Another day of primary elections has passed us by, and now it's time to take stock of the results. A clash between former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and eccentric businessman Donald Trump is looking increasingly inevitable. Both Clinton and Trump hold significant leads in their respective presidential election races.
On the Democratic side, Hillary maintains a sizable edge, but Vermont senator Bernie Sanders bravely continues to persevere to best of his ability. In the Mississippi primary, Clinton cornered the competition with 83% of the vote, while Sanders clung to his 17%. In the Michigan primary election, Sanders managed to pull slightly ahead of Clinton's 48% with his own 50%. Clinton now has a total of 760 pledged delegates, while Clinton possesses 546.
Clinton's victory in Mississippi further cements her control over the Democratic south, where progressives with a slight conservative bent are likely to find her more appealing than the socialist Sanders. However, Sander's close victory in Michigan has halted Clinton's hope for a quick and decisive victory - he still poses a significant threat to her campaign. Furthermore, the Michigan results may well be the beginning of a streak of victories for Sanders in the region of the United States known as the rust belt, which includes states like Ohio and Illinois.
In light of the Republican primaries, the probability of a Trump nomination increasingly looms ahead like an incoming asteroid. Winning three out of four state primary elections, the Trump campaign continues to hurtle along at breakneck speed. In Mississippi, he gained 47% of the vote, leaving Texas Senator Ted Cruz with 36%, Florida Senator Marco Rubio with a meager 5%, and Ohio Senator John Kasich with 9%. In Michigan, he took 37%; Cruz and Kasic were nearly tied with 25% and 24%, respectively; and Rubio lagged behind once more at 9%. Hawaiian conservatives gave Trump 43% of the vote, Cruz 32%, Rubio 13%, and Kasich 11%. The only state that did not throw in a bid to crown Trump as party nominee was Idaho, who instead chose Cruz as their champion with 45%; Trump followed in second place with 28%, then Rubio with 16%, and Kasich trailed behind with 7%. Trump now leads the primaries with a total of 446 delegates, Cruz with 347, Rubio with 151, and Kasich with 54.
Trump's victory is all the more remarkable after a week of tremendously negative attention; Republican officials have been making desperate attempts to bring him down. His public spectacles of vulgarity, his tacit endorsement of white supremacist groups, and his questionable economic policies are an embarrassment to the party. Numerous media groups have compared his attitude towards Muslims to the anti-semitic stance of a certain fascist führor. Consequently, a number of high-profile party officials have publicly denounced him, urging Republican voters to turn to any of the other potential candidates. These attacks, however, have evidently had minimal impact; Donald Trump seems as unstoppable as ever.
