’s the clincher, Sanders accepted the challenge on Twitter right away.

“Game on, I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7 primary,” Sanders said on social media.

However, no official announcement of a debate between Trump and Sanders has yet been made by either campaign. But there is time to arrange a debate between the two prior to June 7.

Talk about stealing the show and upstaging Clinton! A Sanders versus Trump debate would be huge before the primary; both have nothing to lose, but Clinton does. If you have learned anything about Sanders during his surprising run for President is that he does not give up and Trump is the king of getting media coverage. It’s a win-win for both Trump and Sanders, but a big fat loss situation for Clinton; it could even tip the scales and hand Sanders a victory in delegate-rich California, where 475 delegates will be awarded to Democrats. A loss for Clinton in California would be devastating to her campaign.

The most recent poll of primary voters, conducted May 13 to May 22, by the Public Policy Institute of California shows Clinton’s lead has shrunk to only 2 points – 46 percent to 44 percent for Sanders. Wow!

Trump already has won the California primary because all his previous opponents have dropped out of the presidential race, plus he is only a few delegates short of the needed 1,237 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination for president.

Clinton, too, is only a few delegates short of reaching the 2,382 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination for president. Sanders is far behind Clinton in delegates.

But Sanders is looking down the road to disrupt the Democratic National Convention set for July 25-28 in Philadelphia. A Sanders versus Trump debate would add fuel to that fire because in poll after poll Sanders leads Trump in a national head-to-head matchup, whereas Trump versus Clinton shows they are neck and neck with Trump gaining momentum.

At this point, The Democratic Party would be better off nominating Sanders over Clinton and running Sanders against Trump in the national election instead of Clinton. Chances of that happening are slim, but that’s what the polls show – Sanders wins over Trump.
As far as candidates go, Sanders is clean and has little or no political baggage to hammer him on. Unlike Clinton who has dump trump loads of scandals, controversies and investigations swirling all around her.

Clinton’s latest problem is an 83-page “blistering” report from the U.S. Inspector General’s Office released Wednesday slamming Clinton on her use of private email during her tenure as U.S. Secretary of State. The report, in no uncertain terms, alleges that Clinton did break established U.S. State Department rules against the use of private email and she ignored directives not to use private email when conducting official government business.

Clinton claims she broke no laws in her use of private email and previous U.S. State Department secretaries had done the same thing such as Colin Powell.

Meanwhile, Sanders remains in the race and for good reason because he knows that Clinton is not trusted by the America public which is brought out clearly in polls that measure trust and likeability factors. Trump is not trusted either and his likeability factor is in the basement as well, but Sanders is trusted and he is liked by voters, according to polls averaged by Real Clear Politics.

Again, when it comes to Clinton, her love of secrecy is so apparent in how she conducted herself as U.S. Secretary of State, her dealings with foreign governments and the Clinton Foundation which had accepted millions upon millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments while she was the U.S. Secretary of State. All of these dealings were conducted in secret and these dealings remain under investigation by the FBI.

Clinton should have enthusiastically accepted to debate Sanders in California before the June 7 primary but she made an arrogant decision to leave Sanders in the dust and out of that dust storm appears Trump.

“I would love to do it,” Trump said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “Game on,” said Sanders on Twitter.

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.