Basking in victories in Kentucky and Louisiana, Donald Trump Saturday called for unity within the Republican Party — saying that Marco Rubio should drop out of the nomination race and declaring that he wanted to battle Ted Cruz "one on one."
"Marco Rubio had a very, very bad night," Trump told supporters at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. "Personally, I'd call for him to drop out of the race.
"I think it's time now that he drop out of the race," Trump added. "He has not been able to win — and I think it's time that he drops out.
"I would love to be able to take on Ted one on one," he declared. "That would be so much fun — because Ted can't win New York, he can't win New Jersey, he can't win Pennsylvania, he can't win California.
"I want Ted one on one."
Cruz won caucuses in Kansas and Maine, while Rubio placed either third or last in all of the Republican caucuses and primaries held in four states on Saturday.
He congratulated Cruz for his caucus victories but made no mention of Ohio Gov. John Kasich in his remarks.
In light of his primary victory in Kentucky, he slammed Sen. Rand Paul — who "fought very, very hard today and the last several weeks, fighting us every inch of the way" — and bragged that he had "won by quite a few votes."
He called on the party to "come together and stop this foolishness" and unite in order to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump also dismissed the idea of a third-party run because that would guarantee the Democrats the White House — and as many as three Supreme Court appointments.
"The new president, who would be a Democrat, will appoint the judges, so it no longer matters. You're probably talking about the appointment of three, four or five Supreme Court judges.
"You've got to start thinking about that — because anybody that does a third-party, that's what it's going to mean. It 100 percent guarantees the election of the Democrat."
Trump predicted that he would win the March 15 primary in Rubio's state — Florida — despite news reports saying that anti-Trump groups were spending as much as $40 million on negative ads in the Sunshine State.
"No human being should have to have $40 million being spent on negative commercials," he said. "And despite that, we have a tremendous lead in Florida, and hopefully, we're going do very well."
Under questioning by reporters, Trump slammed both Cruz and Rubio and defended his decision to skip the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday to campaign in Kansas.
"I felt I had an obligation," he said. "I wanted to go to Kansas to campaign.
"I've been to CPAC from the beginning. I've liked it. I respect the people at CPAC. I hated to cancel, but I really am doing something that's very important.
"Had I not gone to Kansas this morning, I would not have done as well as I did," Trump said. "I came in second place. So, it was a very important thing."
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