Collective facepalm as Trump ascends the GoP throne

Some wondered what America would be like with Mr. Trump as President; others burned their voter registration cards.

May 04, 2016 05:37 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 04:54 am IST

There was a collective sense of despondence on social media on Wednesday morning when Ted Cruz announced that he was withdrawing from the race for the Republican nominee — meaning Trump was now the presumptive Republican nominee for the U.S. Presidency.

Cruz withdrew from the race after a crushing defeat in the Indiana primary, saying he “no longer had a viable path to victory”.

Memes and jokes abounded, as usual, but there was also a sense of helplessness as most of them, including some Republicans, wondered what America would be like with Mr. Trump as President.

With Mr. Trump’s success, “I’m watching a 160-year-old political party commit suicide,” Henry Olsen, an elections analyst with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank, was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

Some even went as far as burning their voter registration cards or de-registering as a Republican. #NeverTrump, #LeavingGOP and #BurnYourCard were some of the hashtags that were making the rounds on Twitter.

As for the rest of the world, folks were incredulous as to why the U.S was considering Mr. Trump as a possible candidate.

Things became more chaotic with the release of a report by >Rassmussen Reports , an opinion poll outlet, which said Mr. Trump would find 41% of support from voters as opposed to Hillary Clinton’s 39%.

“This is the first time Trump has led the matchup since last October. Clinton held a 41% to 36% advantage in early March,” said the report.

Meanwhile, The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah invited “an expert on brutal political campaigns” for “more perspective on how the (presidential) race might play out” — who turned out to be Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the “doom and betrayal expert”. Also known as the actor who plays Knight Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones .

“I bring dire news from the stronghold of Indiana and Midwesteros, for it seems none now can stop the ascent of the mad king, a man with neither honour, nor volume control.”

After news that he would be the presumptive Republican nominee, one would think it would be Donald Trump who would be trending across social media. Surprisingly, it was his now-ex rival Ted Cruz who ended up trending across Twitter for hours. But it had nothing to do with his dropping out of the race.

Watch why:

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