Fresh off his dominant win in the South Carolina primary, billionaire businessman Donald Trump on Sunday blasted his primary opponents, the Republican National Committee and the audiences at candidate debates, saying the forums were “like death.”
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Trump said the party establishment still is unwilling to give him a fair shake and is trying to halt his momentum by filling debate halls with men and women who are hostile toward his candidacy.
“I’m self-funding my campaign. I’m not controlled by special interests. I’m not controlled by lobbyists,” he said. “But the rooms are stacked, right? Every time I go to a debate, I walk in and it’s like death. And when other people — I won’t mention names — when other people speak, they say something stupid and they get standing ovations. It’s very unfair what the RNC is doing. They’re stacking the room and that’s unfair, with donors and special interests and lobbyists, and that’s unfair.”
Mr. Trump won the South Carolina primary Saturday by 10 percentage points. He also won the New Hampshire contest by a significant margin.
Although Mr. Trump maintains that the Republican establishment still is unwilling to get behind him, he reiterated Sunday that he is not planning to pursue an independent run.
“I don’t want to run as an independent. I’m not going to do that. I think it’s highly unlikely,” he said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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